THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS...

Romans 14:17 

For the kingdom of God is... RIGHTEOUSNESS, and PEACE, and JOY in the Holy Ghost. 

Do I have these 3 things in my life? What is righteousness anyway? Am I upset and troubled constantly? Do I have joy in the Lord and express it at church and at home? What does it mean to have joy in the Lord?

These are some tight questions, huh?  Have you ever asked yourself these questions? Maybe its time you did. Maybe its time we all did. That is, if we truly desire to be part of God's kingdom. 

Righteousness is a condition acceptable to God. This condition includes your integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness, and correctness of thinking, feeling, and acting. But how do we enter into this condition that will be acceptable to God? By the Word of course. 

But how will you know how the Word wants you to be if you don't diligently seek it out? This is key. We are not to reason it out based on circumstances or on what other people do. It is the Holy Spirit that leads us and He will lead you to His Word. The first step is to know what the Lord asks of each of us. And yes, He does ask much from us. To say that it's grace only is to make it a disgrace. Grace is what saves us but we are expected to conform to His requests once we accept His grace. This is what makes Him our LORD. We do what He says or our love for Him is questioned.

Many people lean hard to grace without diligently seeking all the Word and never seem to achieve full separation from the world unto God. There are some things they just don't want to let go of. Now I don't De-Christianize them and I believe that they are still His children, but they never attain to what they could be and are not as pleasing to the Lord as they could be if they were to separate themselves according to His Word. 

Then on the other hand there are those that lean so heavy onto the law of it that they make themselves and everyone else miserable. If the Bible says that the kingdom of God is righteousness AND peace AND joy, then we must have all three, right? Then to live in such a way as to cause us to be miserable would preclude us from having peace and joy, wouldn't it?

We shouldn't want to just hit the target of His Will. We should want to hit the center of the target of His Will. Hitting the bulls-eye is to achieve righteousness by knowing what God wants by diligently searching His Word and then seeking God to bring us into that condition and then resolving to follow it the best we can based on our tremendous love and respect for Him. We can't sit back and pretend that grace is all of it.There is something for us to do too. Brother Branham said it's the power of your decision and then acting on what you have heard to be the truth. And acting is praying and resolving to become what you have discovered that God wants you to be. 

Confused? 

Well, I have seen those that lean so heavy on grace and not achieve that separated life Brother Branham speaks that we should have, and let so many worldly things stay in their lives, and then claim that anything beyond that is legalism. HUH? You see, they don't come to a full understanding of what it means to live righteously. Then they wonder why they have so many troubles. Legalism is an attitude and a spirit and not to be mistaken with separating yourself from the world. Attaining a completely separated life from the world is NOT legalism if done through the Holy Ghost. It is what is preferable to the Lord Jesus. It is also what Brother Branham preaches. A total separation from all unbelief. And you cannot attain this state without the Holy Spirit. Actually, I have noted that those that do lean heavy to grace are grossly legalistic! What, you say? Yes that's right. For instance, they determine the legality of the clothes they wear by whether it is within the "set" boundaries and not by the spirit that it represents. That is why you may see them fully clothed but with a sexy appearance.

On the other hand I have seen those that pick at every little thing that the devil shows them and deem it wrong. These are usually very critical of others and have a hard time dealing with those that don't do the things that they feel everyone should do. They seem to lose track that many times its really a matter of opinion if it is not addressed specifically in the Word. But when it comes down to it, they can't do it and they end up allowing other worldly things in. You've probably heard the scripture, "squint at a gnat and swallow a camel". This is what happens when you approach righteousness legally. You become hard against certain things but let other, usually bigger things in. Then many times they fully backslide on out into the world. It's because it's not by the Spirit.

Listen, especially you young people. You can't go by what other people do. You have to search the Word and find out for yourself. You have to want it. And you have to develop a relationship with Jesus that your whole motive is to please and serve Him. Then you separate yourself from as many worldly things as you can in order to please Him and not to hurt Him. This is the way.

Don't stop short and use legalism as an excuse to keep little worldly things in your life. But, don't try to become righteous on your own either.

What about Joy and Peace? 

If you really have the Holy Ghost you WILL have peace and joy. Even in the trials. Brother Branham said there are two things that please God: 1. Believe His Word as it's written and 2. conduct yourself with joy amidst the trials He sends to mold our character. 

Our joy should be IN THE HOLY GHOST. Being joyful all the time isn't necessarily it. I know people that are very joyful but don't even know the Lord. But our joy should be in the things of the Lord and the working and moving by Him in our lives. This is the JOY we should have. And living a separated life from the world increases our ability to have joy in the Holy Ghost. 

Peace comes from the trust that we put in our Lord and His Word. Whatever His Word promises, should be our absolute and we should place such trust in His care for us that we don't excessively worry and distress. Of course we may have times that our faith is weak, but overall we should be resting in His care.

PEACE! :-)