Leaders Who Build Their Own Kingdoms - A More Effective Prayer Strategy

We've all met leaders who seem bent on drawing attention to themselves and building their own kingdoms. A typical response from the body of Christ to such leaders is to point out their errors and to accuse them of being prideful and self-seeking. Even though our accusations may be true, this kind of response will never help them. I don’t believe it is God’s strategy to have us engage in gossip and slander against people who could be helped by our prayers. In order for us to help these leaders, we must take a look at what is causing their problem.

Many of these leaders have suffered repeated rejection throughout their lives. The cause of their self-seeking behavior is that they have an unmet need for affirmation and approval.

Most people who draw attention to themselves suffer from feelings of inadequacy. They believe they are just not good enough. Although they point others to their many accomplishments to gain approval, their inner self-talk is full of negativity. The need they have to hear people say good things about them is an attempt to drown out the voices of criticism they hear internally. Drawing attention to themselves is the only way they know of to receive affirmation and validation. (Trust me on this one. I have plenty of personal experience to speak from.) What they really need is to receive affirmation and validation from Jesus himself.

Some people can read the Bible and accept the fact that Jesus approves of them and affirms them, but for many people, approval and affirmation must come from a personal experience they have with Jesus.

If we want to be effective in helping our leaders to be overcomers, we might pray for them to have personal encounters with Jesus where he validates and affirms them personally. Once they receive his stamp of approval, the unmet need they have for validation is removed and generally, they no longer need to be validated by others. The validation they receive from Jesus crushes the lie from the enemy that says they are not good enough. This usually ends their attempts to build their own kingdom.

So instead of speaking bad about leaders who build their own kingdoms out of a need for validation, we might consider praying for them to be touched and affirmed by Jesus in person.

The Intimate Kingdom

By Ron McGatlin

Although there are similarities in earthly kingdoms and the kingdom of God, there are also vast differences. Earthly kingdoms are usually ruled by the king’s decree of law and order with severe consequences for failure to keep the law.

There is very little access for the people to the king’s throne room, and that is only by special invitation from the king.

The king usually provides little incentive beyond punishment for keeping the law of his kingdom. Equally, he provides no inner strength or empowerment to his subjects to keep the law and live in the order of the land.

A natural worldly king may or may not show mercy upon subjects who break the law. However, He has no capacity to impart within his subjects the grace empowerment to live in the order of his kingdom.

The Love Kingdom
The kingdom of God / kingdom of heaven is indefinable in human understanding with human words. Multitudes of parables can be used to portray aspects of the kingdom. However, only by the Spirit of God may the realities of the kingdom be communicated or understood. Human beings do not have capacity to see or understand the kingdom of God with their natural minds (1 Cor 2:14).

The kingdom of God is a Spiritual kingdom that is far above all other kingdoms. Christ Jesus is the King through whom and for whom all things were created and in whom all things consist. All the fullness of God dwells in Him, and He is before all things (Col 1:15-19).

The natural realm was created and is sustained (continues to exist) by the realm of the Spirit. The realm of the Spirit is supreme and preeminent over the natural realm.

The predominant characteristic of the kingdom of God is the LOVE of God. The kingdom of God is ordered by God’s love. The reestablishment of the kingdom of God on Planet Earth is the work of Christ Jesus. The kingdom of God is established on earth by Christ Jesus flowing His resurrection life by His Spirit into and through the hearts and lives of redeemed mankind.

The kingdom of God is the only kingdom in which the King supplies the inner incentive of His love drawing us into His kingdom, and reflecting out through us to the world around us. His love and grace empowerment within us causes us to keep the law of God effortlessly. Our hearts are overcome with love for Him and the desire to please Him. His will and desire becomes our will and desire. We become one with Him in love. His grace empowerment flows through us, and all things are possible to Christ in us. As we continue to live by His Spirit and walk in His Spirit like branches attached to the Vine, we bear the fruit of the kingdom.

The Intimate Kingdom
The kingdom of God is the only kingdom in which the subjects or servants become sons of God and have full open access into the throne room of the King. Access is through intimate relationship with Christ Jesus. The kingdom of God flows from heaven into His people through the Spirit conduit of intimate relationship with God.

The pure and holy love relationship of a godly man and his godly bride in the created world is a parable or picture of the spiritual intimate love relationship to the KING. The pure holy passion a man has for his beautiful holy bride is a picture of the love of God for His Bride and Wife, collectively the New Jerusalem. The complete love, adoration, and awesome respect that a godly bride has for her husband is a picture of the passionate love, adoration, and worship we have for our Husband, Lord, and King: Christ Jesus.

The kingdom of God coming on earth is the product of intimately relating to God.

For many centuries we have traded the intimate relationship with God by the Holy Spirit for religious understandings, rituals, and practices. Because of His mercy and desire for a people (a true Bride and many sons), God has used the religious church systems as much as He could. Our loving powerful God, Who skips upon the hills like a gazelle or a young stag, will not break through or leap over the walls we created. He will not break in uninvited to take us by force.

He has waited outside, peering in through our fancy windows, longing for us and calling to us to come into intimate relationship with Him in the Spirit. As we open the door and enter into intimate oneness with Him, the kingdom of God is within us and flows out from us to love and change the world around us into His kingdom.

Song 2:8 -10: The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes Leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, he stands behind our wall; He is looking through the windows, Gazing through the lattice. My beloved spoke, and said to me: "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.

Many sons of God were in the religious church systems asleep to the intimate Spirit-to-spirit relationship with God that leads to the reality of Kingdom of God life now. Yet, our hearts began to awaken within. We heard Him knocking at the door, and yet we found it did not fit in with our religious routine to arise and answer the call to come away with Him. As we hesitated we missed our visitation, and, when we went to open the door, He had left. Longing for more we left our walled houses to seek Him.

Song 5:2-6: I sleep, but my heart is awake. It is the voice of my beloved! He knocks, saying, "Open for me, my sister, my love, My dove, my perfect one; For my head is covered with dew, My locks with the drops of the night." --- I have taken off my robe. How can I put it on again? I have washed my feet. How can I defile them? My beloved put his hand by the latch of the door, And my heart yearned for him. I arose to open for my beloved. And my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, on the handles of the lock. I opened for my beloved. But my beloved had turned away and was gone. My heart leaped up when he spoke. I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.

I thank God to be a part of the forerunner generation receiving the uncovering of the depth of the reality of becoming one with Christ – the mystery of Christ in us, the hope of glory, that was first unveiled 2000 years ago. For two millennia, it has been buried under a world of religious false doctrines mixed with truth and sustained by traditions of men. The gospel of the kingdom – the good news that the kingdom of God is at hand - is again being preached on earth. A people in love with God are being formed to experience the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.

" Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” –

“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” ~Jesus~

Keep on pursuing love. It never fails
and His kingdom never ends.

Ron McGatlin

www.openheaven.com