14 Aug 2013 by Natasha Kim CM-
Group Senior Pastor Jeremiah Yap of New Life Restoration Centre recently preached in New Life, Puchong regarding the importance of fulfilling your kingdom destiny even at home.
He stressed on being down-to-earth and affectionate at home, which would allow us to overlook many weaknesses and negativity. It is important to build close relationships with our family.
“One of the things that the Lord has been dealing with me for the past 30 years is to make sure that I am down-to-earth because when I get home, I am a husband, father and servant of God,” he shared.
Down-to-earth carries the meaning of being relatable, genuine, honest, and sincere.
But many people disqualify themselves from serving God at home because they perceived their homely duties too insignificant for the Kingdom, i.e. washing the dishes, throwing the trash, and cleaning up. However, being down-to-earth meant that when you enter the house, you become a valuable member of the household without titles and positions.
“At the end of the day, it’s not what you do in public but what you do in private because that determines if we win or we lose in the Kingdom,” said Jeremiah.
Matthew 6:3-4
3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
First of all, to know how to build a kingdom destiny at home, it’s important to know how God view ‘ruling’, which is ordained since the beginning of Genesis.
“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26)
Since we are image bearers of God, He is telling us that we resemble Him and that we also rule with Him. However, sin broke the image, making us less and less like God. Although ruling appears to be an assignment, ruling is our destiny. But we must rule in God’s way.
“You will have your red seas to cross and your mountains to climb, but ruling does not mean you are the head and not the tail, or you are the top and not the bottom,” he shared.
Secondly, we must fix our eyes on the ‘reality’ of our position.
“Many things in this world are very flaky and superficial, whereby many masks may be worn to project ourselves in a certain way,” he said.
But God made everyone of us unique. It is exhausting to be somebody we are not but it is much easier to be who God made us to be, to be real, and to be down-to-earth.
In order to see the ‘reality’ of our position so that we could ‘rule’ the Kingdom effectively, we must be honest with God, ourselves, and the people around us.
”It is important to be honest and real no matter what you do or where you go. There must be some reality in life because that’s when you connect with people best and effectively,’ said Jeremiah.
Thirdly, we need to know the ‘reality’ of God’s position.
“God is our Almighty God and our creator, which distinguishes us from some of the other types of faith,” said Jeremiah.
Recognizing that He is our Almighty God meant that we acknowledge that He can do things that we cannot do. In other words, no amount of our past achievements would guarantee that we could deliver everything especially during unpredictable low times. This humility allows us to connect with God in a real way. But people think too small of God, often limiting Him according to their past experiences. Break that limiting box and allow God to be the Almighty one.
“If you have moments when you cried, your heavenly father is actually near you! You can reach out and touch Him and He will be touched by you,” he said.
A mere human being like us can touch God! He is touched by your softness in heart, your perseverance, your rising after a fall, and your expression of faith that you still believe and trust Him.
Hence, if we have the right perspective of the ‘reality’ of our position and the ‘reality’ of God’s position, we will be able to rule effectively. Different from the varying connotations of ruling which may be negative, ruling also meant building the Kingdom or building the people. At the heartbeat of ruling is serving, and at the core of serving is love.
“When you don’t know how to love, you build walls. Hence, it doesn’t flow, and when it doesn’t flow, people feel rejected. Have respect for yourself, your spouses, and your children because we are the children of God,” shared Jeremiah.
“At the end of the day, when you have a happier wife and a group of children who are able to relate well to you, I think you’re the happiest man in the world even if you don’t have your millions,” he added.
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