"And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God comes not with observation. Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:20-21)
I have been reading books and studying about how to find the Kingdom of God within me that Jesus Christ since I was in my twenties. I have read so many books, so many points of views, so many systems both religious and secular, by so many teachers. How does one sort through the barrage of material that is available on the subject? How does one handle the plethora of information about the kingdom within?
Jesus Christ did the KISS method. He told us very simply, "Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." In the quietness of our own stillness, we can hear the still small voice of God. If we can only get quiet and get to our own stillness, God whispers to us, each one of us personally. God does not force Himself on us because He gave us free will. We have the choice not to get quiet, not to be still, not to listen to His quiet voice within. We can choose the harried chase, running from book to book, teacher to teacher, viewpoint to viewpoint if we want to. We have free will.
In all my readings and studies of both religious and secular viewpoints about how I could find the kingdom within, I discovered something. I discovered that the kingdom within is talked about over and over again within many of the systems that I researched.
The challenge is that we can get so caught up in researching the systems that we miss the prize. The prize is God. The prize is very personal communion with God in the very private kingdom of God within.
As an example. Raja Yoga is called the royal way of God union. It is a wonderful system to discover the kingdom of God within. It is called the science of actual realization of the kingdom of God that lies within oneself. But how many of us get caught up in the system itself and forget the goal?
It is the same with all outer systems, forms of practice to help us find the kingdom within. Are we more concerned with the outer system? Is it the system we are looking for? Is it the system we desire? Do we get caught up with the doing of whatever system we are involved with and miss the prize, the goal? What is the prize of finding the kingdom within? The prize is God.
God is waiting patiently, quietly for each of us to be still and know Him. He is waiting for us to know Him in peace, love and in quietness. "In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength." (Isaiah 30:15) God is the wonderful personal prize waiting for us in stillness and quietness of the kingdom within each of us.
Jesus Christ came to show us the way. In the name of Jesus Christ and by the power of Jesus Christ we can very simply be still and know God at the very center of our being, the kingdom of God within. We shouldn't get distracted by the system of learning we are associated with and forget the prize. We should learn to go into the silence every day as if by appointment and meet with God in the kingdom of the quietness within our being. We shouldn't get distracted by the teachers, or by the teachings we are associated with and forget the prize. The prize is God. We should be still and know God at the center of our being and find God, the wonderful personal prize waiting for us in the stillness and quietness of the kingdom of God within each of us.
(I can point my mouse to the Bible verse listed and see it on my screen. I downloaded the FREE version of Instaverse to my windows laptop computer. It is a blessing. You can download it using this link: http://www.instaverse.com/) (Unfortunately it does not work on iPad.)
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