Luke 22:29 NKJV
And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me,

Luke 23:1-3 NKJV
Then the whole multitude of them arose and led Him to Pilate. And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, saying that He Himself is Christ, a King.” Then Pilate asked Him, saying, “Are You the King of the Jews?” He answered him and said, “It is as you say.” So Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no fault in this Man.” But they were the more fierce, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee to this place.”

Matthew 12:22 NKJV
Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw.

Ephesians 4:27 NKJV
nor give place to the devil.

1 Peter 5:8-9 NKJV
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

Ecclesiastes 8:8 NKJV
No one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit, And no one has power in the day of death. There is no release from that war, And wickedness will not deliver those who are given to it.

Matthew 22:37 NIV
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’

Proverbs 23:7 NKJV
For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. “Eat and drink!” He says to you, But his heart is not with you.

Isaiah 26:3 NKJV
You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You.

Philippians 4:8 NKJV
Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

Matthew 11:12 NKJV
And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.

Matthew 12:22-29 NKJV
Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. And all the multitudes were amazed and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.” But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.

Acts 16:15-17 NKJV
Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling.

1 Peter 5:8-9 NKJV
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith,

Acts 16:17-18 NKJV
This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour.

Mark 16:16-17 NKJV
He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;

1 John 3:23 NKJV
And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.

1 John 4:1-3 NKJV
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

Ephesians 3:10 NKJV
to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places,

Mark 9:38-40 NKJV
Now John answered Him, saying, “Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us.” But Jesus said, “Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me. For he who is not against us is on our side.

Acts 19:13-16 NKJV
Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

Ephesians 2:6 NKJV
and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

Luke 13:10-16 NKJV
Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.” And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, “There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day.” The Lord then answered him and said, “Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?”

Galatians 3:29 NKJV
And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

James 4:7 NKJV
Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Psalm 56:9 NKJV
When I cry out to You, Then my enemies will turn back; This I know, because God is for me.

Acts 2:40 NKJV
And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.”

“Father, thank you for keeping my mind in perfect peace as I keep it fixed on you. Holy Spirit, I thank you for leading and guiding me into every truth that you have for me in this message, and for the wisdom to understand it. Help me to consider and remember all of your truth, your ways, and your promises as I go about my days, in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

Key Concepts/Truths
One of the first public addresses that Jesus gave was concerning the Kingdom, “repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand,” meaning that it is here, available, and within reach.

Jesus came talking about the Kingdom, left talking about it, and everything in between was Him demonstrating how to live in it now.

Jesus’ name has authority, salvation, deliverance, healing, provision, and peace. We have permission to use that name.

Jesus taught us to pray to God saying “your Kingdom come, your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.” The Kingdom is for here and now as opposed to only for Heaven someday.

We are in a war, and it’s our responsibility to recognize it. The devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy whether we are ready for him or not. It’s up to us to resist him, and then he will flee.

Loving the Lord with all our mind doesn’t mean to simply think loving thoughts toward Him. It means to dedicate ourselves to renewing our mind, having a self awareness concerning our thoughts, and being purposeful to think thoughts that line up with God’s Word.

Developing our minds to the Kingdom truths is essential to a new life in Christ.

The number one place that the devil will attack us is in our minds because our thoughts become actions, our actions become habits, and habits determine the paths we walk.

It’s important to guard our minds from resting in thoughts that we should not be resting in.

We can’t stop a thought from coming, but we can stop a thought from being received and resting in it.

God has given His wisdom, power, victory, and authority to us, in Christ, to make it known to the devil that he, his demons, and his schemes are defeated.

It’s our responsibility to know who we are in Christ, what is available to us as sons and daughters of God, and to walk in it for His glory.

Daily Application
Why do we chase things like education, wealth, or beauty? God offers something higher than education -- wisdom. He has something richer than wealth -- providence. He freely gives the greatest form of beauty -- knowing our identity in Him.

The things of this world, even “good” things, will fail us every single time we try to place our hope in them. We may know that we have a God who gives all of those things, but are we making that plainly known to a world that doesn’t know?

Sharing the gospel of the Kingdom is meant to be a joy. It’s really a very simple thing. We yield to God, reflect Christ in what we do, and live by following what the Holy Spirit says. We can’t prove the hope of Jesus by having the best “gotcha” Christian comeback to an argument, by cutting ourselves off from those He calls us to influence, or by winning the world’s rat race. To reflect the hope and peace that is only available through Jesus, we need to think differently -- the way that He thinks. We can’t do that apart from Him.

The good news is that as we remain in Him, He remains in us, and His light, hope, and peace shine through. When we begin to live as we were created to be, we will point people to Christ out of the overflow of Him inside of us. There can be no truer witness than Christ, inside of us, spilling out to a lost and dying world.

This week, take the time to sit and ask Jesus where we have the most room to grow in reflecting Him.

We know that there is such richness in Christ, so let’s do all we can to live the life He designed for us, reflecting Him, and showing the hope that is only found in Him. It will change the world.

This Week’s Declaration
“I am in Jesus and He is in me. God sees Jesus when He looks at me, and He has given me all of the wisdom, power, and authority to defeat the devil, his demons, and his works. I take that power and authority and I practice it. I sow seeds of it in my life. I look for opportunities to hear God and to act on what He says. I am not only a hearer of His Word, but a doer. As I do God’s word, I know I will see God’s abundant life unfold before my eyes, reaching a world that so desperately needs it, in Jesus’ name!”