In Luke 16:16 Jesus said “…the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it.” In another statement found in 17:21 He said “…the kingdom of God is within you.” Today the kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom established within those who believe on Jesus as their personal Redeemer and Savior. This kingdom is advanced by two components, preaching and pressing. Preaching is “to announce good news (evangelize)”. This must be with passion and spiritual fervor, as both John and Jesus did saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” Matthew 3:2; 4:17. Limiting our preaching to mere teaching, educational sessions, proclaiming love, and doing benevolent deeds (all of which the church should be doing) will limit our effectiveness for kingdom advancement. Preaching without impassioned prayer behind it, confrontation with the demonic, expectation of the miraculous, and a heart ablaze for evangelism will have little impact on the world! Pressing is “to force” or “crowd oneself (into). Matthew 11:12 says, “…the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.” Violence here comes from the same word as pressing in Luke, meaning to be a “forcer” or “energetic”; so the preaching of the gospel calls for an earnest response with whole hearted surrender and commitment! Some may make an overstatement of pressing and violence justifying un-Christ like behavior such as the historic crusades, politicizing, trying to produce righteousness through earth level means, and protests or demonstrations that too often become un-Christ-like in words or actions! This is not pressing in, pressing in can only be achieved through heartfelt surrender followed by the warfare of prayer and willing submission of self will and interests, fully committing to God’s will, kingdom life, and heavens interests!
The kingdom within
By Rose Hill
Men had fallen into sin,
But God had a plan for a new life to begin.
Christ our Savior and friend,
Brought us the hope of a beautiful end.
Submitting to His righteous way,
Will bring us into a brand new day!
With the kingdom of God established within,
We no longer walk in sin!
Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson Co. Used by permission