John 6:15, New Living Translation

“When Jesus saw that they were ready to force him to be their king, he slipped away into the hills by himself.”

When I think about the teachings and the wholeness of the life of Jesus, I find comfort in knowing that the Kingdom He brought and revealed within and among us was never meant to be birthed or built through political force or national identity.

He did not identify with the religious or political rulers of His day… He did not seek power to rule over anyone. Twice He was offered earthly kingship… once when Satan showed Him “all the kingdoms of the world,” and again when the crowds tried to seize Him after He fed the five thousand… and both times Jesus refused. That was not His life’s purpose. He walked away from the very thing many today believe will advance God’s purposes. Why? Because His Kingdom is not of this world’s systems… not rooted in national cultures… and not meant to glorify the works of men.

His Kingdom is within… born in the heart by the Spirit, the very essence of our Creator… growing from the inside out through love, mercy, and the grace that transforms lives. Those born of His Spirit of humility and righteousness do not seek to rule from the top down… they serve with a new heart from the bottom up.

That’s why the early believers weren’t known as rulers, enforcers, or warriors, but simply as the people of the Way… an ever-increasing spiritual family whose lives reflected Jesus through humility, compassion, forgiveness, generosity, and sacrificial love. His Kingdom still resides within those who seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness… and not our own definition of such.

In 1999, when the Spirit of God as our Father asked me to let go of my own vision for my life to receive His purpose, His essence showed me a time in the future when He would expose the corruptions that feed humanity’s desire for power over relationship—not to condemn the world, but to awaken those ensnared by the ways of the world over the Way of Jesus, our brother.

Through His light within, people everywhere, globally, would be given the opportunity to pause, look within, and repent where needed… bringing about the greatest move of His Spirit within hearts to date.

That kind of inner transformation cannot be legislated or forced… it can only come through the Father’s Spirit touching our heart as His Spirit transforms each of us, beginning within. His Kingdom spreads, person to person…heart to heart…never by coercion…always offering His gift of redemption through mercy and grace.

When we confuse political power with spiritual authority, we lose sight of the very thing Jesus came to show us—that His Kingdom is relational, not rooted in man-made divisions; spiritual, not political…and carried mercifully and gratefully forward by people who serve with humility, not a people who dominate.