«　WEEK 1　DAY 6　»

　　Matt. 12:28 But if I, by the Spirit of God, cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

　　Psa. 110:3 Your people will offer themselves willingly in the day of Your warfare, in the splendor of their consecration. Your young men will be to You like the dew from the womb of the dawn.

　　The church's work and responsibility is spiritual warfare. It is a matter of the conflict between God's authority and Satan's power.

　　Some people think that the kingdom of God simply concerns the matter of rewards. This is too low of an estimate of the kingdom of God. The Lord Jesus once explained what the kingdom of God is. He said, "But if I, by the Spirit of God, cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you" (Matt. 12:28). What is the kingdom of God? It is the overthrowing of the power of Satan by the power of God. When the devil is unable to stand in a certain place, the kingdom has come to that place. Wherever the devil has been cast out, wherever the work of the enemy has been displaced by God's power, His kingdom is there. (CWWN, vol. 34, "The Glorious Church," p. 61)

　　Revelation 12:9-10 says, "And the great dragon was cast down, the ancient serpent, he who is called the Devil and Satan, he who deceives the whole inhabited earth; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, Now has come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ, for the accuser of our brothers has been cast down, who accuses them before our God day and night." We must pay attention to this word for in verse 10. The kingdom of God could come, "for" Satan had been cast down. Satan lost his place and could no longer stand there. At that time there was a loud voice in heaven saying, "Now has come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ."

　　Whenever Satan leaves a place, it is because the kingdom of God is there. Wherever the kingdom of God is, Satan cannot be there. This shows us clearly that in the Scriptures, the first, essential meaning of the kingdom of God is in regard to dealing with Satan.

　　The Lord wants us to pray, "Our Father who is in the heavens, Your name be sanctified; Your kingdom come; Your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth" (Matt. 6:9-10). If the coming of the kingdom of God was automatic, the Lord would never have taught us to pray in this way. But since the Lord asked us to pray in this way, He simply showed us that this is the work of the church. Yes, the church should preach the gospel, but much more, the church should pray to bring in the kingdom of God. Some people think that whether or not we pray, the kingdom of God will come automatically. But if we know God, we will never say this. The principle of God's work is to wait for His people to move. Then He will move. (CWWN, vol. 34, "The Glorious Church," pp. 61-63)

　　Psalm 110:3 says, "Your people will offer themselves willingly / In the day of Your warfare." The day of His warfare is to come. In a sense it has not yet come, but in a spiritual sense we are now in the day of Christ's warfare. As long as we are in the local churches, we are in the day of His warfare. This is the day when all His people are voluntary offerings. We all need to offer ourselves as voluntary offerings. Young lives offered in this way are exceedingly precious. Are you a voluntary offering? Do you mean it?

　　We have another very significant phrase in verse 3: in the splendor of their consecration. When we consecrate ourselves voluntarily to the Lord, it is a kind of beauty, a splendor. In a recent conference in Los Angeles, the Spirit moved mightily among us, and so many stood to offer themselves in consecration to Christ and the church. We had the sense then of the splendor of consecration. (CWWL, 1969, vol. 3, "Christ and the Church Revealed and Typified in the Psalms," p. 159)

　　Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 34, pp. 60-66; vol. 50, "Messages for Building Up New Believers (3)," pp. 728-742