The Kingdom Perspective

Table of Contents: Chapter 1: The Beginning Chapter 2: His Kingdom Chapter 3: A Matter of Perspective Chapter 4: Kingdom Perspective on Marriage Chapter 5: Kingdom Perspective on Children Chapter 6: The Power of the Blood of Jesus Chapter 7: Be Still & Rest in Christ Chapter 8: His Sheep Hear His Voice Chapter 9: He loves to Share His Secrets with His Friends Chapter 10: The Favor and Pleasure of God Chapter 11: Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven Chapter 12: In these End Times Chapter 13: A Caution and a Warning Chapter 14: Seeking His Kingdom AND His Righteousness Chapter 15: It will Cost Us Everything Chapter 16: ARISE & SHINE! Prologue: A Vision received on 3/2/08 During a time of waiting silently before the Lord, I saw myself with Jesus. He was dressed in white and He was holding my hand. He took me to the same cliff He had shown me before. The first time He had shown me this place, there was a huge valley below. It was filled with different army camps. Each of the armies had beautiful tents and banners. From looking at the various styles, designs and colors of these tents and banners, however, it was clear that these army camps were individualistic and not unified. The camps were all separated and scattered through out the valley. At that particular time, the Lord had told me that this represented the state of His army (the Church). This second time, as I stood with Him on the cliff and looked down in the valley, no longer did I see individual camps. Instead there was one huge army and all the groups were unified. There was a red theme throughout the military encampment. There were still tents in different styles (and I sensed it may have to do with different nations and movements). I saw banners blowing in the wind over different groups that were as beautifully ornate and exquisite as the tents. Over the entire army, however, I saw one huge banner flying overhead. On it was written in bold capital letters, “MY KINGDOM.” Then I saw some of the people in His army close up as they came out of the tents. Although they were clothed in different cultural & ethnic styles, they were all dressed as royalty and in white. They were beautiful and glorious to behold. Chapter 1- The Beginning... On April 18th, 1997, my life and the life of my husband were changed forever with the birth of our firstborn child Koby. He lived for just 4-5 hours. Death is deeply painful to encounter, especially when it takes the life of someone very close and dear to your heart. When Koby passed away, I had to wrestle not just with death, but with the truth of the finality and shortness of life, with the truth that our lives on Earth are but a vapor in time and surprisingly, with the truth of heaven. Honestly, before my son died, I lived with heaven being some kind of happy thought that I tucked at the back of my mind that I knew would come at the end of my life. But as the Lord walked me and my husband Dwight through this road of suffering and loss, He began to show us something that filled our hearts to overflow with hope – the reality and truth of Jesus’ heavenly kingdom. We were changed forever by his short life. Within a year of his passing, I began to sense the Lord asking me to write about what we walked through with the loss of our son. To be honest, it seemed an impossible task both for my heart and for my lifestyle, which in that season included teaching high school science full time. After my second child was born, I quit teaching to become a full time mom. But I still didn’t have the courage or passion to write. Year after year, the call from the Lord to write Koby’s story increased in intensity until finally, after receiving prophetic words about being an author from deeply respected and proven leaders over a span of 7 years, getting confirmations from those in spiritual authority over me, and having the full blessing, support and agreement from my wonderful husband, I finally obeyed the Lord and wrote Whatever Brings You Greater Glory published in December of 2004. Immediately after the book was completed and printed, I felt both ecstatic and relieved. Ecstatic in that I finally wrote and published the book, which I knew was a huge miracle and divine act of God; relieved in that I would never have to do that again. At least, that’s what I thought. I remember letting out a deep sigh of relief and telling myself, "Whew! Glad that’s over! I obeyed God and now my short term ‘career’ as an author is done! I won’t have to do that ever again.” One week later, I was spending time being still before the Lord, waiting on Him in silence when I heard him “speak” to my heart. “By the way Liza…” My heart started thumping as I thought, “Oh no.” I then responded in my heart, “Yes Lord?” “Liza, I want you to write a second book and I want you to entitle it The Kingdom Perspective.” My heart stopped as my mind screamed, “WHAT? You’re kidding right? You want me to write another book? And what the heck is “The Kingdom Perspective” anyway? How can I write a book on something I am clueless about? This is intimidating Lord. Who am I to write a book on that subject? I thought I was done writing!” Yes, I was complaining. Sorry. Just being blunt honest. Eventually, I finally stopped and repented to the Lord for my bickering and complaining. And as I asked the Lord to confirm what He told me, He immediately gave me the following verse: Jeremiah 30:2 (NAS) – “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, Write all the words which I have spoken to you in a book.” So I simply surrendered. “Ok Jesus. I love You. If this is what You want me to do, I will do it. Whatever brings You greater glory Lord. If You want me to write this book, I’ll write it. But You have to help me. Be it done to me according to Your will.” Right after this, I heard absolutely nothing about it from Jesus for over 1 year. (Doesn’t our God have His own unique sense of humor?) During this season of silence, I would find myself doubting the Lord’s call to write this 2nd book. The following questions would batter my mind. "Lord, did I miss the boat?” “Were my spiritual ears tone deaf that day and I just heard my own flesh or the enemy?” I would catch myself worrying and stressing out about what and how to write this 2nd book. And I would find myself once more in a fierce battle with my mind. “Who am I to ‘teach’ on this subject Lord?” “Jesus, I’m just a stay home mom. I’m not a theologian!” “How the heck am I going to even start this task?” Now, you’ve got to realize that this was at the end of 2004; and throughout 2005, the “kingdom of heaven” wasn’t yet a buzz phrase that a lot of people were talking about- at least not in my world. Since then, the kingdom of heaven is something most followers of Jesus are talking about, which is a God thing. Going back to Jeremiah 30:2 (NAS) – “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, Write all the words which I have spoken to you in a book.” I found this verse personally very confirming. Because of it, I’ve tried to vigilantly write those things He had spoken and shown me down in my journals. That is why most of this book contains journal entries of these special times with Jesus. I have to confess, I still stressed out between doubt, unbelief and self-pity about writing this manuscript. The Lord did later speak to my heart about it. "Liza, when I asked you to write this book, The Kingdom Perspective, I wasn’t asking you to write it like a theologian or expert. All I want you to do is to write about My Kingdom through your eyes. It will be a living testimony of how I can move through a family - a housewife & homemaker, 3 kids, and a godly man/husband." Immediately I felt a tremendous sense of relief and peace. Thank you Jesus!