Thy kingdom come has broad applications - Jim Croft

Thy kingdom come has broad applications 

- Jim Croft

Most everyone is familiar with the Lord’s Prayer. The first petition within it is thy kingdom come. When Jesus issued the prayer to his disciples, it is doubtful that the first thought of kingdom that came to their minds was that of the supernatural dynamics of Charismatic church services. 

At that juncture, the concept of what authentic church services might entail had not fully evolved. That would not begin until the first introduction of the Lord’s functional Church on the Day of Pentecost after his resurrection. 

 It is clear from the Gospels and Acts 1, that when kingdom was mentioned, the first thought that likely came to the mind of Jews was the restoration of the kingdom of Israel to the Jews. The ministry of Jesus gave the Jewish population great hopes of riddance of Roman occupation. 

 Political activists were among his 12 Apostles and the population wanted to crown him as King. The longing for the restoration of the kingdom to Israel was heavy on the minds of the 120 at the time of Jesus’ ascension from the Mount of Olives. The last question they asked the Master was when the kingdom would be restored to the Jews. 

Interestingly, he did not dismiss the issue as having no importance whatever in God’s plan. He told his followers that the timing of that event was in his Father’s hands. (Act 1:3, 6-7) The text does not remotely imply that it will not happen. 

I will not attempt to list all of the events that must happen to usher in the 2nd Advent of the Lord. But, I’ll try to give a thumbnail sketch pertinent to the restoration of the kingdom to Israel and the onset of the Battle of Armageddon. The restored kingdom must include every inch of land promised to the descendants of Abraham and Jacob. 

 If God does not fulfill his ancient vow about the restoration of Israel’s kingdom borders, we have no reason to believe that the Bible’s other unfulfilled prophecies are reliable. (Deut. 1:7-8) 

The Promised Land’s northern boundaries are to extend from the Mediterranean on the west and then eastward all the way to the Euphrates River. From the north to south, it must cover the territory from the middle of Lebanon; a bit of Syria; most of present-day Jordan to near proximity southward to Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Israel has not had full possession of the land promised since Solomon’s day. 

Presently, hostile forces occupy the largest portions of the Jew’s homeland. Only 34% of the world’s Jewry resides in Israel. The other 66% remain dispersed in other locales. The entire acreage must be under Jewish control and they must dwell there safely for a considerable time without fear of invasion. 

The prophets declared that the Lord would gather Israel into her land for a second time. (Isa. 11:11-12) There are at least 4 biblical references to that era evolving into the Jew’s full possession of their homeland and unprecedented national peace with no fear of enemies. (Ezek 38:8, 11, 14, 39:26) 

The nature of their state of peace is exemplified by a symbolic vision. Cattle will graze with bears and little kids can stick their hands into venomous snake dens without harm. (Isa 7:6-9, 65:17-25) We have not seen much of that recently and much less Israel dwelling with no concerns about attacks. 

At some point Israel’s peace will be disrupted as the combined military forces of the nations gather to marshal a unified assault. This will take place on Israel’s Plain of Megiddo. Armageddon is the Hebrew translation for the Mount of Megiddo. (Rev 16:16-21, 19:11-21) 

In regard to a short term countdown toward any battle akin to Armageddon, there are 2 essential facts to keep in mind: It cannot happen until massive numbers of Jews are engrafted into the Church. (Ezek 20:34-38; Rom 11:17-36; Eph 2:14-16, 4:13) And, the Jews must be enjoying full peaceful possession of their Promised Land. 

I cannot claim that the Jews of Israel don’t have any culpability for getting dispossessed from settlements that legitimately belong to them by world leaders that have Islamic sentiments. God said he would uproot the Jews from their land if they disobeyed his statutes. (2 Chron 7:19-20) 

They continually do so and worse still, they refuse to acknowledge the identity of their Messiah. I suggest that you insert a new focus of prayer when you pray thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Let it be about more than legitimate kingdom perks for your household and deliverance from evil. 

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; the salvation of the Jews; and that they will soon gain full possession of the land promised to them by God. (Psa 122:6-8; Rom 9:3-5) I have done so for years and enjoy a level of blessings that I am zealous for all believers to enjoy. What say you?

Photo/ and map added by Love For His People.

Updated Spiritual Warfare Tactic - Jim Croft

Updated Spiritual Warfare Tactic - Jim Croft

(This article is superior to my sermon of 1/20/14 on the Omega Man Internet Radio Show)


It is my belief that the Scriptures hold what are for us are ever evolving strategies to combat satanic forces. I have been meditating on how to better help believers who have ongoing perplexities in particular areas of life. My customary approach has been to advise repentance from habitual sins; advise wearing down fleshly desires by denial of activation; and to treat exceptionally stubborn issues as demons that need to be expelled.

All of those are legitimate aspects of spiritual warfare, but there is another that could be of great help in some situations. It’s to go after a fallen angel that has been personally assigned to complicate the life of a believer at a particular juncture of life. The premise for this line of reasoning is taken from the hint in Matt 18:10 that God assigns personal guardian angels to people. With this in mind, it is feasible to imagine that the Devil mimics the practice by assigning evil fallen angels that commandeer earth’s demons to harass individuals.

To understand how this might work, let’s envision Satan’s kingdom like an earthly army comprised of enlisted rank demonic infantry and higher ranked officer fallen angels. The evil spirits, the demons live on earth which is within the 1rst heaven.

The evil fallen angels are headquartered in the 2nd heaven immediately above earth’s atmosphere. The 3rd heaven is the dwelling of the Triune God and his multitudes of holy angels. (2Cor 12:2-4) It is also populated by the spirits of the righteous dead who are waiting to be rejoined to their bodies in glorified form at the Coming of the Lord.

Demons are earthbound trench soldiers. They incessantly go wandering about looking for a human personality to inhabit and/or they perch in close proximity to an individual selected for a given type of harassment. Demons obey the warfare directives of officer fallen angles that dwell in the 2nd heaven. It is Satan’s headquarters as the Prince of the Power of the Air. (Eph 2:2-3)

Daniel’s Experience

The 10th Chapter of Daniel depicts that during Daniel’s and Israel’s captivity in Babylon that the prophet entered a period of prayer and fasting to learn about his people’s future. After 21 days, he was visited by an angel who was likely the Arch Angel Gabriel.

This powerful messenger told Daniel that from the first day of his praying that his words had been heard and that he had been sent to bring answers.

However, Gabriel explained that he had been held up for 21 days in making it to Daniel by warfare in the heavens with a fallen angel identified as the prince over Persia. At that time, Babylon was under Persian control.

Gabriel was not able to continue his journey to Daniel until the Arch Angel Michael came to assist him. He distracted the prince of Persia by engaging in battle with him and with the other evil entities that Gabriel had been battling singlehanded. (Dan 10:11-14) While Michael kept the powers of the principality over Babylon busy, Gabriel slipped through to Daniel.

Before Gabriel gave the requested answers to Daniel that are found in Dan 11, he gave him a glimpse into an aspect of the nature of spiritual warfare. He told him that he would again have to battle with the prince of Persia on his return to the 3rd heaven. He also informed Daniel that Babylon was due to come under the control of the Greeks next. (Dan 10:20-21) This happened through the conquering campaigns of Alexander the Great.

Change of Administrations

Babylon was first controlled by Chaldeans; then Persians; and then the Greeks. The entire region of the ancient Babylonian Empire is now under the primary control of Islam. This demonstrates that as years pass and circumstances change, that there are correlating changes of guard with the evil principalities over nations. Eph 6:11-13 admonishes believers that our wrestling match is with these powers in the heavens. But, our battle does not stop there.

We are also responsible to expel demons from the lives of those who have some area of life under demonic control. We are also to do the same for ourselves wherever needed. Previously, I saw battles with evil angels in the heavenlies as a separate issue from expelling evil spirits here on earth.

Spiritual warfare in the heavens was about wresting political control of cities and nations from evil earthly rulers who are manipulated by fallen officer angels in the 2nd heaven. Expelling demons was about delivering God’s people from various types of demonic control. Now, I suspect that there is a connection between assigned evil officer angels in the heavens and the evil spirits that complicate the lives of individuals here on earth.

I have come to the opinion that a reason that many people have to repeatedly fight the same demons again and again is because the evil officer angel that marshal earthbound demonic forces against them have not been dealt with. Therefore, I heavily suggest that it would be best to first discern and shackle the mouth of a particular officer angel in the heavens. This will stop it from issuing commands to demons within the person before the person receives deliverance ministry to expel the demons from their life.

In a similar manner in which there were administration changes of the fallen angels over the Babylonian Empire, there can be changes in the evil officer angel over a person’s life. Most every Christian has had the experience of changes in the nature of his spiritual battles as he advanced in age.

In teen-life it might be fears of rejection and awkward feelings about personal characteristics. In early marriage, it might be temper tantrums and temptation to divorce. In later life, the struggle is commonly with demons of depression fueled by regrets about broken relationships and life’s other tragic happenings.

Howbeit, if an individual has never learned how to effectively wage spiritual warfare, there can be long range consequences. They can carry the excess baggage from every administration of fallen angel assigned to their life and the particular demons that each administration sent into their lives. This need not be so.

The Process

Prayerfully evaluate the current stage of your life and what issues you suspect are of demonic origin. If you have not ever received deliverance ministry and/or have not conducted self deliverance, take your past struggles under consideration also. The chances are that substantial demonic holdouts from previous administrations are still lurking. Name the evil spirits that might be in you or harassing you from a close proximity perch.

Their names are their function such as fear, rejection, laziness, addictions, abusive language, hatred, unforgiveness, and so forth that correlate with most every negative emotion and physical malady.
It could be that you will notice that the categories of demonic troubles changed from one period of your life to the next.

A given category can serve as the name and nature of the fallen officer angel assigned to commandeer that particular category of earthbound demons during a given period of your life. Examples might be that the fallen angel over a teen could be sexual fantasies; over an adult, bitterness; and over a senior, short-term memory loss.

Whatever the case, first command the mouth of the commanding officer angel in the heavenlies to be shut from issuing commands to demons. Then shackle it with chains of confessions about the blood of Jesus’ powers and with the manacles of the high praises of God. According to Psa 149:5-9 and Rev 12:7-11, you have the authority to do so.

Psa 8:2 conveys that praises from a mere spiritual babe can silence the enemy. Afterward, proceed to expelling the demons while calling them by the descriptive name of their function.

I’ll give you a testimony of a dear member of my church who practiced what I have outlined in this article. At one time, he had a boss who was given to irrational emotional outburst at importune times. He identified the evil officer angel over the man’s life as one that commandeered a demon of insanity within the man.

Prior to interaction with his boss, the Christian would first shackle the mouth and function of the evil angel of irrational mood swings in the heavenlies. It worked and the man became far easier to deal with.

Years passed and the boss retired, but he still owned the facility that housed the business of which my church member had become president. In a recent year, the rental agreement had to be renegotiated with the owner.
The negotiations were disrupted by the owner’s bombastic irrational demands. Everyone’s blood pressure became elevated by the agitations. What happened? My friend forgot to deal with the fallen angel over the man before going into the boardroom with him.

My hope is 3-fold. It is that you will try the tactic I’ve outlined in your own circumstances and when dealing with others that need help. Foremost, I hope the advice that I’ve given is an asset in your spiritual weaponry. One way or the other, there is no harm in experimentation as spiritual warfare is not an exact science. We learn by trial and error that has precedent in the Word.

Simmer Down Saints - Jim Croft

Simmer Down Saints

A plea for believers to enjoy the rich full lives that God intended 

Jim Croft

I deeply respect Billy Graham. Once, after he entered his senior years, I read a statement that he made about his life and ministry. It was something akin to: If I had it to do all over again, I would spend more time enjoying my family.

My objective in this article is to serve the saints in a manner where at life’s end they can look back and have full confidence of lives well spent. I am not at all sure that lives of incessant, front-burner preoccupation with religion 24/7 can accomplish this. I am not suggesting abandonment of first love fervency for Jesus and for matters of the Kingdom.

I am rather suggesting that hyper, non-stop busyness in any aspect of life cannot produce the quality of a rich and satisfying life that Jesus promised. (Jn 10:10 NLT) In this I have an observation. Christians who have the wisdom to balance their lives between intense spiritual activity and relaxed enjoyment of life’s many God ordained pleasures reap optimum credibility with the converted and the unconverted. (1Pet 2:12)

The Bible

The Word of God might be described as God’s ongoing conversation with humanity. No matter how much we read it and how well we think we know it, the Lord always manages to show us new principles with each reading about living life his way. It is best to discern what the Scriptures imply about the entirety of life, rather than just the explicit spiritual activities spoken of in the Bible.

Godly men were inspired to write the Scriptures. The cumulative revelation of the Bible is greater than the revelation of any single one of its book’s authors. Unbeknownst to them, the words they penned contained much beyond the revelations that they wanted to emphasize in a particular writing session. Their by- the-way remarks carry as much revelation about how we should live as anything they intended to convey about religious practice.

Most sermons and testimonies focus on the spiritual aspects of life in the Spirit. We are constantly challenged to increase our concentration on more prayer, praise, witnessing, spiritual-warfare, greater exploits in spiritual gifts, and the exercise of faith confessions, and so forth. That’s all needed. However, in some regards overdose on that diet can become problematic.

It tends to produce a mindset that leads believers to think that they are failing Christian responsibility if every moment of existence does not have some sort of purposed spiritual activity insertion. Too many saints fear disapproval about taking time to smell the roses of life and to rejoice in their God-given capacities for creativity. Some are hesitant about sharing that they have zeal for pursuit of hobbies and other secular interests. This should not be so.

The Bible speaks of the Wisdom of Solomon. At various points in Ecclesiastes he advocated these sentiments - Enjoy the fruits of your labor. Your portion, along with that of your family, is to delight in God’s blessed provision of clothing, food and drink all of the days of your life. (Eccl 9:7-9)

The New Testament has similar admonitions interwoven into it that are too often ignored. Apart from church involvement, it’s godly to live a quiet productive life minding your own affairs and business. (1Th 4:11; 1Tim 2:2; Eph 4:28)

Unfortunately, there are believers who have been persuaded that if they let up for a moment from heavy spiritual-warfare that something terrible might happen. This is a deception. None of the Bible heroes were exempt  from occasional bad eventualities regardless of their focus on intense spirituality and neither are we.

Solomon said that bad things happen to the righteous as well as the unrighteous. (Eccl 9:2) I have dedicated my life to an environment of zealous Christians. I have not seen evidence or experienced that super spirituality builds impenetrable hedges to tragedies in relationships, health and prosperity.

Does spiritual fervency block much and are there often full recoveries? Yes! But, those who preach guarantees of protection by this method and that are setting- up significant numbers of their audience for disappointment and disillusionment.

A Shepherd’s Contentment

I believe that the early life of the Bible’s David supports leading a quiet life of contentment at minding one’s own affairs. He was a shepherd who led his flock to green pastures and to still waters. However, he wasn’t living in Colorado. He lived in the arid climate of the Middle East.

I’ve seen shepherds there grazing their flocks in areas that had no evidence of lush vegetation. But, those shepherds know that their sheep can grow fat eating the stubble they find in locales that have appearance of barrenness. Herding sheep in David’s day was not a labor intensive occupation.

There were intermittent glances to check on the welfare of foraging livestock. At times, sheep had to be liberated from brambles. Other than that, there was a whole lot of time spent finding a comfortable place to sit to escape the sun’s heat in inhospitable terrain. Any shepherd who did not find a hobby to creatively fill his time was sentenced to vocational boredom.

A hobby of David’s was practicing with his sling to hit imaginary herd assailants. I suspect that a lion, bear, or wolf trying to pick-off a sheep could have almost been a welcome intrusion for him.

Forgive me, but I also suspect that David’s acquired proficiency in playing the harp and at composing poetic songs might have initially qualified as a hobby to offset routine boredom. Later, it was his sling, harp and songs that gave him access to fame and fortune. And, for sure his words of contentment have benefitted godly people throughout the centuries.

Religion or Life

Like David and the members of the Early Church, Christ has made a rich satisfying life available to you. It is not a sign of Laodicean lukewarmness to simmer down from excessive preoccupation with religion.

My churches have always been noted for believers who are of high spiritual fervency and proficiency in various fields of Christian service. I have not ever scolded anyone for taking time off to enjoy family and secular enjoyments.

The fact is that at one time I was concerned that our people were too busied with flocking to church every time the doors were opened. Solution – Stop Sunday services for over a year. We relied on midweek home meetings for fellowship, mutual ministry to one another, and for generating the income for a fulltime staff of 8. All needs were met in every respect.

I have practiced the simmer down approach for many years. When we sense that God is about to move in spectacular ways, we are prepared to respond accordingly by laying aside other interests. When that is not obvious, we don’t try to manufacture it by continuous meeting marathons to call down heaven. Though we regularly pray for and believe for great outpourings of the Spirit, we leave the initiative to God.

Does the simmer down approach work? That it does. The fellowships that I have pastored have had a history of experiencing influential revivals and at producing an uncommon number of laymen who have meaningful ministries of their own.

Not long ago, I was discussing these things with my wife, Prudence.  I made a comment that brought a smile to my lips. It was that I am truly happy with the life with which God has blessed us. An alternate translation for blessed is happier.

That dear friend is what I covet for you. I want you happier than those solely confined to hopes of fulfillment at the next meeting. For me, your betterment in every good aspect of life is worth any criticism that might come my way for denting conventional spiritual perceptions in this article.

Editor's Note: artwork below added by me. Steve Martin