A Contented Life Within Our Boundaries — Zac Poonen

Seeking God’s Kingdom Through His Government

I never understood for many years what it meant to seek the kingdom of God first. So as I understand it now, see the thing is we don't use the word kingdom nowadays. Whereas in those days every country was a kingdom, the king over it.

Today we use the word government more than kingdom. So I've understood it a little better when I think of the Lord saying, let God govern your life. The government of God, be under the government of God in every area.

And when we think of the standards that God has given us in his word, there's where we can fear that we might lose something on this earth if we allow the principles of God's kingdom to run every area of our life.

For example, if we forgive everyone who hurts us and look as if people will just take advantage of us in different situations if we are true Christians, live by the principles of what Jesus taught. So deep down in our hearts we can hear all these wonderful things and have a little doubt, does it really work like that in my office and different situations I face?

Can I really live by the principles of Christ? And those are the places where we have the opportunity to prove that it does work. That if we put God first in every area of our life and live 100 by the principles Jesus taught to walk as he walked on this earth, that of course people will take advantage of us, there's no doubt, as they took advantage of Christ.

I mean, Judas Iscariot, for example, was stealing so much of the money from, money given for Christ was stolen by Judas. People took advantage of him, but he didn't starve. And if we believe what the Bible says in a verse in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, this is the thing that really helped me and I had to ask myself whether I really believed it.

God’s Faithfulness in Testing and Temptation

And I do. That's where we know that God is in control. In 1 Corinthians 10, verse 13, in the middle of that verse it says, God will not allow any circumstance to come into your life where the trial or the temptation will be too much for you to bear.

He will ensure that in some way that pressure will get reduced on you. It's impossible to live as a Christian on this earth if we don't believe that verse. We will somewhere or the other compromise and behave like a worldly person and say, well, in this particular circumstance, I can't do what the Bible says.

I can't live like Jesus told me to live in this particular circumstance. But if you believe this verse, a couple of other verses too, but first this one, that I can never, never, never in my workplace or with my relatives or neighbors or all the people I have to deal with ever face a situation, ever, ever, where God will allow me to be tested beyond my ability at that particular stage of my spiritual development.

You see, our spiritual development is like going from one grade to another in school. And just like at each stage, we get examinations. In India, we call it class, not grade, first standard, second standard, third standard.

There are examinations which we have to pass before we go to the next standard or the next grade. So in no class will a teacher ever give us a question paper that is beyond our level or something that we have not been taught.

Never, never, never. It will always be to the level to which we have been taught. And if it is something in the question paper, we can be absolutely sure it's something we are taught. So here I see that God will not allow me to be tested beyond my ability.

Think if I can look into the entire future and say, I don't care whether it's next year or 10 years or 20 years from now, I can never face a situation where God is not controlling and ensuring that the people who are around me and the circumstances that I may face, and we don't even know what we face in the future, if we believe in a God who runs this universe and who is intensely, personally interested in every one of his children, controlling every detail of their circumstance and ensuring that they'll never be tested by anything beyond their ability.

I mean think of any situation some of you may be facing right now or that you faced in the past and you found a little unbelief coming in that, well, will this get too much for me? Will it become too much for me next week or next month?

I say if you trust in God, impossible. If your life is completely surrendered to the Lord like Jesus was, you know the thing about Jesus' life was he did not want anything outside of God's will for his life.

Nothing. He was quite happy to be in the circumstances in which the Father arranged for him and he was perfectly happy there. We don't know what all difficulties he faced in Nazareth living, we can imagine, the Bible doesn't reveal it but I found in different situations in my own life, you know like Jesus said the Holy Spirit will take of the things of mine and show it to you and I have understood that verse in John 16 to mean that the things that are not written in the Bible but something about Jesus' private life, inner life, inner attitudes, the Holy Spirit will take and reveal to us in that particular time when we are facing some situation and he'll tell us this is how Jesus reacted in this situation and then I get a new revelation of Christ in that situation.

If I believe then I can walk as he walked and I'm eager to walk as he walked and I'm really seeking Holy Spirit of God show me exactly what Jesus would do in this particular situation. He would never be anxious, he would never be tense, he would never try to get his own back on anybody, he would never take revenge on anyone, he would never be unbelieving and tense wondering whether things will go beyond his control, never.

And it's a way of life that won't come straight away. I want to encourage all of you to pursue this because the Bible says as we approach the end of time things will be more and more difficult for Christians and that's going to be in every country.

Confidence in Christ During the Last Days

See what Jesus said about the last days in Luke chapter 21. In Luke 21 he said in the last days nation will rise against nation that's verse 10 onwards and there'll be great earthquakes and things like that and they'll lay hands on you and persecute you etc.

Maybe it's another passage. He says, yeah I think it's here somewhere, men's hearts will fail them for fear when they see the things that are happening around them. He says in verse 26, men's hearts will faint from fear, the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world.

I really believe it's going to be like that in the coming days. Men fainting from fear because they're wondering what's going to happen next. At that time, verse 28, when these things begin to take place, you should straighten up and lift up your heads because your redemption draws near, the coming of Christ is near.

So there's never a time when I should have my head hanging down wondering in fear or doubt or uncertainty. And I want to say that to the weakest person here. Some of you may say, well I'm very weak. Some of you may have probably some sickness which Believers like that, they don't know how it's going to develop.

Is it going to become something worse and incapacitate me and make me helpless? I have to believe that God will never allow me to be tested beyond my ability. He is my father and he understands we've got to keep on reminding ourselves God is my father, he will never let me down.

He knows, he knows the things I don't know. He knows all the details of the future. And he knows if I'm going to be helpless or weak one day, God will take care of me. You know, many of you are young and even for an older person, I remember once the Lord giving me this verse from Isaiah 46.

Because I myself grow older. Here's a word the Lord said to me in Isaiah 46 in verse 4. He said, even to your old age, I am the same. I'm not going to change. I am the same, the Lord says. To your gray hairs I'll bear you.

I've done it and I'll carry you. Verse 3, the middle, from your birth I bore you and I carried you. It's wonderful to know that. From birth to gray hairs and old age, the Lord says I'm the same. I'm going to take care of you.

All of us are in between, birth and old age. There will never be a time when the Lord's not going to bear us. See, that's the difference between a true believer and all the nominal Christians in the world.

There's an inner rest and peace in their heart. They're absolutely confident. There's a father in heaven who's caring for every detail of their life. And when you read the life of Jesus like that, I think of instances where they wanted to try and kill him.

And they couldn't do it. And the only reason given is his hour had not come. That's all. They couldn't kill him when he was a baby because before the soldiers came to kill him, the Lord had already taken care of that and taken him away from there.

And at other times, his hour had not come and something or the other happened and they wouldn't be able to capture him. But when the time came, then the Lord allowed them to capture him and whip him and kill him.

Walking as Jesus Walked

And I must believe what the Bible says. In 1 John 2, verse 6, it says that he who says he's a Christian, the Bible says, must live as Jesus lived. Now you read a verse like that and say that's impossible.

That's a great temptation when you read many verses in the Bible. I used to read a lot of verses in the Bible and just go over it as if it doesn't even apply to me. Anyone who says he's a Christian must live as Jesus lived, walk as Jesus walked.

1 John 2, verse 6. Is that possible? You look at it and say either possible or not possible. I say, Lord, by your help, possible. I'm not going to go into the PhD class straight away. I'm going to start in kindergarten and first grade and second grade.

Little by little, God leads us step by step, and you don't have to compare yourself with others who are in a higher grade, and we are not to judge others who are in a lower grade. One of the things I discovered is that God judges us according to the grade we are in.

So there are certain things which may be sin for me, but which is not sin for that brother. I don't know whether you understand that. See, like a person who's studying multiplication and long division in a higher grade, that kid in the first grade, he doesn't even have to bother about it.

I mean, if he's given a division or multiplication to somebody and he can't do it, he does not get zero for it. It's not even counted. But you in that grade, you know you've been taught that. You need to be able to do that.

So I see that spiritually also. There are things the Lord has taught me, and I see sin at a higher level, more serious, than another brother who doesn't see that as sin. Do you know the differences it will make in husband-wife relationships?

If a husband will recognize that thing is sin for me, but it is not sin for my wife, she probably doesn't see it as sin. She may be in another grade or in that subject. God has taught me something and not taught her.

So I may judge her, why is she doing that? God doesn't. You know that so many believers judge others in areas where God doesn't judge that person because God judges that person according to his level, whereas we judge people according to our level.

That's one of the main reasons why we should not judge. We must recognize one simple truth, that every believer is at a different level. And it's not just ten grades in Christian life, there are probably a thousand grades in the Christian life, and each person is at a different level.

That's helped me tremendously, to know that God judges me according to the light I have. And he will judge that person according to the light he has, not according to the light I have. Whereas we have this tendency to judge people according to the light we have.

Mercy, Judgment, and Spiritual Discernment

It's very easy to be merciful. Mercy is one of the great requirements in the Christian life. And God is merciful to those who are merciful to others. And it's very easy to be merciful to others when I recognize that that may not be sin for that person.

That person is doing that thing which I would never dream of doing it. Hey, he probably doesn't see it as wrong. And let me not judge him. And I believe it's this judgmental spirit that hinders our own spiritual growth.

Instead of judging ourselves, we judge a whole lot of people around us. Concerning what they are doing wrong. But I believe we need to see that it is wrong. But we're not here to judge or condemn them.

I was recently writing something in an article, and I was thinking a little more of this verse which says in Matthew 7, Judge not that you be not judged. And it's, you know, when you compare scripture with scripture.

Like when the devil told Jesus, it is written. His angels will take care of you. Jesus said it is also written. You shall not tempt the Lord your God. He balanced one scripture with another. Many people know Matthew 7 .1.

Don't judge because you'll be judged by the same standard with which you judge others. But the same Jesus who said that also said in John 7 that you must judge. So it is written do not judge. It is also written you must judge.

Have you seen that? In John chapter 7. John's Gospel chapter 7 and 24. Do not judge but judge. That's the balance. John 7 .24. So what he's forbidding is don't judge according to the appearance. No, it's not a period after that.

But, comma, but judge with righteous judgment. You know that every Christian is supposed to judge. If you don't judge, you're disobeying the scripture. And if you judge according to the outward appearance, you're disobeying the scripture.

We're not supposed to judge according to the outward appearance but we are supposed to judge with righteous judgment. So when I looked up this word judge in the Amplified Bible, it's one of the advantages of reading different translations.

There it says don't condemn and don't sentence a person like a judge sitting in a court, you know. He condemns a person and sentences him to prison or to be hanged or whatever it is. Don't condemn and sentence a person.

That's not your job. God is the judge who condemns and sentences people. But we must judge in the sense that we must discern what is right and what is wrong. There are people who say, for example, when they do some stupid thing and call it the manifestation of the Holy Spirit.

And they say, I don't agree with that. I don't believe that's the Holy Spirit at all. It's just your own emotion and your own excitement. They say, don't judge. Don't speak against the Holy Spirit. But the Bible says in 1 John chapter 4 that don't believe every spirit, but test it.

It's a clear command that when I see something when somebody claims to be a manifestation of the Holy Spirit, I don't just swallow it. You'll never grow spiritually if you swallow everything around you that people say this is from the Holy Spirit.

I have to test it. 1 John 4 .1, don't believe every spirit. Don't believe all these manifestations that you see which claim to be from the Holy Spirit. Test the spirits to see whether it's from God or not.

Because there are many false prophets who got out into the world. And that happened even in the first century. But the Spirit of God confesses that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. And that is from God.

So what I see from that verse is the Holy Spirit will show me Jesus there in that situation. So that's the meaning of verse 1 and 2. I'm not going to believe every spirit. But I know that Jesus came in the flesh and He was filled with the Holy Spirit.

So I know what a spiritual life is by looking at what I've seen in Jesus in the Gospels. And then I look at this particular manifestation and I ask myself, can I imagine Jesus doing this? If I say yes, it's of the Holy Spirit.

If I say no, I cannot in the wildest imagination imagine Jesus doing this. It's not of the Holy Spirit. I must reject it. And I mustn't be afraid of anybody telling me, oh, don't blaspheme against the Holy Spirit.

Because there are millions of Christians who are being fooled by all these preachers today. We must judge. And we must discern. We don't condemn. I mean, that preacher who's leading people astray, we see it's wrong and we'll say it's wrong.

And I'm not here to condemn him or sentence him. That's God's business. But I will say that he's fooling the people. He's deceiving the people. He's swindling the people of their money. But I'm not here to sentence him.

I'm not a judge sitting on the judge's seat to condemn him or sentence him. My calling is to be merciful. But coming back to what John says about walking as Jesus walked, in 1 John 3, it says here an amazing verse.

Sorry, 1 John 4, verse 17, the last part. It's been a verse that has helped me a lot in my life. The last part of verse 17. It's almost an unbelievable verse. As Jesus is, so are we in this world. This is what the Holy Spirit does in us.

Contentment With God’s Provision and Circumstances

If I'm really seeking God's will in my life, like Jesus did, his only aim in life was to finish the plan with which the Father sent him to earth. And if my only desire is like his, to fulfill the plan with which the Father sent me to this earth, I have no other desire other than that.

That's what it means to seek God's kingdom, to be completely under God's rule, that I have no ambition, for example, to make more money than God intended that I should earn on this earth. Imagine how restful your life will be if you can say, Lord, I have no desire to earn more money than you intended that I should earn on this earth.

You know, the rat race that there is all around us, the people who want to earn more and more and more and more, never ends. To be at rest in that. I know that if I live in your will, you will allow me to earn enough to take care of myself and my family.

I proved that for 50 years now. And it's really true. You don't have to get into this rat race. You say, Lord, I'll be content with what you give. It's a lot of people who are not content that have unrest.

If you look at unrest in your heart, ask yourself whether you are content as Jesus was with whatever the Father arranged for him. It's not just that he was born in a cow shed, which is a reproach to be born in a cow shed.

I've never met a person in my life who was born in such lowly circumstances. That's how the Father planned for him. Think that a God in heaven who had planned Jesus' birth from 4 ,000 years, not only 4 ,000 years, from eternity, could not arrange a room for Mary to deliver.

It's so difficult for God to arrange a room in Bethlehem. It would have been the easiest thing in the world for God to do that. But he didn't do it. Because God's plan was that my son should be born in the lowliest circumstance of all.

So low that nobody would ever be born in such a low condition as him. Because he had come underneath everybody to lift everybody up. You know, when God decides that he's got a plan for your life and he sees that you're one of those completely submitted to him, he'll allow you to go through some very humiliating circumstances which he will not allow somebody else to go through because that guy is not so keen on fulfilling God's plan for his life.

But if you are, he will lead you to some of these depths so that he can raise you to great heights. So Jesus accepted that. I thought also the statement of Nathanael concerning the place where Jesus grew up, Nazareth.

In John 1, when Nathanael was... Philip found Nathanael in verse 45. And, you know, every Jew was expecting the Messiah to come. And when Philip told Nathanael in John 1, 45, we have found the Messiah.

The one whom Moses, for 1500 years, we've been waiting for the Messiah. He's finally appeared. And it's Jesus of Nazareth. And Nathanael immediately says, in verse 46, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?

I thought about that sentence. Why does he say that? They would never say that about Jerusalem. Can any good thing come out of Jerusalem? Not even about Bethlehem because that was the city of David. But Nazareth, I think Nazareth must have had a very bad reputation for some reason or the other.

I don't know. Think if you were born in some town with a very bad reputation. Maybe for immorality or crime or whatever it is. Or you were born in some ghetto. God allowed Jesus to grow up in such a place.

And he was perfectly happy. He was never going to compare himself with anybody else. He was content. And I want to ask you, brothers and sisters, have you learned to be content with your circumstances or you're always wishing for something better, something more, something that will give you a little more respect and honor before others?

Jesus never had it. It was prophesied about him in Isaiah chapter 53. Isaiah 53. The last part of verse 2. He had no appearance that we should be attracted to him. I don't know what that means. A lot of people think that Jesus must have been the most handsome person in the whole world and more good looking than any film star.

I don't know. Is that required to be a spiritual man? He had no appearance that we should be attracted to him. I take these verses really and I say, Lord, I don't want people to be attracted to me by my physical appearance.

I don't want to be like some film star type of preacher. There are film star type of preachers and I don't want to be like one of them. Because I don't think Jesus was like that. They were not attracted to him because it says there's nothing in him that we should be attracted to.

And yet there's so much of that image of Christianity there is in the world to make it presentable. The only people who are attracted to Jesus are those who wanted to live a godly life. Nothing else. And it says here he was despised and forsaken by men.

The last part of verse 3. He was despised and we esteemed him not. The question is, am I content with that? Am I content with whatever lot God puts me in and not compare myself with, I wish I had what that person had or what that person had.

I wish my children were like so and so's children. It's amazing how much unrest believers get into by comparing themselves to somebody else. In the church, I want my children to be like that one or I want to be like that person and I want to be like this person and I'm not content with the way God has made me.

Accepting God’s Boundaries and Rejecting the Love of Money

I have read that history, it's not in the Bible but history tells us that the Apostle Paul was 4 feet 7 inches tall. Do you know how much that is? I think almost every adult here is taller than that. He was a very short man.

He was completely bald with a hooked nose with an eye disease with his eye frequently tearing. He was not at all an attractive person. Some of the world's famous evangelists are like film stars, not Paul.

That was not what attracted people to Paul. There was a godliness about that man. The only people who would be attracted to him would be people who wanted godliness. What about his speech? I want to tell you something about his speech which he himself says in 2 Corinthians and see what he says about it.

I'm trying to remove all these wrong conceptions of what it means to be a spiritual Christian from our mind. In 2 Corinthians chapter 10, the Corinthians were saying about Paul. 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 10.

This is the Apostle Paul. They say his letters are weighty and strong. Boy, he writes strong letters. But his personal presence is unimpressive. We're not impressed by his personal presence. And his speech is contemptible.

He's not a cultured type of speaker. You know these cultured people who always speak very cultured and gracious way, don't offend anybody. Jesus was offending people all the time. Paul was like that too.

Sometimes we have a wrong understanding of the most godly man in the first century, what he was like. Why did God make him like that? Didn't God know that he was going to be the greatest apostle of his time?

Why didn't he give him a more impressive personality and a tall... Why didn't he make him a tall, good-looking person? God didn't want anybody to be attracted to his physical appearance because that was not what Christianity is all about.

It was character. And even though most of us agree that it's character that matters, yet we can be so concerned about are we impressing people with our appearance and our language and this, that and the other.

It's a deception. And the more we are occupied with that, we'll be discontent with the way God has made us. God decided everything about us, our appearance and our intelligence and everything before we were born.

We have to accept ourselves and be content. Then only can we say, I'm seeking God's kingdom first. I want God to be completely in control over me. In Hebrews 13, it says, verse 5, Make sure that your character is free from the love of money.

That's not easy to obey. I'll tell you that. Be honest. If you're honest, you'll admit there's a love of money inside your heart, which is gone if you have cleansed yourself from it. But every human being is born with a love of money.

I've never seen a beggar in my life who doesn't love money. I've never seen a homeless man who doesn't love money. And I've never seen a rich businessman who doesn't love money. It's there in everybody, except those who have cleansed themselves from it.

It's like in every man, there's a tremendous sexual passion, and if it's uncontrolled, it'll become uncontrolled lust. And the only person who's free from it, the only man who's free from it, is the man who's cleansed himself from it.

If he hasn't cleansed himself from it, he's full of sexual lust. And he's fooling himself if he thinks he's a disciple of Jesus. Far from it. How can a disciple of Jesus be filled with sexual lust? Impure sexual lust.

Everybody has it, except those who've cleansed themselves from it. Who acknowledge it. Lord, it's in me, I want to be free from it. Lord, I've got the love of money, I want to be free from it. Because I want to walk as Jesus walked.

As Jesus is, so am I in this world. You see, the wonderful thing is that if I take this seriously, there'll be a spiritual authority in my life which even the devil will be scared of. I don't know whether you believe that it's possible for a Christian to live in such a way that the devil himself is scared of him.

That's what I got from that verse. As Jesus is, so am I in this world. And I said, Lord, I want to walk like you to the best of my ability. I want to be free from everything that you tell me to be free from.

I'll acknowledge it is there, I want you to cleanse me from it, I want you to bring me to rest so that I can live as Jesus lived on this earth. You know, at each grade, progressively, it's not that all of a sudden we become like that.

But I believe that, I believe the devil's scared of me. Now, that's not arrogance. It's because I believe the Bible, which says, as Jesus is, so am I in this world. 1 John 4, 17. And I asked myself, was the devil scared of Jesus?

Of course he was. He was mortally scared of me. All the demons would be saying, hey, he's coming here, he's coming here, be careful now. I want the demons to say that about me. He's coming here, he's coming, be careful.

You should be like that, brothers. You shouldn't be timid and afraid. The devil can't harm us one bit. He was defeated on the cross. None of you must be scared of the devil. He cannot do anything to you.

He cannot mess up your life. If you walk in humility and say, Lord, I believe that you will never allow me to be tested beyond my ability, and I'm perfectly content with the way you've made me. I must look into the mirror and say, I'm perfectly content with the color of my skin, my appearance, and my features.

I have no complaint at all. Have you ever said that? Have you ever looked into the mirror and said, Lord, I have zero complaint about the color of my skin, or my appearance, or my features, or my height, or whatever it is, or my weight.

I'm perfectly okay. I have no complaint. I accept the way you've made me. The important thing is to walk like Jesus walked. Otherwise, you know, we've really got doctrine. With the doctrine, we can say, I'm better than other denominations who don't have this doctrine.

We can speak high-sounding things. But if you're not content with the way God has made you, and the measure of ability he has given you to earn money, it's very limited. God's on a small financial circle around you, and you can never earn more than that.

Say, Lord, I'm quite happy to be here. I've learned it. God taught me through the years. And at one time, it was a very small circle. I said, I will never go outside that circle. I decided, my wife and I decided we would never be in debt for a single day of our life.

And we've never been in debt, even when we had little. Because we were content with the circle God drew around us, the financial circle. And we never coveted what somebody else's circle was bigger. Okay, God bless him.

I don't want what he has. It was Almighty God who decided the circle inside which I must live. And if you live in that circle, two things will happen. Let me show you two verses. First of all, in Acts of the Apostles, chapter 17.

God’s Appointed Boundaries for Our Lives

Acts of the Apostles in chapter 17. It speaks about the boundaries God has drawn around us in verse 26. Acts 17, 26. God made from one man every nation of mankind. And he has determined the appointed time and the boundaries of their habitation.

I believe God allowed me to be born on earth in the 20th century. That's the appointed time. And he determined the boundary. Everything about my habitation, and my life, and my circumstances, and my finances.

There's a boundary that God has drawn around me. The measure of intelligence I have, measure of ability I have, etc. And you. Every child of God. And how much I can earn. The circumstances he arranges for me to go to different places.

Maybe some can earn more. That's fine. I don't envy them. I don't judge them. And I'll tell you why. This is the one verse about the boundary. The other verse is in Ecclesiastes. In chapter 10. Ecclesiastes in chapter 10.

It says here in verse 8. Ecclesiastes 10 verse 8. The last part. If you break through a wall, a serpent may bite you. The boundary is a wall that God has drawn around me. And if I break through it, saying I'm not content with this.

I want to go outside. Then don't be surprised if the devil bites you. That's the reason why I decided I would never borrow money in my life. If God wanted me to have more, he would give me more. And the picture I got in my mind was I can't imagine Jesus going to somebody and saying Hey, my heavenly father has let me down.

So can you please give me a little money today? I can't imagine Jesus telling someone, my heavenly father let me down and I need a little money. Can you help me out? And I said, Lord, I'm supposed to be a representative of you on this earth.

I will never do it. I'd rather starve than bring reproach on your name by giving people the impression that the heavenly father let down one of his children. He'll never let me down. He may allow me to go through very trying circumstances.

And I learned a great deal in the times of my poverty and I also had to learn when God gave me abundance. You need to learn both ways. I'm not saying you learn only when you're poor. You learn a lot of lessons when God gives you more as well.

But in everything in life to say, Lord, I want to walk as you walk. As you are, so am I in this world. Think if you take that word seriously. As Jesus is, so am I in this world. If he was despised, I'm quite happy to be despised.

If he was ill-treated, that's fine with me. And the boundaries that the father drew around Jesus, I sometimes use my imagination to think of how it was for Jesus in his home with imperfect parents. Those who would marry you are imperfect.