PRINCIPLES OF THE KINGDOM

But Daniel purposed in his heart that he will not defile himself with

The portion of the king’s meet

Nor with the wine which he drank ( Daniel 1;6)

Every Kingdom is known by specific set of values and principles that forms the basis of the constitution and the lifestyle of the people of that community. The Babylonian Empire representing the world system have values and principles which is symbolized by the “meat” and “ wine” refer to in the book of Daniel,. Just as the” meat” and the “wine”  drives the body and soul of men,  values and principles drives a nation or a kingdom.

Sons of God are to overcome the temptation to operate by the worldly principles of Babylon. They will be schooled and disciplined in the principles and values of the kingdom of God. In God's kingdom, wealth, material things, titles and silver or gold are regarded as corruptible mundane and are therefore considered worthless by eternal standard. Just as Daniel refused to be defiled with the portion of the kings meat and his wine. Children of God must arise to reject the subtle and corrupt principles of living which are being taught by the teachers of Babylon. We must endeavor to vomit even the values that we have subconsciously absorbed into our hearts as we interact with the truth of God’s word.

Jesus clearly mentioned in his messages in the gospels that the worth of a man is not in what he has and this is an eternal position of the King of the Kingdom of heaven which should be taken seriously.

Operating or imbibing values of the world [babylonish]  system is therefore to be considered as adulterous and this represent the hallmark of the harlot church (God’s people that are out of the way)  as it is written in the book of revelation  17:2   “….. With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication and the inhabitants of the earth  were made drunk with  the wine of her fornication”

And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls,  having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness……” Rev17:4

The cup in the hands of this harlot should be an issue of concern to us as it  represents the ministry of abominable and filthy values obtained through her friendliness (fornication) with the world). To overcome this cup, the sons of God who will be overcomers  must be disciplined in the principles and values of the kingdom of God and be discernible to contrary principles as evil communication corrupts good manners and friendliness with the world is enmity with God. Let no man be carried away with the impressive Gold (riches, wealth, grace   given by God) , precious stones (morals), pearls( religious duties)  or even the purple (sense of importance ,glory and royal beauty) with which this harlot woman is decked. This is because the scarlet robe representing sin has pushed the woman off tangent from her true nature and path to become a worshiper of things instead of a worshiper of God

Let us now begin to compare the values of these two opposing kingdoms and study the beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

True Pearls	Reward	Meaning	Opposite
Poor in spirit	They will possess the kingdom of heaven	Dissatisfied with the condition of one’s soul, having a strong sense of need for more of God	Arrogant & Know it all spirit characterized by poor reading/listening habits, not taking notes. Which may be caused by success in some areas of your life. Critical and judgemental spirit
Meek	Inherit the earth	Teachable, readiness to listen, learn and take correction	Incorrigible and stubborn/unteachable heart necessitated by your restlessness, ignorance, being competitive and or pride.
Sober and mournful heart	Comforted with answers	Having a burden before God  for the state of others or the gap between experience and promise	Greedy, covetous, desperate, bored, vain, care free & pleasure loving, sometimes necessitated by not wanting to be responsible, love of pleasures and selfishness.
Purity of heart	See and experienced God	Having the mind of Christ, having a forgiven, loving heart	Corrupt mind & imagination. Filthy & wicked heart. Sometimes necessitated by hurts, lust and ignorance.
Merciful heart	Obtain Mercy	Showing understanding, forgiving, compassionate, considerate, sensitive and selflessness.	Unforgiving, mean resentful, bitter & Cruel heart, sometimes necessitated by repeated offences, painful experiences of the past.
Hunger & Thirsty for Righteousness-	They shall be filled with all of God.	Strong love and desire  for truth, justice, sense of fairness.	Forgetfulness, poor concentration, poor assimilation, talkativeness. No heart cry except for things. Sometimes necessitated by worldly enticements, deceitfulness of riches.

The characteristics  described above are the attitudes we are called to manifest. This is the wavelength we are called to function in and it  is to the extent that we function in this dimension that we are in the kingdom. The level of the operations of these principles in our life  is also a measure of how much of God we have.