Experiencing the Kingdom

"Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
Matthew 6:10

We have discovered seven keys of the kingdom of heaven. But what good are those keys if we don't understand the value of the kingdom? Let's be honest, many of us know very little about it except passing phrases that we hear in a sermon or a song. So why is the kingdom so valuable and why would we want to receive it?
    Think of the Garden of Eden. I believe the kingdom of God was physically present on the earth during the time of the garden. Adam and Eve experienced the kingdom in a real, touchable way. First and most important, God was there. He fellowshipped, talked, and spent time with them. All their needs were met there. There was no pain or suffering. There was no sin or shame. They had absolute authority over everything around them. They had more than enough to sustain them for their entire lifetimes and longer. This was a real and glorious place. But there was one who sought to destroy it. At that time, Satan had access to the paradise. After tempting the woman, sin was birthed and the kingdom was lost.
    Jesus restored the kingdom through the work of the cross. This was God's plan of redemption. So the kingdom has been completely restored already, but it exists in the heavens or spiritual place. This is why the people who followed Jesus could not understand when he told them that he was the King of kings. They supposed he was going to reestablish the kingdom of the Jews that had been taken away as they were in subjection to the Romans. But it was so much bigger than that. The King of kings gave us access to the kingdom of heaven once again, yet they didn't understand then, and many do not understand now.
    All the things that marked the Garden of Eden are available to us today in the kingdom. We too can fellowship with God. We can have all our needs supplied. We can have abundance to last our lifetimes. We can live without shame. We have the authority of the kingdom just as dominion was given to Adam and Eve. It is all ours. Jesus told us to pray that his kingdom would come to earth just as it is already established in heaven. This is how we experience the kingdom. We are not praying the kingdom physically to earth, that plan is already set. We are praying that the kingdom would be applied to our lives while we live on the earth, taking a spiritual place and blessing, and living it out here. We have the greatest of hopes based on the truth that God is going to establish his kingdom right here on earth. It will be as in the days of Adam and Eve, but gloriously better. But now, as we live on the earth, we may live in the kingdom with no hindrance. Sin and death have been defeated and the enemy no longer has any access to God's kingdom. It is ours, prepared for us by God himself. Let's take it, let's receive it, let's live in it!