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How to Walk in the Kingdom of God: Simple Steps
The other night I was pondering what I wanted to share on an upcoming podcast a friend asked me to join. What is a simple, straightforward teaching that resonates with me and the potential audience deeply? For me, that is – How to Walk in the Kingdom of God.
Many people have asked me over the years how to do this – how do I actually follow Jesus? What does that look like? How do I position my heart and mind so that I can stay connected to Jesus and do what I see the Father doing? So here are some simple steps.
How to Walk in the Kingdom of God: Simple Steps
1. Choose to become like a child in your heart and mind. Jesus said unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3).
2. Become pure in heart. The pure in heart see God (Matthew 5:8). Stop allowing defilement in through your eyes and ears. Do not watch or listen to anything that is inappropriate for a 4-year-old to see or hear. This is critical. Ask the Lord to cleanse you of things that you have seen and heard and wash them from you. Stay pure and you’ll be amazed how much easier it is to see God and experience His presence. Forgive and let go of judgments against others. Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it flow the issues of life (Proverbs 4:23).
3. Lose complacency. If you do not have passion for God, acknowledge that to Him. Ask Him to reignite your heart and draw you to Himself. Do this every time you sense yourself becoming distracted or your heart growing cold. He loves to answer this prayer and you will see a response usually within 48 to 72 hours. Your passion for Him will return.
4. Practice His presence daily. Learn how to connect with the tangible presence of God. Find your key to open that door and do it every single day. Then begin to cultivate an awareness of God’s presence every hour of the day until it becomes second nature. When you awake, your first thought will be Him. When you fall asleep at night, your last thought will be of Him.
5. Follow His leading, moment-by-moment every day. Just do what you see your Father doing. It’s that simple. Don’t overthink it. Just be, and be content. Holy Spirit will teach you how to do this. It’s actually much simpler than you may think. We make it hard by expecting it to be more than it is.
It’s that simple. Become like a child, pure in heart, with a deep desire to be in His presence and to follow Him everyday. That’s how you walk in the Kingdom of God. 💗
Which step are you currently practicing? Is there one of these steps that is hard for you? Why?
Which one would you like to start working on this week?
Feel free to comment below – what do you think of these steps? Are they simple? (though not necessarily easy at first) This is my take on it – what’s yours?
I love to hear from my readers – so please, let me know your thoughts or questions below.
Book Review: My Descent into Death
My Descent into Death by Howard Storm is a very inspirational Near Death Experience (NDE) story about an American college art professor who has a medical emergency while traveling in Paris, France. I love reading books about another person’s experience of life after death in the heavenly realm. Unfortunately, Howard didn’t start there. He was an atheist when he died and experienced something terrible – something I hope you never see or hear in your life. I won’t go into detail – no spoilers here. But fortunately, a song from his childhood came to his mind – Jesus loves me. He sang it in pure desperation, wondering if he could ever escape this hellish place he found himself in and guess what? Jesus came to him!
The rest of the book is full of inspirational and unusual insight. Remember, he didn’t know Jesus when he died so he had no preconceived religious ideas (or not very many). So he asked a LOT of questions of Jesus and the angels – the answers he received provide some powerful truths we could all benefit from.
For instance, when Jesus told him that he needed to go back to earth, Howard was very reluctant and asked why he had to go back. He was experiencing such love and peace as he had never experienced before – you can imagine why he didn’t want to come back to earth. Jesus’ answer to him was unique.
You can save the world.
I don’t think so. I’m nobody and I’m not going to save the world. How could I save the world? Howard replied.
You are to love the person you are with.
How will that save the world? Howard wondered.
When you love a person, they will love the next person they meet, and they will love the next person they meet, and so on.
I don’t know if I can do it.
You can do it because we will help you. (“We” meaning Jesus and the angels who were with them.)
Howard was also thinking of his family – his wife and two children. Jesus told him he had to return to finish the job he had.
You have a job to do, which is to take care of the people God needs you to love. You were born to love these people. This is the job that you were created to do.
I LOVE this idea, don’t you? You have a job to do – to take care of the people in your life. Whether that’s your spouse, children, parents, siblings, friends, neighbors, etc. But it’s not “everybody” in the world – just the ones you are with – the ones you speak to, live with, visit or see each day. “You were born to love these people.” What a simple, yet profound concept.
I took my mother to a doctor’s appointment recently and as we were leaving, the doctor turned to us and said, “Take good care of each other.” That hit me with such powerful simplicity. Yes, that’s what we are called to do – every single one of us. Just take good care of each other. 💗
Reading Howard’s life story is very encouraging – his NDE completely changed his life. You can imagine what it might be like going from being a humanistic atheist to a man of faith who had actually met Jesus, face to face! How he changed his life and the differences it made in those around him is contained in the book and I am so glad! Often NDE stories end with the person waking up in the hospital, but not this one. He describes what life was like for him and how long it took to physically recover as well as process his supernatural experience. And the life choices he made afterwards profoundly changed the direction of his life and family.
He said something very powerful toward the end of the book,
Living life with faith is infinitely more rewarding than living without faith in God. Having faith gives one courage to do things one would never do, and the patience to endure the unendurable. Faith gives hope when you haven’t a clue how things will turn out. Faith gives joy when everything is bleak. Life with faith in God is so superior to life without faith that I recommend anyone to seek faith above all other things.
– Howard Storm, My Descent Into Death: A Second Chance at Life
Thank you, Howard, for sharing your story with us. We need encouragement when things look bleak in the world. We need that courage, patience, hope and joy. And most of all we need Love.
As Howard learned to apply his faith, he was amazed at how much good he could do to help others. He said,
“There is nothing we couldn’t do if enough people listened to God.”
I believe it! And as my previous post described, Jesus is already drawing people together to bring restoration to the earth. They WILL be listening to God, whether they realize it or not! 😁
If you’d like to read Howard Storm’s book, you can click here to find it on Amazon.
Do you have a book you’d recommend? Please post the title and author’s name below in the comments. I love finding good books. Thanks to Andrey in Poland for recommending this one!
Light Exploding as Unity Restores the Earth
The Lord showed me a very encouraging vision 2 nights ago. I was with a group of people, waiting on the Lord to see what He would show us.
Someone saw us standing in a circle with our hands outstretched toward the center of the circle. Suddenly there was a bright light in the center and Jesus was there! We felt enveloped by His presence and were awestruck with the weightiness of His glory – it was awesome!! 😍
The Lord showed us that our unity reveals the brightness of His glory. We each have Him inside of us and when we come together in unity, His glory is revealed. This is what creation is waiting for – His manifest glory through our unity as One. Wow.
Then He said, “Stay focused on the Light, there’s more coming.”
Someone sensed a new beginning – that it was time to dance!
I saw this bright burst of light explode into the night sky like a rocket. Then it split off into two and circled the earth.
Immediately I knew: This light represents the power of restoration for all creation – His glory revealed in our unity. HE is doing this – bringing people into unity all over the world because now is the time. No more playing around – it’s time for Unity on the earth in order to bring Restoration.
I was in AWE. 🤩
And then He made it clear to my mind that it wasn’t just Christian people He was uniting. He was bringing unity to all kinds of people – so that what is inside of them can come together and reveal His glorious power to restore the earth.
WOW. WOW. WOW.
God is SO GOOD! I’m excited to hear and see what that looks like.
Already so many good things are happening in the earth and it seems they are accelerating. Every week I hear good news about new breakthroughs that will help solve the problems of the earth. There’s an app you can download that will give you good news like this regularly – I read it to encourage me, especially after I’ve been reading regular news headlines. Here’s what the icon of the app looks like:
Here’s the links to download it, if you’re interested. I love what they are doing to share good news!
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.impactpartner.goodnews
Apple Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/good-news-app/id1321856447
What are your thoughts? Please share them below. Can you imagine things getting better on the earth as people begin to work together to solve the world’s problems? I completely believe it is possible and now that I know God is already working on it, it makes my heart so happy!! 😍💗😁🤗
💗 HE IS THAT GOOD!!! 💗
Need Peace? Need Protection or Provision?
When we feel like an orphan or a victim of other people, we feel small and powerless. We have all felt that way. Some feel this way every day. For others, the feeling comes from time to time, especially when we are having a bad day.
When we feel this way, we are consumed by our Fears. We strive to be in Control (or we feel that others control us). And we focus on what we Lack.
Fear, Control and Lack are the three illusions that the enemy uses to keep us stuck in this mindset of being a victim or an orphan.
I use the terms victim and orphan interchangeably. Some people prefer the word victim as in “he has a victim mentality”. Some prefer the idea of “orphan” meaning that they do not have anyone stronger than them looking out for their interests (like an orphaned child).
When you see someone complaining about their life, but not doing anything to change their situation, you see a victim/orphan.
When you see someone too anxious to take a step toward a better life, a better relationship or a better job, you see a victim/orphan.
The opposite is someone who is an Overcomer (versus a victim). The opposite is a Much Loved Child, an Heir of God’s kingdom, who is no longer an orphan.
When you think about a good parent (which every orphan longs for), you think of someone who soothes a child’s fears, making them feel safe and taken care of. Someone who is a good provider and protector. Victims look for someone to rescue them from their fears, their oppressors and their lack of resources.

God is a perfect parent. In fact, God longs to be the father and mother that we have each needed … desperately needed.
He offers us Peace in exchange for our Fears.
He offers us Protection & safety so we don’t need to be in control or allow others to control us.
He offers us Provision in exchange for our Lack.
God is all we need. God adopts the orphan into the Family of God. God rescues the victim from those who oppress him. Jesus Christ came, lived, died and was resurrected – to convince us that God cares about us and is strong enough to take care of us. He is our Peace, Protector and Provider – even in the face of death, the grave could not hold Jesus down.
So when your life feels full of Fear, Control and Lack – turn to the Lord. Remind yourself that He is your Peace, Protector and Provider. He is all you need. I promise.
I know for someone this might just sound like “magical thinking”. I know – I have felt that way too. But there really is something “magical” that happens when you allow your heart to believe that God is good and that He is able and willing to take care of you. It literally shifts your perspective and your expectation. Expectation is another word for “faith”. Somehow when we shift our expectation, it literally opens doors that would not have opened otherwise. I’ve seen it happen many times. If you think like a victim, you expect to be victimized and guess what? It happens! But when you think like a Much Loved Child, you expect things to work out for your good and guess what? They do! 💗
Walking by Faith – Amy’s story
Here’s an example of what it means to follow Jesus.
Amy works at Best Buy, an electronics store chain. She used to work in real estate selling homes several years ago, but took a break after she had a car accident. During her recovery, her husband suddenly died of a heart attack. Without her husband’s financial support, she needed a job – fast. She felt drawn to work at Best Buy and did very well there – she became a “pastor” to the people she worked with and often had opportunities to pray for them and help them find hope. This job provided a much needed sense of stability to the sudden roller coaster of her life. She’s been there for almost three years now.
A few weeks ago, she began to feel the Lord directing her to go back into real estate. She was a little hesitant because it had been so long and she was used to getting a regular paycheck from Best Buy. It would take her out of her comfort zone. She told the Lord, “If you give me a listing to sell a house, I’ll resign.” Someone called her and asked her to list their home for $650,000 (USD).
However she still had doubts. What if she didn’t get any more listings? What if she couldn’t pay her rent? A friend in real estate told her that right now is a seller’s market which means it is hard to find properties that are for sale (new listings). Plenty of buyers, but very few people are selling. This discouraged her and made her wonder if she really should quit her dependable job.
As she pondered it, it dawned on her that with just 2 real estate listings she could make as much as she made all year with Best Buy! This gave her courage to step out. So she said, “Yes, Lord, I am willing. I will turn in my resignation tomorrow.” That night a woman she knew called her at 1:30am. The woman had been looking at a particular house she wanted and it was suddenly listed as available for sale. She asked Amy to write a contract for that house immediately – at 2am she completed the contract and sent it in.
The next morning the agent that had listed the house was shocked. Who writes contracts at 2am? She had to find out so she called her. Amy explained how much this woman wanted THAT particular house and had contacted her in the middle of the night. The agent explained that she had only listed the house for a few minutes last night and that the house was not available right now. However she said she would talk to the owner and get back to her. Within a few hours, she called back and said, “We’re not going to list the house to the public, but we ARE going to work with you and the buyer who really wants this house.”
That was the listing she needed. Praise God!
That morning she went to Best Buy and turned in her resignation, giving them a two week notice. Two days later a coworker invited her to lunch with some friends of his (a couple). She had met these friends at a previous event and felt prompted to go. They had a nice lunch and she went back to work. A few hours later, the woman called and said, “We are moving out of our condo and we want to buy a house. We want you handle the real estate transactions for both properties.”
That was a third listing! And she would represent them in a fourth listing when they bought a new house!
But wait, it gets even better. 😃
She wanted to have her own office, but did not have the means to rent a place. A lot of agents work from their homes, but she knew with family obligations, she would prefer to have a space to focus just on business.
The next day, a business associate from her past called her. He said he was having a lot of trouble doing business in his country due to COVID-19. He asked her if they could build a partnership where he could do business in a city near her and she would represent him. He told her, “Find an office we can use and I’ll pay half of all the expenses.”
Yes! In less than 1 week, she got three new real estate listings and she now had the means to get her own office! She also would have even MORE business as she partnered with this colleague who would send her clients who were looking for real estate in her area.
She said, “I had been waiting on God, but as I stepped out to walk by faith, I felt like He had been waiting on me! He had all these people lined up, ready to bless me with business – and here I was afraid to step out. He is a good, good Father.”
This is an example of what it means to follow Jesus – to step out in faith, obeying the prompting in your heart from the Lord, even when you have no idea how it will work out. It means taking the risk that God is who He said He is and that His plans for you are always good. ❤
Do you have a story like this that you’d like to share? Please post it in the comments! Or you can write a guest post for this blog. We’d love to hear from you. 🙂
God Loves You As You Are
There is an AWESOME video of Graham Cooke sharing a word from God’s heart about His Love for you. It will deeply touch your heart, if you let it. Listen to it over and over until it really sinks in. I’ve written some of the words he says (but not all), but there’s nothing like listening to them so they get down into your soul. ❤
The Lord says that there is nothing that you can do that would make Him love you more,
there is also nothing you can do that will make Him love you less.
He loves you
because He loves you,
because He loves you,
because He loves you,
because He loves you,
because He loves you,
because He loves you,
because He loves you,
because that is what He is like.
It is His nature to love and you will always be the beloved.
What will change, says the Lord, is your ability to receive My Love.
I challenge you to open your heart to Me,
and you will receive
more of My Love than you have ever experienced before.
I dare you – give Me your heart, give Me whatever your obstacle is.
I love you as you are.
You are the beloved.
It is your job, says the Lord, to be loved outrageously.
I AM He that loves you outrageously!
My love comes to set you free from rejection, and from shame,
and from low self esteem, and from despair, and from abuse.
My love will fight fear. It will fight fear in you,
it will fight fear around you.
Beloved, you are My beloved.
So be loved!
Get Your Fire Back!

What do you do when you know you should have a desire to seek the Lord, but you just don’t have it?
I recall when I first “fell in love” with Jesus. It was so powerful! I couldn’t believe how good I felt and how much I could feel His love for me. It was like falling in love, except it wasn’t with a natural man – it was with Jesus!
I remember trying to explain this to my friends – they didn’t get it. But Jesus was SO REAL to me and I KNEW for the first time in my life, really knew I was loved by Him.
But then the drudgery of daily life took over.
I wanted to keep my passion and fire for Jesus, but it was disappearing and I didn’t know what to do. I was also afraid to tell anyone because they might judge me.
Have you ever felt that way? LIke you wanted to be close to God but the desire to seek Him just was not there?
I have great news! I figured out what to do and it has worked for me many, many times since then. And it’s super easy!
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Matthew 6:33
How to Get Your Fire for God back
First, just admit it. Sometimes it’s hard to recognize that you are losing your fire – it happens very slowly and quietly. If you are not around other people who are passionate about Jesus, it can be even harder to recognize – there’s no one to stir you up! But eventually you will realize it. It’s important to admit it – that’s the first step. Admit it to yourself – “I don’t feel like seeking God. My heart is cold.” This is humbling – it kills your pride.
Then, tell Jesus that you feel cold toward Him. I know you probably don’t want to, but this is important. Acknowledge that you WISH you had a desire to seek Him and His ways, but you just don’t. Ask Him to forgive you for the lack of desire to seek Him.
Lastly, ask Jesus to give you a desire to seek Him. I know that doesn’t make sense, but honestly – where do you think you got the desire to seek God in the first place? From Him! We are dependent on Him even for the desire to seek Him.
“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” John 6:44
You may not have an “instant” experience of suddenly being passionate about God again. What I’ve noticed when I’ve prayed this prayer is that it takes about 24-48 hours to take effect. I often forget about the prayer and then a couple of days later I notice I suddenly have a desire to seek the Lord. It happens spontaneously, at least for me.
So – try it! I encourage you to choose to seek the Lord. He is worthy and you won’t regret it. Life with Him is AWESOME!
Here’s an example of a prayer you can pray:
Jesus, I’m sorry. I have no desire to seek You right now. I don’t know why. I feel cold in my heart and I want to be different inside. Please restore the desire to seek You in my heart. Thank you. Amen.
Let me know in the comments below what happened after you prayed that prayer. I love to hear how God changes lives. He’s changed mine over and over again. He’ll do it for you too!
Spiritual Exercise
Rating: Educational, inspirational
Recently one of my clients told me he wanted to draw closer to God, but didn’t know how. Faith was new to him. He was raised in a home where no one went to church or prayed or anything so he didn’t really know where to start. He asked me for some direction. Here are some thoughts I shared with him.
Developing a spiritual practice that helps you draw closer to God is really important. But you want to make sure it doesn’t become an empty ritual. It needs to be authentic and based on your desire for God. I discovered early on in my spiritual journey that there is one prayer that God answers every time – asking Him to give you the desire to seek Him. When I first started out, I was excited to talk to God. It was new and different. But then over time, I felt my spiritual fervor waning. At first, I was kind of embarrassed. How do you get the desire for God back?

The answer I discovered is this: Admit you lack the desire and ask Him to give it to you. It seems counter-intuitive, but it works. When I ask God to give me the desire to spend time with Him, usually within a day or two it comes. It is not immediate, but it always comes. I’ve done this many times over the years.
So – that’s the first “exercise” I shared with him – ask God for desire. Because without the desire, any spiritual exercise can become an empty ritual.
Then I wrote up a “spiritual exercise” for him. I reached back into my past and tried to remember the first things I was taught that helped me become more closely connected with God. At first, I did these every day as a discipline – whether I felt like it or not. I wanted to teach myself to have a spiritual practice. Then after awhile they became second nature to me. I do them now without even realizing it – they have become part of who I am.

These are in a certain order – do them this way for 30 days. After the practice becomes familiar, you can improvise. 🙂
Spiritual Exercise:
1. Acknowledge God – Honor who God is and that you need Him, humble yourself.
2. Confess your self-centered ways – Admit to God and yourself the thoughts and decisions you’ve made in the last 24 hours that were self-centered and apart from Him.
3. Ask the Spirit of God to lead you – Ask Him to show you His ways and the right decisions to make.
4. Open the Bible – Ask for inspiration and then read a passage from the Bible.
5. Turn something from what you read into a prayer – Make it personal to your life.
6. Give thanks – Tell God what you are thankful for.
7. Ask for what you need and finish by thanking God in advance for providing what is needed. He loves it when you thank Him ahead of time because it demonstrates your confidence that He is good and trustworthy. (It also gives you hope.)
8. Sing a song to Him – Learn some worship songs or make up one of your own. Rejoice in the goodness of God and His care for you.

This is not a rigid ritual, but more of a practice to teach your heart to turn to the Lord and depend on Him. You will be so glad that you did!
You are dearly loved by God and He is looking forward to talking to you and spending time with you. Did you know that?
So, how about you? Do you have a spiritual practice that you do on a regular basis that helps you to connect with the Lord? Please share it with us!
Heaven is Movin’ In
Learn to be familiar with the realm of the Spirit.
Learn to be familiar with this realm that you came from.
Learn to be familiar with the supernatural
‘Cause heaven … Heaven is movin’ in.
Don’t be surprised when you have angelic encounters.
Don’t be surprised if you should see the living creatures.
Oh, learn to be familiar with the realm of the Spirit.
Oh, learn to be familiar with this realm that you came from.
Song: Heaven is Movin’ In, Messengers of Fire album by Joann McFatter, Steve Mitchell and Steve Swanson
This album is AMAZING!!! When I play it, I literally feel the “shift” in my living room. I wish this song was on YouTube – I’d give you the link so you could feel it yourself. The album was recorded live at a worship conference – wow, you can really get a taste for what the participants at that conference must have experienced. It is off the charts!
This is my favorite song from the album – it just resonates with me. The entire album is worth every penny. You can download it from JoAnn McFatter’s site here: http://joannmcfatter.com/messengers-of-fire/
Here’s the CD description: Recorded at the Deep Unto Deep worship weekend at Suncoast Worship Center, “Messengers of Fire” captures a visitation from the King. The Lord revealed His heart and His will in a fresh way. This unique CD features a totally spontaneous journey into undiscovered territory. Listen as you hear the King arriving with His heavenly procession. Hear angelic hosts entering the room with an impartation of holy fire! The whole church was caught up in a swirl of glory as He “branded” us with His fire and called us His own! This CD takes you on a journey into the Throne Room and into heavenly realms of God’s Glory! Released 2003
It’s one of those CDs that goes from one song to another without a gap or break between songs. It’s an “experience” – not just a music CD.
Here’s how the song continues – it will raise goose bumps on your arm.
(Marching music begins to build in the background)
Heaven is movin’ in, heaven is movin’ in, heaven is movin’ in
Movin’ in, movin’ in, movin’ in, NOW!
Coming down the mountain – angelic hosts,
Step by step, step by step, step by step – holy invasion!
Coming down, coming down, coming down,
Convergence – supernatural invading the natural!
Heaven is movin’ in, movin’ in, movin’ in,
Holy invasion!
Following the Captain of the Hosts,
Following divine orders:
Release, release, release!
Holy invasion!
Time is running out, time is running out, time is running out, time is running out,
time is running out, time is running out, time is running out, time is running out,
time is running out, time is running out, time is running out, time is running out,
time is running out, time is running out, time is running out.
(it flows into the next track, “Contact”)
Watchmen on the walls, what do you see?
Watchmen on the walls, what do you hear?
I hear the sound of a distant thunder; I hear the sound of a distant thunder.
Watchmen, O Watchmen,
Watchmen, O Watchmen,
Keep your eyes, keep your eyes, keep your eyes and your ears open.
Watchmen, O Watchmen,
Keep your eyes and your ears open to the call, open to the call of the Spirit.
The time is near, the time is at hand!
The Day of the Lord – The Day of the Lord is at hand!
———————————————————-
Are you ready for the holy invasion? How exciting! The Day of the Lord is a fearful thing if you are not ready – both for “believers” and those that don’t believe. It’s time to seek the Lord and pay attention to what your heart is telling you.
I’m think I’m ready. Are you?












