We have often confused the good news of our salvation through the cross with the message of the Great Commission. Of course this is included in the gospel, but the gospel is much more than personal salvation. The foundation of The Great Commission is that all authority has been given to Jesus, in both heaven and earth. The Great Commission is not just a proclamation of our salvation, but of His authority.

Of course, our redemption is so wonderful, and the message of the love of God that is established by it is so profound, that it is easy to understand why many have a difficult time seeing beyond it. However, if we are to fulfill The Great Commission we must see beyond it. We were not commanded to go into all of the world with the gospel of salvation, but with the gospel of the kingdom, as we read in Matthew 24:14:
 

The gospel of the kingdom is the good news that Jesus is the King who sits above all rule and authority and power. He can at anytime reveal to the whole world that He is the King by peeling back the heavens. However, until the time of His return, He is seeking to call those who so love God and His truth that they will live in His kingdom now, even though they are opposed by the whole world that still lies in the power of the evil one.

We first proclaim Him as our own King by submitting our lives to His leadership and dominion. Then we seek to proclaim the good news of how much more wonderful it is to live under His dominion rather than under the domain of this present evil age. However, our message will be hollow and empty unless we are in fact living under His dominion.

That is why the Great Commission was not just to make converts, but to make disciples, teaching them to observe "all" that He has commanded. The most important step in any journey is usually the first, but we must acknowledge that the first step is just the beginning. As wonderful as it is to be born again, when one is born again they are as far from their ultimate purpose as an infant is from being the President of the United States. I use this example of the President because a Christian is called to something much higher than that—which is ruling and reigning with Christ.

The author of the Book of Hebrews laments that he cannot give his readers solid food, but can only give them milk because of their immaturity. Hebrews is one of the deepest theological books in the Bible, with few Christians even comprehending many of its teachings such as that about the Melchezedek priesthood, yet the author says that this book is only milk! (see Hebrews 5:11-14) Where does this leave us? How do we go on to maturity so that we can partake of solid food spiritually? 

The Lord spoke something to me nearly twenty years ago that so jolted me that I have since been on a quest trying to understand it. What the Lord said was that many multi-level marketers understand kingdom principles better than the present leaders of the church. An important insight about this statement came to me recently from a friend of mine, who has been one of the most successful multi-level marketers. I asked him what he considered to be the secret of his success. He replied quickly that it was the fact that when someone entered their business they were immediately shown how far they could go, and that each step toward their goal was clearly defined so that they always knew where they were in relation to their goal, and what they needed to do next to go higher.

How many Christians can say that in relation to their purposes in Christ? How many even know the next step toward pressing on to maturity? In polls I have taken in our conferences it seems that less than 5 percent of Christians even know what their own purpose in Christ is. This must be one of the great and tragic failures of the modern church.

When I had the prophetic experience that I wrote about in The Final Quest, I had to climb a mountain. Each level on that mountain represented a biblical truth. As I climbed higher, I received more authority to defeat the enemies who were attacking us, and I also began to see more of the glory of the Lord. Since that time I have sought the wisdom of the Lord as to how to best implement the climbing of that mountain into our ministry and our message.

It is for the reason of trying to impart this systematic spiritual progression that I am writing this kind of book. Even though it is a daily devotional, I think that you can see a systematic progression in it. I am already writing the next one, which I believe can help show the way to an even higher realm on the mountain of the Lord. As Proverbs 4:18 declares, "But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day." The light that we walk in should be getting continually brighter.