Levels of glory in God’s Kingdom

Let's be transformed into the likeness of Christ from glory to glory; let's move past spiritual infancy, pass through adolescence and mature into adulthood. If we are called, let's go beyond adulthood to belong to the bride of Christ and even allow Christ to take abode in us.

KC George

February 22, 2025

Table of Contents

“I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly, mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it" apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth. As infants in Christ, the Corinthian church could not live by the Holy Spirit, could not eat solid food and they remained worldly.

The experience of the vast majority of believers today is also very similar. 90-95% of today’s believers remain in their spiritual infancy and do not experience growth beyond this stage. We do not live by the Holy Spirit, our lives are predominantly worldly and we need someone who is more spiritual to feed us with “milk”. In the contemporary world, believers stagnating at infancy for 20-50 years is quite common. My experience wasn't different; in my late forties I discovered by surprise that I have been a spiritual babe all my life and had not achieved any growth whatsoever in Christ.

What are the stages of growth beyond spiritual infancy that the Corinthian church could have experienced? Let's take a look at different levels of glory one can grow into in God's kingdom. Let us also take the help of the Holy Spirit to examine what level of glory we have reached in our walk with God. As apostle Paul exhorts us in 2 Corinthians 3:18, let's be transformed into the likeness of Christ from glory to glory; let's move past spiritual infancy, pass through adolescence and mature into adulthood. If we are called, let's go beyond adulthood to belong to the bride of Christ and even allow Christ to take abode in us.

Spiritual birth

Our journey into different levels of glory in God's kingdom starts with our spiritual birth. Just like our life on earth starts with our conception in a womb and our birth 9 months later, our spiritual journey begins with our spiritual birth. A few significant events happen during our spiritual birth.

We receive a new Christ-like heart, which is divine in nature. We also receive a renewed spirit which is capable of communing with God during our spiritual birth. We read about these in Ezekiel 36:26. The divine nature of Christ gets deposited within us in a seed form during our spiritual birth. Referring to this seed, apostle Peter said “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable”. Emphasising the divine nature of the seed of Christ within us, Apostle John wrote “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God”. The seed of Christ in us is divine in nature and cannot sin.

During our spiritual birth, God deposits within us a little Christ, which the apostle Paul calls “Christ in you, the hope of glory”. We were given the very nature of God within us in a seed form when we were born again.

Spiritual Infancy

Immediately after our spiritual birth, we enter into infancy. The divine nature of Christ within us remains quite tiny, whereas our sinful nature had already become quite big and powerful. We continue to remain predominantly sinful and worldly in nature and are led by the desires of our carnal nature, lust of the flesh, lust of eyes and pride of life. Our transformation into the likeness of Christ has not yet begun.

As a spiritual babe, our spirit is hardly developed and we can't do anything spiritual. We can't resist even the smallest demon as they appear too big in front of us. We have zero spiritual authority. We are easily tossed away by every wind of new teaching. We are easy prey for the false prophets and wolves that masquerade themselves as sheep. We can get easily fooled and deceived as we have zero discernment.

We drink the “milk” of the word and someone more spiritual needs to interpret everything for us and spoon feed us. We hardly have any ability to hear God directly and receive guidance from the Holy Spirit. Our hearts are as hard as stone. Like the seed that fell along the path, words of God spoken to us get stolen away by the demonic forces. The word of God cannot take root in us because we are stone hearted. Even if we receive the message of God’s kingdom with gladness, since we have no root, it lasts only for a short while. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, we quickly fall away and Christ does not get formed within us. Even if Christ begins to grow within us a little, the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke and kill the divine nature of Christ within us.

Our spiritual house is built on the sand and we are easily washed away by a wind or a wave. We have no foundation in Christ. One day we could have a strong faith and the next day, our faith is as weak as that of an unbeliever.

During spiritual infancy, our True Self remains locked up in a cage and our Ego Identity rules us. The divine nature of Christ is locked up along with our True Self and we draw upon human strength to live our lives. We constantly live in the experience the apostle Paul describes in Romans 7:18-19 ”For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing” We hardly ever experience victory over our weaknesses.

Spiritual Adolescence

Vast majority of believers stay in infancy for decades and never grow to enter adolescence. If our true self gets released out of its cage and finds freedom in Christ, the door opens for us to grow into adolescence. At this stage, as long as we remain in Christ as a branch remains in the wine and Christ remains in us, our growth is organic. There is nothing else we must do to grow in Christ apart from remaining in him.

As we remain in Christ, the seed of Christ deposited within us at our spiritual birth, the divine nature of Christ, begins to grow within us and gain power. We take the first steps to be led by the Holy Spirit and we become sensitive to his voice. For the first time in life, we draw upon the eternal life of Christ and its power begins to manifest within us. We take baby steps of being transformed into the likeness of Christ. We begin to grow in humility and true love and all the fruit of the holy spirit begins to manifest in us.

We enter kindergarten in the school of denying self and our ego identity. We begin to hate pride, rebellion, independence, selfishness and self centeredness. Slowly and steadily, we learn to subdue our sinful nature by drawing upon the power of Christ. As we make more sacrifices and learn to die to self, we get a taste of the resurrection power of Christ and grow in it. The divine nature of Christ finally finds a way to grow within us. Over a period of time, our true self gains power and our ego identity weakens. The divine nature of Christ grows within us and begins to subdue to our sinful nature.

As we make progress in adolescence, we begin to operate in some spiritual authority. Our spiritual discernment gets better slowly. As we keep growing, soon we would be ready to take on snakes and scorpions, the lower rank demons that manifest in people. We begin to accomplish small works for Christ. Resurrection power of Christ begins to flow through us to others.

If we stay focused on Christ and continually grow in him, towards the final stage of adolescence, we will surely reach a point of growth where we are ready to be promoted as the principality over a city or a region. When we get promoted, we would be at the same level of spiritual authority as a demonic principality who rules the city/region. Our spirit gets positioned at the spiritual realm, where the demonic principality operates from (we may call Heaven 1). During my ministry sessions, I have witnessed a few reaching this level of glory and Lord Jesus promoting them as the principality over a city, state or a region.

Before apostle Paul was caught up to the third heaven, he passed through two other heavens, we may call Heaven 1 and Heaven 2, which are being ruled by the demonic kingdom. Demonic principalities have been ruling and reigning from Heaven 1 whereas the forces of wickedness in the high places, from Heaven 2

Spiritual Adulthood

As we continue to remain in Christ and he remains in us, we would continue growing beyond adolescence into the next stage of growth. The divine nature of Christ gets more firmly established in us. Christ in us continues to grow. We grow in spiritual authority and power. A strong foundation of Christ gets established in us and we learn to blindly trust and obey him.

Our spiritual intuition gets stronger and we hear from God more often and more and more areas of our life come under the direct guidance and leading of the Holy Spirit. We learn less from others and more from the Holy Spirit. We grow in spiritual maturity and we learn from our experience that the more we submit to Christ, we gain more and more spiritual authority and power. We grow further in humility and true love and fruit of the Holy Spirit manifests more powerfully within us.

The resurrection power of Christ flows through us more powerfully and more frequently. We grow in the divine nature of Christ even more and our sinful nature shrinks further. Slowly and steadily, as we get established as a spiritual authority, demons take note of us and we begin to attract demonic weapons that are crafted using higher ranks. We are then forced to grow in Christ for our spiritual survival.

As we reach the final stage of adulthood, a day will come when we are ready to be promoted to the next level of glory, which is equal in rank to the spiritual forces of wickedness who rule from heavenly places. (we read about them in Ephesians 6:12) The wickedness forces rule from a spiritual realm we may call Heaven 2.

At this level of growth, we may get positioned at the spiritual realm we may call Heaven 2. This position gives us the opportunity to influence a wider group of people for Christ. At this level of glory, we gain significant spiritual authority and power. We have mastered the art of submitting to Christ and his authority to remain in power. By this time, we have learned that staying in humility and being submissive to Christ is the only way to stay in resurrection power.

Bride of Christ

If we are called for intimacy with Christ and if we qualify, we can grow to the next level of glory. If we are willing to pay the price and have passed the tests, we enter the next level of glory through the personal invitation of Lord Jesus to belong to him as his bride. Those who belong to the bride, receive the privilege of developing a deep emotional bonding with Christ. We experience the warmth of his embrace and his love. We may even have access to Lord’s emotions for others.

As we experience the love of Christ, nothing else fulfills us apart from him. Over a period of time, we develop a longing and desire to belong to Christ. He becomes our deepest longing and greatest desire. Losing connection to Christ feels like a fish out of water and we begin to experience the verse in John 15:5 “For apart from me you can do nothing”

Parables of the treasure hidden in a field and a merchant looking for fine pearls in Matthew 13:44-46 become our experience at this level of glory. We begin to value intimacy with Christ so much like the treasure hidden in the field, that we are willing to sacrifice (sell) everything to have that treasure. He becomes like the fine pearls of great value. There is no relationship that we are unwilling to let go; there is no hobby or an asset that we are unwilling to sacrifice to have intimacy with him.

Intimacy with Christ has its flip side. Those who are called for intimacy with Christ are hated by the demonic kingdom; many feel rejected by everyone around them from childhood and some feel alienated by society. Some get deceived and marry an evil spirit medium who’s only intention is to torture them and they may experience failed marriages and divorce. Some experience humiliation, rejection, isolation and emotional damages for several decades like Joseph, before they get lifted up to their God appointed destiny. Since the cost of intimacy is very high, only those who are willing to pay the cost are called by God to this level of glory.

When we grow to this level of glory, we often get positioned at the third heaven apostle Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 12:2. If we choose, we can continually live in the heavenly realms in our spirits while our bodies remain on earth. At this stage of growth, being seated with Christ in the heavenly realms described in Ephesians 2:6, becomes our personal experience.

Apostle John had experienced intimacy with Christ and had access to the heavenly realms and the book of Revelation was written based on his experiences in the heavenly realms. Apostle Paul experienced intimacy with Christ and had access to the heavenly realms as well. Those who reach this level of glory and have clear vision in their spirits have the privilege of witnessing the wonderful things in heaven during their life on earth. During my ministry sessions, I have had the privilege to partner with Christ to promote a few people who have reached this level of glory to the heavenly realms.

Christ takes abode in us

As we continue to grow in intimacy into the fullness of Christ apostle Paul mentioned in Ephesians 4:13, we may eventually reach a point where Christ and the Father are ready to take abode in us and use our body, soul and spirit to communicate his words and carry out his works on earth. John 14:23 becomes our personal experience when we reach this level of glory. “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”

At this level of glory, we finally begin to love the Lord with all our hearts, with all our minds, and with all our strength. Passion for Christ consumes us and we have no desire other than pleasing and obeying him. We offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God so that he can use our body as he pleases. As we continue in this level of glory, we discover the most effective and fruitful version of us. Since Christ is gentle and humble in heart, we find rest for our souls as he promised “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light”

As God almighty takes abode in us, we experience the highest level of oneness with Christ. As his holy presence takes abode in us, his consuming fire burns all the chaff of our sinful nature. We then experience unhindered access to God's will, emotions and thoughts and we value and cherish it so much that we don't have any desire to have our own will, emotions or thoughts. As we willingly submit to his headship, his words begin to flow out of our mouth and we begin to carry out his works on earth. At this level of glory, Galatians 2:20 becomes our personal experience.“ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God”. This was the experience of Lord Jesus during his earthly ministry. He spoke the words of the father and carried out his works as the father took abode in him.

Only a handful of people in the history of mankind had reached this level of growth in Christ. In the coming days, during the great outpouring of the holy spirit prophesied by prophet Joel during the last days, I believe some would reach this level of growth and Christ and the father will take abode in those chosen vessels. They will usher in God’s kingdom on earth like never before. Through those obedient and glorious vessels, we will experience a greater manifestation of God's kingdom on earth than what the early church had experienced and then the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.