Tag: kingdom of God

Every Good Thing Comes from Jesus

John 18:36
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”

Ok, where is that “To Do” list? It’s time to get on to today’s tasks. I have to dive into the challenges of this day. Does this sound or feel familiar?

The world is all about results. Everything we are taught by the world directs us toward endless expenditures of our energy and our activities in an effort to produce something deemed valuable by the world itself. We are constantly in motion taking on the demands of the world. In our haste, we are focusing on the wrong kingdom.

Jesus’ royal power and authority have no origin in this world. His standing with the Father is in no way furnished by earthly force, fleshly ordinances, physical energies, material wealth or imperial armies. The dominion of Christ the King springs directly from the throne of Almighty God. Every good thing that comes to us and flows through us is a result of our relationship with One who sits at the right hand of the Father.

The Lord is all about process, not results. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are called to a process of building an intimacy with Our Savior. From the depths of the relationship that we develop with Jesus, we will produce every good thing that we engage in under His dominion.

Let us adjust our focus now. Let us turn away from focusing on the production of things that our flesh demands and move on to producing for the kingdom of Our Lord while here on earth. Let us become true disciples of Jesus Christ.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for this day. We thank You for every day that You have given us. We rejoice in knowing that we will serve You here on earth and in heaven for all eternity. We ask for the daily grace to focus on and bear the desired fruit on earth that has value in Your kingdom. We pray that through our relationship with Your Son that our every activity will give You the praise and glory that is Yours alone. We ask all these things in the name of the King of Kings, Jesus Christ.

Precious Times When We Experience the Presence of Christ

Mark 9:2
And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them.

Jesus took Peter, James and John up the mountain so that they could experience the fullness of His glory. Jesus wanted His disciples to be prepared for the bitter agony that was ahead. He wanted them to have the strength of the promise of the kingdom experience to carry them through the suffering that they would also experience in the future.

Each of us will experience moments in the presence of God. It may be through a vision, a dream, a visitation or perhaps a quiet word whispered in our spirit when we are in prayer or worshiping Him. Each such moment is meant to lift us from our day-to-day lives in the flesh to our eternal lives in the kingdom of God.

Just as the disciples were not allowed to remain in the presence of the glorified Christ, neither are we allowed to stay in the precious moments of Our Lord’s visitation. The Lord simply uses these precious moments to show us the unimaginable promise of our futures in His kingdom and to give us the strength to endure the suffering we will encounter as we prepare to be with Him for all eternity.

Let us treasure those precious moments when the Lord reveals Himself to us. Let us hold on to and learn to leverage the power of His presence even though the experience seems to fade away from us over time.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the treasured moments that You grant us in Your presence. We praise You for those times that You become so real to us. We exalt Your name for the grace that You provide during these intimate exchanges that are beyond our normal earthly expectations. We pray, Father, that Your Holy Spirit will stand by us as we leave the high mountain of Your presence and return to the valley where we struggle in our ways of the flesh. May Our Comforter help us keep the fullness of the joy and the hope of Your presence with us always. May the world know that we are living in the fullness of the presence of Our Savior. We ask all these things in the name of Our Ever Present Savior, Jesus Christ.

The All-Sufficient Grace of Our Savior

Matthew 5:40
And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.

Jesus’ instructions to His disciples was simple enough. It just does not make sense to us and it probably did not make sense to them. It is not natural for us to bear an injury for the sake of peace. In the flesh, it is difficult for us to meet this standard.

As we become disciples of Jesus Christ, we learn to commit our concerns to the Lord. We learn to avoid the disputes that our flesh would demand. We come to recognize through the supernatural influence of the Holy Spirit that our flesh and blood will not inherit the kingdom of God. Only our spirit will find its resting place with the Father. And it will be our spirit that will find supernatural peace and comfort on this earth when we follow the principles that Our Lord teaches.

Being a disciple of Jesus Christ cannot be carried out in the flesh. God does not start with our natural ability and build on it. He only asks that we rely on His grace and submit to the presence and the supernatural work of the One that dwells within us. And as He promises, His grace is sufficient.

Let us relinquish all the power that we think we have in the flesh in exchange for the supernatural power that we receive in the spirit through Jesus Christ. Let us strive to be spirit-filled, fully empowered disciples of Our Lord, Our Master and Our King.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the all-sufficient grace that You provide that allows us to live as disciples of Your Son, Jesus. We humbly acknowledge, Father, that You do not see us as who we are today or who we have been. We rejoice in knowing that You see us as who we are in Christ. We pray, Lord Jesus, that You will walk by our side and lead us to the way of peace. We ask that You show us how to draw the world to You through our living testimony as Your disciples. We ask all these things in the name of the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ.

Prayers are Answered When They are in Alignment with God’s Eternal Plan for Us

Matthew 20:23
He said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

The apostles, James and John, were seeking a position in heaven that was not in the will of the Father. God had a place prepared for them that certainly exceeded their imaginations, but it was not at the right and left hand of Jesus as they had asked.

We have been taught that we can ask anything in the name of Jesus and it will be granted to us. This is true, but our solicitations can be granted only if what we ask is in the will of The Father. This can cause spiritual confusion for us when our prayers are not answered or, more correctly, have not been answered according to the desires of our flesh.

God has been faithful in providing institutions on earth which can help us to understand how this precept works. As parents, we can recall times that we withheld things from our children because we knew that is was not the right thing for them at the time. What they were asking for did not fit in with the overall good that we were seeking for them. As business leaders, we have denied the requests of good and faithful employees because it was not in alignment with the company’s vision and business plan.

Almighty God has prepared things for us that have been in place before the foundations of the earth were formed. Everything that He grants us through His Son is in accordance with His good and perfect plan for our lives in His kingdom. When we reach our place in the kingdom, we will find it to be beyond our imaginations.

Let us seek the will of God in our lives. Let us live confidently in knowing that the Father will release to us everything that we ask for that is in alignment with our eternal good. Let us praise Him when He withholds something from us for we know that He has something better planned for us. Let us rejoice in His goodness and His faithfulness.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for preparing a place for us in Your kingdom. We bless the name of Your Son, who You have given us to be our mediator as we seek Your grace in our lives. Teach us, Lord, to seek those things that are according to Your sovereign will and pleasure. We pray that the Holy Spirit will redirect us when our petitions are of our flesh and not of the fullness of Jesus Christ who dwells within us. We ask all these things in the name of the True Foundation, Jesus Christ.

Building a Rewarding Relationship with Jesus

Matthew 5:3
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

The teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount have become known as The Beatitudes. To many, The Beatitudes offer rewards that do not seem reachable because they require behavior that seems out of touch with what the world has to offer. The promises of the Beatitudes become much clearer and more attainable when we realize that The Beatitudes are not meant to be a “To Do” list of required behaviors. They are intended to point out the need for our relationship with Jesus Christ and how that relationship will impact our lives.

It becomes even easier to understand The Beatitudes when we recognize that the first four Beatitudes specifically address our relationship with Jesus.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit” speaks to how far we fall short of the glory of God without His Son’s redemption.
“Blessed are those that mourn” speaks to our need to express our sorrow for our sinful ways.
“Blessed are the meek” speaks to our need to humble ourselves before Our Savior and accept the salvation that He offers us.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” speaks to our need to become new men and women in Christ.

The remainder of the Beatitudes address how our lives will change when we accept Our Savior. With Christ indwelling in us, we are able to be merciful, be pure of heart and be peacemakers. As a result, we will receive the rewards of this earth as promised by Jesus, but we will also be persecuted for our righteousness in Christ. When all these things have happened to us and for us, we can rejoice and be glad for our reward will be great in the kingdom of God.

Let us humble ourselves before the throne of Almighty God as we express our hunger for an intimate relationship with His Son. Let us surrender to the sanctification process that our indwelling Redeemer brings into our lives. Let us rejoice in our changed and blessed lives in Christ.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for revealing to us our great need for Your Son in our lives. We exalt the name of Jesus for it is through Him that we are given the kingdom of heaven. We pray, Lord, for the humility to recognize our filthy and condemned nature without the saving grace of the Cross. We ask that Your Holy Spirit will come along side of us and help us so that we will allow the power of the presence of Your Son in our lives to change how we serve You. We pray that we receive the fullness of the blessings that are promised in the Beatitudes. We ask all these things in the name of Our Rewarder, Jesus Christ.

The Divine Capacity of Almighty God

Job 26:14
Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?”

It is completely breathtaking to realize that we have only seen a mere portion of Almighty God’s power. It is quite inspiring to know that in Heaven we will be on an endless journey of enjoying and discovering all of God’s divine capacity.

Just think that all that has been revealed to us about Our Heavenly Father through the experiences of the ages and through the writings in His Holy Word is only a foretelling of His omnipotence. What we see of Him on earth and what we read of Him in the scriptures are illustrative of His awesome nature, but most of what He does each and every day is invisible to us. To name all the wondrous powers of Almighty God would be as fruitless as trying to count the stars.

God’s never ending works are completely immeasurable. They extend well beyond our ability to conceive of His might. We can be certain that what we see or know of Him is nothing in comparison of what we do not know about Him. Yet, we can be even more certain that all of His mighty wonders were eclipsed when He gave us His Son as the way, the truth and the life. With that gracious act of mercy and that unfathomable expression of His perfect love, He opened the gateways of heaven for all of His children to become heirs to His kingdom for all of eternity.

Let us press on through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives so that we may grow in our knowledge of the Lord and all His ways. Let us become willing vessels of His power and living testimonies of His love so that others will seek to know Him.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for drawing us to Yourself through the exhibition of Your divine power throughout the ages. We exalt the name of Jesus as the most wondrous expression of Your perfect love and forgiveness. We ask that the Holy Spirit instruct us in knowing about You and lead us into a personal relationship with You through Your Son, Jesus. We pray that we will become instruments of Your good work and vessels of Your perfect love and forgiveness. May the world know You through our obedience in following Your calling on our lives. We ask all these things in the name of the dunamis power of God, Jesus Christ.

Our First Goal Should Be to Seek God First

Matthew 6:33
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

We have been raised in a world where goals, objectives and top line results are everything. We feel measured by the things that we have and the things that we have accomplished and pressured by the things that we are trying to accomplish. We have been trained to be independent and self-reliant. This is absolutely upside down from the kingdom of God. Our all-sufficient Lord promises that He will meet our every need.

Although Our Lord promises us that He will provide all that we need and all the desires of our hearts, we must realize that these promises are conditional. We must first seek His kingdom and the righteousness that living in His kingdom requires. Then all of these things will be given to us. Food, drink, clothing or whatever other worldly sustenance that we need will be given to us freely and liberally. We are able to receive these gifts without having to think about how they will come, without having to concern ourselves about the timeliness of their arrival and, most importantly, without due consideration of our own merit or our own capability.

Let our great goals in life be set based on our relationship with Jesus Christ. Let all of our objectives be directed toward putting our relationship with God first. Let us set aside our need to worry over our results. Let us receive the truly abundant life that has been promised to us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the abundant life that awaits us when we seek You first. We bring You all the honor and glory for being Our Provider. We ask Your forgiveness for seeking the things of the world before You. Teach us, Lord, how to prioritize our lives according to the principles of Your kingdom. May the Holy Spirit enlighten us so that we may live in Christ and not in the world. We ask all these things in the name of Our Promised and Abundant Provision, Jesus Christ.

Relying on God and Not on Ourselves

Deuteronomy 11:11-12
But the land that you are going over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water by the rain from heaven, a land that the LORD your God cares for. The eyes of the LORD your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

The Lord is our provider. He provides everything. He gave us life. He sustains us. He grants us eternal life through His Son, Jesus. He endows us with the riches of His Kingdom for all eternity.

All we have to do is receive His Son as Our Savior and through our faith in His promises step out of the land in which we are living and into the land that God has set aside for us. It will mean that we will look past those things that we think are unsurmountable. We will seek the promise and not get overwhelmed by the problem. We will rely on God and not ourselves to be the source of our needs.

Once we turn our lives over to God and surrender to the reign of His Son in our lives, all of our needs will be met. Provision may come from our own hands as God favors us with productive ideas and capabilities. Provision may come from the hands of others or may even come from our enemies, if so directed by the Lord. But rest assured, provision will come directly from the hand of God and it will be according to His perfect timing for our lives.

Let us rest on the promises of Our Savior. Let us confidently await all that we need from this world and eagerly look for more than we can imagine from the hand of Our Lord.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the countless blessings that You shower us with each day. From breath to breath, You sustain us. We praise You and bless You for Your eyes never leave us. You are our constant comfort and provision. We pray that Your Holy Spirit will teach us, Lord, to rest in Your promises. We ask that Your Holy Spirit strengthen us, Lord, so that we may step out of the world of the flesh into kingdom living. We ask all these things in the name of Our Omniscient King, Jesus Christ.

Avoiding Taking a Commercial View of Our Work for God

Luke 10:20
Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.

When Jesus sent the disciples out two by two, they all came back with stories of victory against the enemy. Jesus had to forewarn them not to be overcome by their success.

When following the Lord’s calling on our lives, the blessing and power of Jesus Christ will be ours to use to overcome the enemy in our lives and the lives of those that we serve. We must be alert to the fact that victory over the enemy and any type of fruitful service for the kingdom of God can be quite intoxicating. We must be careful not to call our victories our own for all the glory is for Our Savior. If our pride allows us to claim the glory, our fall is certain.

Further, we must not let ourselves take a commercial view of the things that we do for Jesus. That is, we cannot measure ourselves by the results of our work. Our work for the Lord is not about success. It is about the deepening relationship that we are forming with Him as His disciples. It is about the deepening relationship that we are forming with the Father. It is about our preparation to join Our Savior in His heavenly kingdom. As we rightly relate to our success in serving God, we shall become more useful in our service for Him.

Let us grab hold of the power given to us by Our Savior to overcome the enemy who attacks us and our loved ones. Let us give all the glory to the One who made the power available to us, Jesus Christ. Let us rejoice in knowing that our eternal resting places in heaven have been secured for us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the power and blessings that You release in our lives through our relationship with Your Son, Jesus. We ask You, Lord Jesus, to show us how to become Your true disciples. We ask You to give us the power to overcome the enemy in our lives and in the lives of those to whom we bring the salvation message. We ask that You open the eyes of those around us that they may see and seek Your Spirit that lives within us. May we all be prepared for the time that we stand before You to hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” We ask all these things in the name of the One whose kingdom and power and glory are forever, Jesus Christ.

Wisdom is Far Superior to Knowledge Alone

James 1:5
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

What is the first thing that you do when you are puzzled by something or want to know how something works? Most of us go immediately to our favorite internet browser. We are amazed at what we can find and delighted in how the search process often yields the exact information that we are looking for. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this process, if used appropriately. It provides us with knowledge that we do not have…fast.

As amazing and effective as internet search can be, there is a much faster source of knowledge that is instantly available to us without the aid of any man-made device. Our Heavenly Father teaches us that all we have to do is ask and He will give us wisdom.

The internet can provide knowledge, but does not provide wisdom. Wisdom is far superior to knowledge alone. Wisdom provides insight into how we should use the knowledge that we have accumulated. Wisdom from God deepens our insight into how we should apply our skills and our knowledge in ways that are pleasing to Him.

The internet will always provide an answer to the question that we asked. The answers are predetermined by the search engine programming. God will not always answer the question we asked. Omnisciently, He will answer the question that we should have asked. He will uniquely tailor His response to our real needs and to His will and plan for our lives.

Let us learn to trust in the one who is the source of all knowledge and wisdom. Let us trust in the one who holds a perfect plan for our lives in His hands, Almighty God.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that You have inspired and equipped others to provide us with knowledge to help us through our daily activities. We come to You to seek wisdom, so that we may use our knowledge in ways that are pleasing to You and in ways that are used to bear fruit for Your kingdom and bring honor and glory to Your name. We pray that the Holy Spirit will inspire us to always turn to You first when we are seeking answers. May the world know us and be drawn to Your Son through the wisdom that You provide. We ask these things in the the name of Our Wonderful Counselor, Jesus Christ.