His Kingdom Come - TODAY!

I subscribe to a magazine called, “Today’s Christian Woman”. The tag line reads, Engaging your Heart, Soul, Strength, Mind

I thoroughly enjoyed the below article:

Jan/Feb 2008 issue
Article Author: Keri Wyatt Kent
Scripture References:
Luke 10:8-9; 17:20-21; Matt 5:3; 6:10; John 13:35; Matt 25:35-36; Matt 6:3

The article was entitled: “Your Kingdom Come”

As a child, one of the first passages from the bible I committed to memory was the Lord’s Prayer. When I grew up, often still reciting it, I wondered what it REALLY meant. It was not until I started to study God’s Word, that I understood exactly what, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” really meant. The time to actively start kingdom building (and living) is TODAY!

The writer says, the kingdom of heaven is not just a destination, it is a movement!

A movement? That’s a shift, a shake up, a rallying together for a CAUSE, an action. Could that mean that the Lord wants us to DO something, to change our posture toward something so that “on earth, as it is in heaven” will come to pass? If the Lord wants us to have what He created for us in heaven right now, that is exactly what it means! We have to actively pull the kingdom of heaven down!

The Lord wants the fruits of the spirit to be in full bloom, today. He wants us to do unto others as we’d have done to us, today. He wants us to bear each other burdens, today.

According to the gospel of Luke, the victim in the parable of the Good Samaritan, was helped, nursed back to health and his lodging and food paid for by a stranger. The Lord wants us to “go and do the same”, today. In Matt 25:35-36, “when I was hungry, you gave Me food, I was thirsty, you gave Me drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, I was naked, and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me, I was in prison, and you came to Me”.

The writer says that people in the kingdom of God choose to do these things TODAY.

We can reflect the kingdom of God here on earth today, as it starts in our own hearts. From the heart, comes the DOING! The writer suggests these spiritual practices;

* Praying – Against injustices and listening to what the Lord would have us do
* Living Simply – Seeking God’s kingdom first
* Giving – As the Lord instructs

In addition to learning that prayer as a child, I also learned that actions speak louder than words! So, in participating in the movement, I study and consistently try to put God’s word (written and revealed) into practice on a daily basis. After coming in to the knowledge of what this part of the Lord’s Prayer really means for us, it is obedience and submission to His master plan that will allow His kingdom to come TODAY!

Grateful

I subscribe to a magazine called “Just Between Us”. The tag line reads, “For Women with a Heart for Ministry”.

I read an article from the Winter 2007 issue recently.
Author: Joyce Wallace
Scripture References:
Psa 30: 11-12; 1 Thess 5:16-18; Psa 106:1; Rom 5:3-4; Rom 8:18-19; Rev. 7:17; 2 Cor 4:17; Jonah 2:9

The article was entitled, “habits of the GRATEFUL”

With excitement of the New Year still fresh, I have pondered what I will do in 2008 to be all the Lord has called me to be. Although I have been “churched” all of my life, I realize that I fall short of what the Lord has called me to be consistent in.

The article starts with an awesome quote from poet Celia Thaxter, “There shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart.” The bible teaches “in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you”. 1 Thess 5:16

Really, everything? In our daily lives it seems increasingly hard to “give thanks” in everything. That would mean, disregarding my worldly expectations, disappointments, afflictions, and every other thing that life deals me that would not ordinarily warrant a sincere grateful heart. Getting past this is exactly what Paul means when he writes in Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us”. Our focus needs to change to understand that our gratefulness is in a God who never forsakes us, never leaves us and has specific promises for us. “For I know the plans I have for you..” Jer 29:11

Once we receive this in our spirits we can begin to consistently incorporate gratefulness in our everyday lives. The writer offers these simple habits:

Say Thank You
Pass Gratitude On
Celebrate God’s Bounty
Be Generous
Be Honest about your Sorrows and Thank God for who He is
Read the Psalms

As the Lord would have it, BEFORE I read this article, He had led me to purchase several boxes of “Thank You” notes to share with all the people who have through the years sowed positively in to my life. I shared with a new sister in Christ recently, there is no such thing as a coincidence. I believe in a Godincident and of course this article has truly been that!

My thank yous are not quite ready to be mailed but I really feel good about the Lord’s leading in my life to express a sentiment that is SO long overdue.

Dreams

I subscribe to a magazine called PRAY! The tag line of it reads: A Decade of Encouraging a Passion for Christ through Prayer.

I read a very interesting article in the Nov/Dec 2007 issue recently.
Author: Arlyn Lawrence
Scripture References:
Gen 31:11-13; 37:5; Numbers 12:6; 1 Kings 3:5; Matt 1:20, 2:13
Joel 2:28-29;Acts 2:16-17
Job 33:14-15

The article was entitled, “Was That You, Lord?”

I lost a dear friend and mentor to me on December 18, 2007. Strangely, 2 days prior to his death, I had a dream that he died. I told my husband about the dream and really did not dwell on it too much. I have had these types of dreams before.

When I came across this article, it made me really consider my dream a little more closely and just why I had it. The writer begins by saying that she had dreams that came to pass in her own life and she wrote them off as coincidences. As she matured in her faith she realized, what I have come to realize as well, that God speaks to some (not all) in this fashion, in our dreams!

In scripture, God spoke to Jacob in a dream showing him that he knew what his father in law Laban had done to him. As we also remember quite vividly from scripture, Joseph had many dreams where God showed him many things. An angel of the Lord offered another Joseph a warning for he and his family to flee to Egypt in Matt 2:13.

God primarily uses dreams to:
Warn us
Give us direction
Prepare us for something
Give us His perspective on something about which we may have a blind spot
Call us into intercession
Give us specific supernatural insight about how to pray for a person/situation


The writer suggests that you keep a pen and paper by your bedside and record your dreams as soon as you wake up. That is a great suggestion.

In the future as I dream, I will too be prompted to ask, “Is that You Lord?” and pray for discernment as I reflect on the dream.

I will also be increasingly aware that the Lord DOES speak and dreams are just one of the ways that He does.

DawneBiggs