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!