Thy Kingdom Come

Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.” Luke 17:20-21

Growing up, when I prayed the petition "Thy Kingdom Come" in the Lord's Prayer, I thought I was praying for Jesus to come back to earth.  Jesus said in Luke 17, "The Kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation."  In other words, you don't have to look around to find it, nor do you have to be a specialist in Biblical interpretation to know the secret signs to look for.

We don't simply wait around for God's Kingdom to come.  Jesus tells us that "The Kingdom of God is within you."  Simply put, Jesus' Kingdom resides in the hearts of those who believe in Him.  Wherever you go as a believer, the Kingdom of God is there.  When you pray "Thy Kingdom come" you are actually praying that God would send YOU into new places and relationships so that His Kingdom can pass from you to someone else.

God's Kingdom comes to any place that we go.  The real question is, "Will his Kingdom stay there when you leave?"

We need to keep praying this petition, but realize what it means for us as followers of Jesus.  Our life will radically change if we allow Jesus to use it as a conduit for his Kingdom.

Here's where it gets interesting

Falling in love - Beginning a new adventure - Starging a new hobby.  These can all cause excitement, nervousness and happiness.  As with most new things, there is newfound joy in beginning the journey.  But what do you do when the journey gets boring, or is no longer interesting to you?

My wife and I were traveling from Nigeria back to Houston and planned a stop in Paris for a couple of days.  We had left our two daughters with family and really had a good trip.  After two days of wandering around Paris, I felt like staying another day and asked my wife if she wanted to as well.  However, the more we talked about it, it didn't seem that exciting anymore.  We both just wanted to get back home, the adventure had worn off after two weeks of being away.

Many followers of Jesus begin to feel the same way about their faith.  They start to grow complacent and even become bored.  Like anything, when the newness wears off, it sometimes gets less exciting.  This is natural, but could also point to a deeper issue.  That is, if following Jesus has become boring to you, maybe you're not really following Him. Maybe you're just going through the motions, or maybe you're just following your own ideas.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that you don't have faith anymore.  It may be that you are no longer willing to follow Jesus into new places.

When I was in my early twenties, I was willing to do just about anything without giving it a second thought.  To say I was adventurous is an understatement.  When God called me back to Him, He used that adventurous spirit for His purpose.  I moved into an infamous east-end neighborhood where I was the minority and began to work as a missionary.  Every new situation that "normal" people might consider dangerous was an exciting adventure for me.  Sometimes I find myself driving through the same communities and don't get excited anymore.  I have to remind myself that God's mission doesn't change or lose it's urgency just because I'm "maturing."

What about you?  Are you losing your excitement for the things of God?  Are you still passionate about the mission that God has given you, or are you constantly looking for some new adventure so that your faith can be reignited again?  If God has placed you somewhere for His purpose, ask Him to help you go deeper.  Ask Jesus to lead you into places and relationships of adventure where you can, once again, recognize how He is using you for His mission.  Maybe what you need is to follow Jesus' leading again instead of your own "mature" logic.  While our faith is comforting, it's not meant to make us comfortable.  Following Jesus is an adventure, that is, if we are willing to follow.

1Cor. 16:13 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.

Gal. 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Joining God in Mission

Growing up, I always remember missions as being something that we supported.  Missionaries would come and tell there stories about their work, and we would give them an offering so they could go back out and continue doing it.  There is still a need for missionary support, but we also have to remember that we are individually called to mission as well.  It may not be practical or even possible for you to go do mission work overseas.  Your mission field is the place right around you.  Your neighborhood, your workplace, your community or your club.  Your primary mission field is comprised of the relationships that you have in your life who don't yet know Jesus as Savior.

How do you move from being a passive believer to actually living on mission?  Here are a few things you can do.

1. Pray - As you pray that God would raise up workers for the harvest field, ask him boldly that you would be included among them. 

2. Look - around you there is a mission field.  Ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to see who He has placed around you. Listen to conversations and watch the patterns that emerge in people's lives.  See people as made in God's image who He loves and wants to redeem to Himself. 

3. Build - quality relationships with the people around you.  You may be insecure or shy, but occasionally inviting someone to eat with you or even just spending a couple minutes listening to them can build trust over time.  Only by building trust, do you earn the right to speak into their lives.

4. Speak - into the lives of those around you.  Listen to their stories and learn who they really are and what they struggles are.  Weave the story of Jesus into the conversation, but don't try to push them.  Be respectful, but don't fail to speak the Gospel in a way that touches their place of need.

Is it possible that God is calling you into a deeper experience of faith?  Your faith grows when you begin to follow Jesus wherever he leads you.  Some of my greatest mountain top experiences in faith haven't been when I received a personal blessing from God for myself, but when I was able to see Christ work through me to reach someone else.  Consider taking the next step today in your faith journey. What are you waiting for?

Busyness

With so many things going on, I fall into the trap of thinking that busier is better.  Sometimes busy is necessary, but most of the time I'm just inventing new things to occupy my time.  At times, I need to concentrate on slowing my self down so I can think, plan, pray and just be.  I've read this piece often since I began in ministry as a reminder that busy isn't always better.  It's interesting that the author wrote this in 1945, talking about the pace of ministry.  What about today?  Oops, gotta run to a meeting.

Never was there a ministry so bustled and rushed and perspiring as ours is now.  If things stick, we devise yet another type of meeting, and when this additional wheel is spinning round with all the rest of the complex machinery, and a wind is blowing in our hot faces, we feel better, and have a comfortable sense that something is going on; are tired and stick, but happy engineers.

- Arthur John Gissup - Experience Worketh Hope (New Yord: Scribner's, 1945), pp 58

 Here's a link to another article entitled "Busyness, Is The New Spirituality"

My life when I choose to be in control

God, free me from myself and allow me to release everything into your will.

Sometimes I find myself looking like this picture. All my ambitions, possessions and personal ambitions put my life completely out of balance.