What God Wants

Good morning,

He says, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."

Psalm 46:10

A member of my church is facilitating a 13-week Bible study, starting this Sunday.  It's called, "Experiencing God", and it's an expanded/revised study based on the very famous book by Henry Blackaby.  The subtitle of the study is "knowing and doing God's will".  As I said yesterday, there are no coincidences with God.  So, I am thinking of doing this study with that group....just when I got my Sunday afternoons back, after practicing for that play for 8 months.  I haven't told the Hubster yet; he'll say that I'm crazy...again.

Let's move on in our study of The Lord's Prayer by examining the next phrase.  Here it is:

"Thy kingdom come.  Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven."

Matthew 6:10

Remember, this is from Jesus, who was modeling for His disciples how to pray.  These sentences are the first two petitions in The Lord's Prayer.  They aren't requests for any of our personal individual needs.  These are requests/petitions designed to bring our desires in line with those of God.

What does God want?  What are His purposes?  What is important to Him, on a global level?

God has declared many times in the Bible that He will one day establish His Kingdom here on earth. He will do that in the Person of His Son, Jesus Christ, a biological descendant of David, who was promised that his descendant would rule and reign "forever" (1 Chronicles 17:11-14). That reign will commence after the great battle of Armageddon and will last for 1000 years, on this physical planet we call Earth.  It will be a physical kingdom.  

We are also praying, in that declarative sentence (6:10), for His spiritual kingdom to be expanded, established in the hearts of people who do not yet know Him.  We are praying for the Holy Spirit to be unleashed, asking that more and more people will come to a heart knowledge of the Truth, that more and more will accept Jesus as Lord and be snatched from a certain eternity in Hell.

At this moment, where is the kingdom of God?  It is most surely in Heaven, while simultaneously being here on Earth in the hearts of Believers.  Jesus said to His followers, 

"The kingdom of God is within you."

Luke 17:21

It is through His lordship in each believer's heart that His kingdom is expanded, one-by-one.

So, when we pray The Lord's Prayer, we are asking God to do what He has already said that He will ultimately do.  We are praying for the ONLY solution to the problems that plague our fallen race of beings.  

Romans 14:17 - - 

For the kingdom of God is not food and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Righteousness - - - the only holiness acceptable to God is that provided through the finished work of His Son, and given to us for our salvation.  In and of ourselves, we possess absolutely NO righteousness.  Righteousness is listed first because it is the indispensable "first characteristic" of being part of God's kingdom.

Peace  - - - peace is not listed first, because you cannot have peace without righteousness.  Some Christians go all around the world "working for peace" by meeting the humanitarian needs of people. That is wonderful and necessary to "be Christ's hands and feet".  But, what good does this if we do not simultaneously share with them the gospel of Jesus Christ?  What good does it do if we meet their physical needs, yet leave them bound for Hell?  None.  So, let's not be fooled by this world's version of "righteousness".  There is only one kind of righteous that brings true peace and that changes lives for all eternity.  You wonder why peace has fled America?  It is because God's righteousness, manifested in the hearts of men and women, is largely absent.

Joy - - - true joy comes from only one Source, and that is the Holy Spirit of God.  It transcends circumstances, even the worst that this sin-stained world serves up to us, because it is supernatural.  It is God's gift to those of us in His kingdom. This joy is grounded in our certainty that He is with us through thick-and-thin, forever.

The greatest blessing of this life - - to be God's child, to be part of His kingdom.

Tomorrow:  we'll drill down on "His will".

Almighty One, in the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah had a vision of You.  He saw You seated upon a throne, high and lifted up, with Your glory filling that celestial Temple.  Your throne was surrounded by seraphs, those angelic beings with six wings, who continually call out, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, the God of Angel Armies! The whole earth is full of His glory!" (Isaiah 6:1-3) Father, may Your kingdom come, in billions of human hearts and one day, physically on this Earth. In Jesus' name, amen.

Gifted, Multiplying Trustees

Good morning,

I'm really dragging this morning.  This week, I got back into the part-time teaching I've done for the past four years, after a busy summer, yet one that involved no teaching.  So, for this old gal, it was somewhat of an adjustment.  My last class of the week was last night; and this morning, I'm tired.

Ironically, I had decided yesterday to focus on 1 Cor 3:22 - 4:2 (NET).

Everything belongs to you, 23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

4 One should think about us this way—as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Now what is sought in stewards is that one be found faithful.

The word "steward" is not a common one in our American language today.  It is a word that marries the connotations of "servant" with "trusted keeper".   In other words, a steward is one who has been entrusted with something precious by his or her master; and, because of this high honor, the steward diligently cares for that precious commodity.

In this context, Paul calls himself a servant of Christ and a steward of the mysteries of God.  So are we.  You may not think of yourself as "a Paul".  Truly, none of us are.  But, each of us who claim Jesus Christ as Savior is, to some degree described by these verses.
1.  We belong to Jesus Christ.
2.  All that is His ("everything") is ours as well.
3.  Since He is our Lord, we are His stewards.
4.  By the Holy Spirit, varying degrees of the mysteries of God are given to us.  (Truly, all of God's written revelation is available to each of us!)

All this talk of stewards reminds me of the story in Matthew 25:14-30.  I'm not going to dissect that parable here.  That's another blog post for another day.  But, the point is that these three stewards were entrusted with their master's wealth, each according to his abilities and gifts.  The two who were entrusted with the most increased their master's wealth by 100%.  The third steward, who was given the least to manage, fearfully hoarded his resources and merely maintained the original investment.

As Christ-followers, we are entrusted with the kingdom of God.  Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:21)  Our responsibility, each of us, is to faithfully multiply what He has given us, according to our abilities and gifts.  We are to be "multiplication specialists"!

I teach teachers how to work with children who are "gifted", according to a prescribed definition adopted by the state of Georgia.  But, in addition to the Holy Bible, God gives each of His children, through the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts, when they first trust in Jesus as their Savior.  All true believers are "spiritually gifted"! That unique package of gifts is part of our spiritual inheritance and treasure. We must not hoard what we have been given, but rather, diligently exercise our faith and use our gifts, for the glory of God and the advancement of His kingdom.

Don't we, as earthly parents, wish this for our children?  Don't we long to see them "become" the people they were designed to be, using their God-given abilities?  I was reading on Facebook this morning about how some of my friends are moving their children into college dorms this week.  My own two "Hood-lums" start afresh at KSU on Monday.  What parents wants to see his or her child "bury his or her talent in the ground"?  Instead, don't we keep a watchful eye over our children, lovingly upholding them, exhorting them to do their very best?  We parents get that from God the Father, who yearns to see us, His own beloved children, multiply His kingdom, according to the  "everything" He has already lavished on us!

This material world is so seductive; Christians are not immune to its charms.  Chasing after worldly materialism and/or worldly success takes our focus off of our greatest treasure, that spiritual treasure we already possess!  It is so easy to get side-tracked or off-base or just simply...tired.  For the glory of God, we must not allow that to happen.

Holy Spirit, I thank you for my own, unique "gift package".  Fill me; inspire me to "multiply" today. 
In Jesus' name, amen.