KINGDOM WITHIN
I want to turn our attention to God’s Kingdom – what it is, what it means to us – and what that understanding might motivate us to do! Father, release understanding today of Your Kingdom and stir our hearts to live FROM the wonders of Your realm! I. WHAT IS HIS KINGDOM? His domain, sphere, realm, place where He holds and exercises authority and power. The Bible clearly teaches that He is a SOVEREIGN GOD – Who RULES over all things in heaven and on earth. He is high and lifted up above all His creation – He is the Most High, the King over all! Sovereignty is absolute authority – In Is 46:9-11 God describes His own sovereignty: For I am God and there is no other; I am God and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure…Indeed I have spoken; I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do it. Job describes it this way: I know that You can do everything and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. Job 42:2 After his 7 year judgment, Neb’s reason was restored and he praises and honors God who he declares has an everlasting dominion,… He does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand or say to Him ‘what have you done?’” Dan 4:35 God’s domain includes both the physical worlds and the whole spiritual realm – we know little of the vastness and wonders of His Kingdom! The Word tells us that it is limitless, ever-increasing, and incomprehensibly abundant! His domain, the place of His rule, is unshakeable, cannot be destroyed, remains forever ! Think of it -- where the Sovereign God is reigning, there are no limits, there is no lack, no end! His realm is another dimension not governed by time and space. Is 9:7 Of the INCREASE of His government and peace there will be no end.– His Kingdom rule will be increasing for all eternity – and the effect of that will be shalom = complete well-being for all He rules!! II. WHAT IS THE KINGDOM LIKE? NT says K is righteousness, peace (shalom, complete wellbing), joy and - Romans 14:17 and power 1 Co 4:20 God rules over all --but we do not see this righteousness, peace, joy and power reigning here! Why not? The parables of the Kingdom show us that at the present time there is MIXTURE in the K (Mt13) -- wheat and tares, leaven, good and bad fish (mt22) --there are people unwilling or actively hostile to the wedding invitation or unprepared to sit down at wedding feast (Mt25) -some wise, some foolish, some servants are faithful and some are unfaithful God’s Kingdom has ALREADY come to some –those who are humble and obedient and love their King, are committed Kingdom citizens, BUT it has NOT YET come in fullness - there are some in the kingdom evil people actually working against the K under the prince of this world system – YET the SOVEREIGN GOD still RULES -- ….it is still HIS Kingdom and ALL things are under His authority! He is allowing these mixed conditions – temporarily, for a season – for His purposes. (His ways are not our ways!!) At the End there will be a great separation of the wheat and tares, a sorting out of the good from the bad! Mt 13:49 Jesus said: So it will be at the end of the age, the angels will come and separate the wicked from among the just Mt 22 – the King sends out his armies to destroy those resisters and sends the unprepared one into outer darkness. v7,13 Mt 25 ends with the travelling landowner making a distinction between those who served his purposes - did their job –> these enter into the joy of their lord! the servant who failed to work for his master’s purposes lost everything and was cast out. At the End comes the separation of sheep and goat nations – those who have followed the Great Shepherd of the sheep will inherit the Kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world! (Mt 25:34) God’s intent from before creation was to SHARE HIS KINGDOM with many sons. The Father is PLEASED to GIVE us the Kingdom (Luke 12:32). Kingdom Life is a GIFT, but parables reveal that to enter K living there are requirements. There is a narrow path, a groaning way to be embraced: III.. HOW CAN WE SHARE IN THIS KINGDOM? What is required to inherit (not earn!) entrance to life in this glorious eternal Kingdom?
to take drastic measures (pluck out eye, cut off hand Mk 9:43,47), to go on through many tribulations to enter in! Acts 14:22
The kingdom within = the rule of the King is HERE in our inner man… present always! The Kingdom is accessible to us and the Kingdom is active in us ! Too often we are not conscious of that REALITY! Neville Johnson spoke of our need of this awareness a few years ago – how the lack of awareness limits our spirits. All that is in the K is available now – it is within us – but because we are so much more aware of the world around us than the K within us,we fail to receive the benefits that are ours! Our spirits are the point of access to this spiritual realm. Our spirits are birthed FROM the Kingdom of heaven – that is our native land - our spirits are at home there. We need to begin to pay more attention to and respond to the K within us … so that we hear and see with our spirits what is happening in the K realm. Not only conscious of the physical world around us and our souls’ reactions – we can learn to let our spirits dominate over our souls = consciously living as spiritual people – drawing on and depending on the resources of the Kingdom rather than the abilities of our souls or the resources of this world. How do we do that? PRACTICE! When something arises – some pain, anxiety, hard place -TURN in thought and heart to our King (on His Throne and within us! and ask to see this thing from a Kingdom perspective! Remind ourselves that no matter how we FEEL or what it LOOKS like, HE IS ON THE THRONE and every resource of Heaven is ours IN HIM. When we intentionally pursue a greater consciousness of the Kingdom within we will be changed! AS we become more aware of this immeasurable inner well -- we will learn to live FROM it. And to MAINTAIN the mindset of grateful depedence: we are Kingdom citizens, living His way for His pleasure and glory. The more we learn to submit to His rule within, the more we will begin to access the atmosphere and supply of the Kingdom!. Where God RULES, His power can be released – it can be entrusted to those who are genuinely seeking HIS will and purpose. The Father wants to GIVE us the Kingdom Luke 11:32 It is His pleasure to bless us with what it contains … SO He is continually at work to create yielding, trusting, hungry hearts…He is working to INCREASE the measure of His rule in us SO He can increase the release of K resources and authority to us! Jesus, as Man, lived fully submitted– He lived by faith, from the riches of the K. The same supply is available for us in our ordinary lives. But we cannot be passive if we want to access these! They are received by ACTIVE faith - faith that is exercised in asking and seeking! It is in our times of need that we ACTIVELY seek Him for K supply – we realize our need, our helpless dependence – and this is where God wants us: not as an end but as a means to increase our trusting submission to Him. As always, He wants to empty us of independent selfish living SO He can FILL us with Himself and open up K riches in our lives –> which we can use to advance His Kingdom on earth! HE USES the difficulties of life as opportunities for us to discover His abounding grace, to come to know His K resources and learn to live out of them by faith. What would happen if we did that fully? WE would become a display of our Father’s K for world to see! That is His plan – to so transform us with K character as we receive His rule within that we can actually REVEAL HIM to others! We can ONLY become what He desires when we GIVE HIM HIS RIGHTFUL PLACE of RULE in our hearts. He’s looking for burning hearts that PURUSE what our King wants MORE than what we want! Joyful hearts focused on HIS goals, not our own! We are on earth for this purpose: to live aligned to God’s Kingdom SO that we can advance His rule and accomplish His will on earth! God wants to USE every day, where I am, to move me into His purpose for me –I must choose to let HIS desire govern me – This is the key to partnering with Him in the glorious work He wants to do! IV. PRACTICAL STARTING POINTS: #1 PRAY WHAT JESUS TOLD US TO PRAY: ask our Father earnestly - with sincere desire not just by rote - for His Kingdom to come, His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Mt 6:10, k 11:2 we know that His Kingdom IS coming – inexorably no matter what sinful angels and men may do! But He wants us to cry: Your sovereign rule come! Your will done here as in heaven! If it’s going to come anyway, why do we need to pray this? Because asking for His will ALIGNS our hearts with His heart! This is key! – it is in prayer that we get adjusted, that our preoccupations and selfish desires are subdued and shifted to HIS Kingdom purposes! Then we will truly seek FIRST HIS K and R! (Mt 6:33) Mt 7:7 – Then Jesus told us to keep on ASKING, keep on SEEKING, keep on KNOCKING – FOR WHAT?– for His Kingdom – our #1 priority -- to come MORE fully in us, around us and through us! v.8 IF we keep on this pursuing His K and His R 1st – we will receive what we ask for, we will find what we are seeking and doors of the K will be opened to us! All the good things of the K that are in His hand are for those who persistently and trustingly ASK Him! Our daily joyful heartfelt cry should be: “May Your rule increase here today!” à BY this PRAYER - we become passionate about being a part of bringing this Kingdom in fuller measure to earth! PRAY and WORK FOR WHAT JESUS DIED TO OBTAIN Hebrews 11:39 AMP And all of these, though they won divine approval by [means of] their faith, did not receive the fulfillment of what was promised. Jesus has not YET fully received all that the Father promised Him before the foundation of the world. He does not YET reign in His kingdom here with HiS holy Bride! He is still waiting and longing for this Day. Jesus came to recover God’s sovereign rule here and secure His inheritance. The kingdoms of this world are the Son’s inheritance. Our part is to INVEST in prayer for Him to have His FULL inheritance! WE are also to give every nation EVIDENCE of Jesus’ rule and invite them to enter His K. To do this we have to be people who exhibit His nature and operate in His power…we are to give concrete evidence that Jesus is on the Throne of heaven – by our character, oneness and authority over the kingdom of darkness. Tangible proof that His K is real – because it is within us and being expressed by us! As we do this, we will be cooperating with angels – learning to discern their presence and work with them in unison for the Kingdom – they are K resource for us to do this work. We are to hasten the day (2 Peter 3:12) – looking, praying and living for the Day when Jesus will receive the full reward of the travail of His soul! (Is 53:11) Satan does not want this to happen! Still working to frustrate God’s purpose in the Cross. Daniel battled for God's purpose for His people to be fulfilled– how? In prayer -- his prayer roused hell and released K resources to accomplish God’s will! SEEK TO HEAR AND UNDERSTAND WORD OF THE KINGDOM Mt 13:19 – [Jesus is explaining parable of sower] When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. There is a much in the Word for us to discover about the K – it is the realm in which we will live in joy for eternity! Seems like a good idea to focus on it now and seek God for deeper revelation. Daniel 12:4 command to shut up the words and seal the book UNTIL the time of the end; many shall run to and fro (searching) and knowledge (of His purposes) shall increase. UNTIL = mysteries of the Kingdom will be revealed – God is releasing understanding set apart for us in the End time! Paul asked God to give the spirit of wisdom and revelation to the Ephesian believers (Eph 1:17,18) – we are meant to pray for this as he did. à ASK for enlightened eyes to KNOW HIM and His call to live in the Kingdom of God, His inheritance which is Kingdom sons (conformed to His Son), and His resurrection power – the power inherent in His glorious Kingdom! v. 21 our King is seated in the place of highest authority –far above ALL principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come! This glorious K is accessible and we have a right, as born from that K and united to the King, to access, explore and understand our salvation to the full….which means the fullness of God filling all in all. KNOW our part is for Jesus to rule in us SO He can rule through us –THEN Jesus will be revealed to the world! At this time, the King is revealing Himself THROUGH His people - THEN He will come in glory to reign for 1,000 years and restore all things! And after that will come 1 Cor 15:24 the end, when He delivers the Kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and authority and power that which has been given a short time in God’s wisdom purposes but will be utterly destroyed! THEN v.29 God will be all in all! CARRY OUT OUR MANDATE what is it? Luke 9:2 – Jesus sent us out to preach the kingdom of God and heal the sick Mt 28:19,20 – commanded us to go under His Kingdom authority and make disciples of all the nations Acts 1:8 –commissioned to be His witnesses by the Holy Spirit with Kingdom power, …to the ends of the earth. Mt 24:14 – says when we have preached the gospel of the Kingdom in all the world as a witness to all the nations and then the end will come OUR MANDATE = CARRY THE GOOD NEWS OF GOD’S KINGDOM – PROCLAIM AND DEMONSTRATE IT WITH KINGDOM POWER AND AUTHORITY TO ALL THE NATIONS IN THE WHOLE WORLD PREACH GOSPEL OF KINGDOM: What is this gospel?
BE AGENTS of KINGDOM: K has been given to us to give to others!
We will be preaching the Kingdom when we allow Jesus to do His works through us…LET HIM USE us to demonstrate that there is a KING on the Throne of heaven ready to bring perfect wisdom and immense love to His domain. By our YIELDED lives we can make the attributes of the King and His Kingdom known, display its design and order and release it wherever we are! Can we even imagine a greater privilege and destiny than to be chosen to participate in the release of His glory until it fills the earth?! To turn nations to the Father through our joyful, willing obedience in HS power! To advance His government of love and peace – displacing all else! This CAN happen AS His love and peace governs US – our minds and hearts settled without anxiety UNDER His perfect rule! People all around us are hungry for spiritual reality – it is the gaping hole in their innermost being that cannot be satisfied with anything in this world. WE are to bring them the KINGDOM, the spiritual reality of God’s sovereignty. Intentionally, increasingly and with intensity: FIX our EYES on Jesus -in all the contrary circumstances SET our HEARTS to understand all He wants to reveal about the mystery of the K of heaven within us PRESS IN and keep on = WAR to access MORE! WE are God’s means to advance His Kingdom and bring His blessings to earth! WE MUST CONTEND because we are opposed – enemy doing everything he can to halt our growth, prevent our training, keep us from fulfilling God’s plan. He will send trials, distress, persecution, famine, dangers of all kinds…YET in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us!Ro 8:37 This One is KING over all! WE ARE HIS -- DESIGNED AND DESTINED TO LIVE WITH HIM IN HIS KINGDOM (NOW AND FOREVER) IN HOLY FEAR OF THE LORD! God has already SET HIS KING on His holy hill of Zion (Ps 2:6) As Daniel saw - One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven!…to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away. His Kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed. Dan 7:13,14 v. 18 the saints of he Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever! ….we are receiving [NOW – present tense] a kingdom which cannot be shaken,--- let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. Hebrews 12:28 SERVE God = fulfill His commission to preach and demonstrate K power and authority world wide. Let’s get aligned with His purpose SO we can fully PARTNER with Him in bringing in the harvest of souls at the end of the age – to give our King His desire : Many sons brought to glory WITH WHOM HE CAN DWELL FOR ETERNITY Rev 21:3 PRAYER: LORD, may we enter, enjoy and expand Your Kingdom MORE than ever before! Work in us humble to fully yield and do Your will, Work in us what Your own nature, making us true sons who can reveal the reality of Your Kingdom on earth! May we fulfill the purposes in Your heart and bring You glory! If you want to hear Marnie speaking this message at The Gathering Place in Hollywood, go to gathering place.us and find the media and her speaking time and listen to the full message.
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God uses difficulties and hard times to teach us to trust Him instead of ourselves. Indeed, we felt within ourselves that we had received the [very] sentence of death, but that was to keep us from trusting in and depending on ourselves instead of on God Who raises the dead. 2 Corinthians 1:9AMP
Sometimes our trials also serve another purpose: they can be tests to see what is in our hearts: trust or doubt. These tests show whether we are ready for the responsibilities and blessings God wants to give to His mature children! A doctor has to pass a test before he can practice medicine – the test shows whether or not he has learned what he needs to know to be a doctor. He must take this test to get to his goal. This is true for us: God is giving us tests we have to pass before He can entrust us with the destiny He wants us to live out for His Kingdom and glory! Can we shift our perspective on difficulties to see them as opportunities? Our loving God WANTS us to pass every character test so we become people who are able to work with Him in what He is doing on earth. He wants mature, tested partners – not babies – to carry out His assignments. Remember Job who suffered through severe emotional, physical and financial tests. Tremendous loss! What was his response? He actually said to God though You kill me, I will still trust You. (Job 13;15) That kind of choice is the result of deciding to trust God over and over again in every little detail. Job must have already passed many small tests before this huge one. He was able to cling to God in the middle of so much suffering. HOW? Here are some things we can learn from Job’s story about how to respond to our troubles:
So testing is from God, to train us in trusting and qualify us for the work He has called us to do. If you are in a test right now – cry out to God – tell Him you want His full purpose to be accomplished IN you through it! Don’t let your trials go to waste. God will use them to benefit you – you will grow and then you will be useable for Kingdom work! His goal and desire is mature sons and daughters wholly committed to Him, daily becoming more like His beloved Son! YOU ARE INVITED TO GROW INTO THE LIKENESS OF GOD’S GLORIOUS SON– THROUGH YOUR RIGHT RESPONSE TO TROUBLES Marnie Piuze TRUSTING GOD IN OUR TROUBLES (part 2)
1 Peter 4:12 says we are not to be surprised at trials. They are not strange occurrences, but a powerful tool God is using for our good! One of God’s primary goals in allowing the trials and difficulties we face is to get the mixture out of us. I think we are all aware that we have mixed responses to God, to others, to life. There is a part of us that wants God’s way, but another part of us wants our own way! God uses hard times to break the Self-life – the independent soul that strives to be in control and have its way. The Self (by which I mean the parts of our soul not yet surrendered and yielded to God) is always resisting Jesus’ reign as King over us. This resistance keeps us from the good plans He has for us. Our souls have had their way for a long time – we have used strength of mind or will power to get what we want. We have trusted our own wisdom and ingenuity, we have worked hard to try to keep our lives under our control --by our own efforts! But God’s goal is always – every day – to bring us into trusting dependence on Him instead of ourselves. Paul understood that great difficulty in his life was part of God’s plan, part of His training in trust: …that was to keep us from trusting in and depending on ourselves instead of on God Who raises the dead. (2 Corinthians 1:9AMP) What do we need to do to begin to yield to God in hard circumstances? Here are some ways to practice, to learn to say NO to the natural ways and inclinations of our souls:
This is a battle we must fight with our souls….daily. I can keep on relying on ME or I can choose to trust GOD – the Almighty One Who has power over all things in heaven and earth! I can choose to believe that He is working something good IN me for my eternal joy and His pleasure! God wants us to come to Him in the middle of our painful situations…and let Him be GOD. The old ways of relying on my SELF have to die. God is relentless – He does not want us trusting Him SOME of the time and taking charge the rest of the time! No. He wants us to trust Him all the time in every circumstance, large or small, easy or hard. God wants to use our problems to TRAIN us to find HIM to choose to bow our knee to Him as our loving Father to trust Him even when we don’t understand There is a wonderful account in Daniel 3 of three loyal young men who, when threatened with death by fire, chose to keep on TRUSTING God: “Our God is able to save us” - they knew God’s power was far greater than the king and all his soldiers “and He will save us” – they knew God’s character of love and compassion, they knew He could see what they were facing and trusted He would intervene… BUT EVEN IF HE DOESN’T we will not bow…--they were declaring that God’s way is what they wanted most –more than a miracle rescue! This is the kind of trust God wants us to learn and to choose in the worst of times. He wants us to cling to Him by faith, believing that it is always safe to trust Him totally! The Father longs for His children to be people whose trust in Him will not waiver when He does not do what we want or when He seems to be doing nothing! LOOK UP! BE FULLY CONFIDENT THAT HE IS AT WORK IN YOUR LIFE TODAY IN WISDOM, LOVE AND POWER! by Marnie Piuze
TRUSTING GOD IN OUR TROUBLES (part 1) When we first come to God as new believers in Jesus, we begin to discover the magnitude of God’s Love: how He gave His own Son to rescue us, make us right in His eyes and bring us close – right into His own family! We begin to experience the peace of His daily care and the joy of getting to know Him and being part of His people and His plans. But as we go on in our walk as believers, we find a lot of difficulties, trials and troubles come into our lives. We have not yet learned the Truth of Jesus’s words: in the world you will have tribulation. (John 16:33) We expect God to fix everything for us, make the path smooth. We pray believing that God can and will help us and bring His great power to bear on our problem. We wait. We pray. We call the prayer chain. BUT many times God does not SEEM to be doing anything. Then we start to ask questions: WHY IS IT SO HARD? WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME? WHY DOESN’T GOD CHANGE THIS PERSON OR CIRCUMSTANCE? DOESN’T HE CARE ENOUGH TO DO SOMETHING? Here are some answers to those questions: Why is it so hard? Because those who love God and seek Him are the ones that satan attacks most! Why is this happening to me? Because God has a plan to use what our enemy is doing for our good! Why doesn’t God change this person or circumstance? Because God is working IN this situation to change US!! GOD ALLOWS DIFFICULTIES IN THE LIVES OF ALL HIS CHILDREN (they look different, but all of us walk through difficulty of some kind.) WHY? Because they are God’s WAY into all that He wants for us, all that He has promised. They are the only way into the glory of becoming like our Lord Jesus Christ in character and nature. In a hard situation I need to remind myself that God is not as interested in changing my difficult circumstance as He is in changing me; He doesn’t want to fix my problem as much as He wants to fix me! Remembering HIS goal (not ours) will help us begin to look at our troubles from a different perspective. Instead of doubts and ‘whys,’ we can ask different questions: what is God doing in this? what does He want me to learn? what good can I find even now in the middle of this hard place? how can I cooperate with God in His purpose? If we will choose to go THROUGH trials with faith and patience, looking up to Him, we will experience more of what God intends for us in His sovereign love. We will become overcomers – overcoming our difficulties by faith that releases His peace in our hearts! Trust allows God to bring us into the fullness of His plans for us! How greatly He desires to bless us; how patiently He waits for our cooperation! The Lord will wait, that he may be gracious to you….blessed are all those who wait for [trust in] Him. (Isaiah 30:18) YES, FATHER, I WANT TO BE CHANGED INSIDE BY THESE TROUBLES. I WANT YOU TO HAVE YOUR WAY IN ME. I TRUST THAT YOU ARE ALWAYS ON MY SIDE, CARING FOR ME AND TRAINING ME TO BE THE PERSON YOU DESIRE ME TO BE, LIVING FULLY IN YOUR LOVE AND PURPOSE. Until I See - Peaceful Paths to Parenting Children with Special Needs was born years ago while working in the special education classes in my local school district. The support group that developed from those years was a life-changing experience for me. I am a better person today because of those dedicated parents and friends. The many lessons I have learned and relearned are lightly touched here but highlighted by the parents personal stories alongside the therapists wisdom and experience.
We all learn through the years that everyone has special needs. Until we meet one another in our eternal home ,prepared by the Lord Jesus, we will discover core challenging identity and value shifts. Each of them have the potential of brining light, life and a lift in our abilities and thinking as we process through them with the grace and peace that only God Almighty, our Lord Jesus, and His Holy Spirit can impart. Until I see You, dear Lord, face to face or in the answer that I seek, may I be found in your abiding grace, my soul quieted by your peace! Amen “…they should not come to perfection apart from us….” Hebrews 11:40
Like a train powered by a mighty engine, the Body of Christ was empowered at Pentecost and has been going upward for hundreds of years toward our Destination. Each generation is a railway car loaded with goods – the purposes of the Father, the truth and revelation of Jesus Christ and the ways and gifts of the Holy Spirit -- all entrusted to them to carry safely to the end. Each car connected to the one before, each one serving the purposes of God for their generation. The last generation is the little red caboose. It looks small and insignificant. But it has been given a great responsibility: its job is to hold on to all that the Church has been given. “… hold fast what you have till I come”. Rev 2:25 Its job is to prevent any backward slide in the days when men’s hearts grow cold. Its great value is in being brought to the place of no longer desiring to be something itself, but having one determination and desire: to keep clinging to Him! To the last generation the Lord has promised a mighty move of His Spirit: coming up behind the caboose are two powerful engines – power to move the whole train to the top of the mountain. Together we will see the full greatness of our salvation which is even now ready to be revealed in the last time. As one, by the powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the whole Church will be brought to God’s glorious destination. So be encouraged! Hold on to what we have! Slam on the brakes against all downward slide! And look expectantly for the soon coming power of God to bring us to His End! God’s Confidence
Marnie Piuze Irony: God has complete confidence in me, though I am as predictably changeable as the tide, ---while I refuse to put my complete confidence in Him, who is absolutely and unchangeable trustworthy! Why does He have such confidence in me? Because He knows how He made me and what He made me for—and He knows that HE is IN me to do that which He purposes—even though from every human standpoint it is impossible! The God of the impossible is IN me to bring me from unbelief, rebellion and selfishness into the likeness of His own Son in character and to elevate me to a place of partnership with Him-- the King of kings over the entire universe and beyond! How laughable, how ridiculous a plan! Yet He has determined to do it and it WILL come to pass! Prayer: O God! Thank You for the magnificence of Your plan! Thank You that (like a Dad with child in lap) You place Your mighty hands over mine on the ‘steering wheel of my life’—You enable me to direct my choices so that I am heading in the right direction….I am heading for the fulfillment of Your plan of partnership for eternity! Thank You that it is not up to me—I gladly surrender my will to Yours—You Whose plans exceed my feeble imaginings for myself as much as the space station exceeds my helium balloon! Thank You that You have promised to do it all to bring me to Your end! Thank You that You are faithful to forgive and cleanse me of all unrighteousness = all my thoughts, attitudes and ways that are out of agreement with You! Wash me of the old entrenched patterns of unbelief about who I am and Who You are for me—so that I can fully embrace Your confidence in me and respond with TOTAL confidence in You, Your plan and Your ways! Teach me Your ways, O God! that I might be a joyful participant in Your preparation and training of this child for the incredible future already written in my DNA and on the scroll of my life kept hidden in Your heart! I choose to position myself under You—facing the way You want me to go, directing my efforts in alignment with You so that all that I do is fully submitted and therefore fully enabled! “Don’t talk of love, SHOW me!” ~Eliza Doolittle
God did not just talk of Love. He created the universe and the human race in order to SHOW it. The perfect love in the perfection of the Godhead could not display the depths of compassion, mercy and grace that His Love contains. In order for these aspects of God’s nature to be displayed, there had to be an imperfect recipient: someone who needed His compassionate, merciful, abounding Love. Morning Star Journal quotes as orthodox rabbi saying that God created us so He could be good to us, so we can realize His greatness (know it by experience) and so we would merit to be vehicles for His Presence. God created us so that He could be good to us! He did not just tell us He loves us, He came to us in a mighty demonstration of that Love at the Cross. God showed His love to us by sending His Son. 1 John 4.9 God’s actions toward us are impossibly good! While we were yet sinners, God demonstrated His Love to us. Romans 5.8 In making Jews and Gentiles one in Christ, God’s wisdom was made known. Eph 3.10 God’s mercy to Paul displayed Jesus’ unlimited patience. 1 Timothy 1.16 His actions in making us alive and raising us up with Christ show the riches of His grace and clearly express His kindness. Ephesians 2.7 But we only realize the greatness of His nature when we experience the Love demonstrated, when we understand the depth of our need and receive the outpouring of His love personally. Love is experiential. It is demonstrated in relationship—real and personal interaction. All of history is a drama displaying the greatness and goodness of God. We ‘play opposite’ Him. We fit the part by our need of exactly this kind of God! When we take our place in the drama, humbly acknowledging it’s necessity and reality, we not only experience the wonder and joy of being fully loved in our neediness, but we are also changed by that Love. Love experienced is transforming. It touches us in our core and by continued exposure to that Love our very being is changed to be like His glorious Being. As we become like Him, we begin to act like Him, displaying His nature of loving compassion. As we do, we add another part to the great Drama of History through which God proclaims “THIS is the kind of God I AM!” As a ‘picture’ of God on the earth, God’s image, our surrender to His Love allows Him to perfect that image and make Himself more clearly visible. God not only created an image of Himself, He steps into that image, and unites Himself to His image which is the guarantee that His Love will permeate and change us into His likeness. Through continual humble acceptance of our need and dependence on His transforming Love, we ‘merit to be vehicles for His presence.’ That is our calling: carriers of His character whose display of His nature brings praise to Him. We are created ‘for the praise of His glorious grace’ Ephesians 1.12-14 The kindness and goodness that God displayed to men and women throughout history is meant to be seen by all the watching universe through us, His children. That display will bring Him the praise He so richly deserves! God created us to have a people of His own with whom He can be in loving relationship and through whom He can express His nature. Like Him, we are to be in loving relationship with those around us. We are to speak the truth of love and also demonstrate it as God did. John urged, ”let us not love with words...but with actions”. 1 John 3.18 We will be like Him in this world when we love one another. When our lives and words genuinely display His nature, others will come to realize the greatness of His Love. That is our privilege and our responsibility. And that is why there is a battle. Satan came in the Garden to attack the image of God, the man He had created as a spiritual being capable of expressing His nature. Satan acted in hatred to reduce man to soulish living, capable of expressing his nature. At rebirth, our spirits are restored to love relationship with God, freshly implanted with the seed, the DNA, of His nature. We are then given the permanent presence of the Spirit of God to breath life and shed light on that seed, enabling it to grow into the full expression of the nature of God on earth. Together, the Body of Christ, living out of the spirit-nature that is increasingly like God, will awesomely demonstrate His greatness! This can only happen as we, with childlike simplicity, in humble dependence, agree with God’s purpose: to be objects of love, receivers of grace, vehicles to make Him known…so that we can be a public display of the greatness of His love, grace and mercy to the praise of His glory! Clarion, blow your horn, unsheathe your sword. Still the opposing storm and reveal your Lord! The lion roars the trumpet blasts who could but run! The mission set the calling sure who could but go! The Voice of the Trumpet when heard is a compelling force to obey the Word. There’s a GOLDEN HERALDING TRUMPET I want to blow! Look about you; see the angels gathered round. They’re awaiting direction and the trumpets to bring forth their clear sound. Jesus in passion blew hard and long bringing into the hearts of others a new song. A song of deliverance from the firebrands of their enemy was, and is, to be sung before the great company. Strong to labor to bring peace that others might know sweet release. The Spirit of Burning shall burn and yet burn, while the trumpets blow on till My Son, your Jesus does return! We are the fire and make a declarative sound, even as the Voice of the Trumpet to be heard round! As His very own, we become an integral part of the multiple sound that makes up the Voice of God eternal. From Old Testament typology through the New, we do the work of the trumpet until we hear the sound of that Last Trump and meet Him in the air! |
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