December 2019

Your Kingdom Come

your-kingdom-come

Matthew 6:10

Men, Jesus is now sharing with us a second line in a model prayer. “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”. First, where is the kingdom? We assume too quickly that it is heaven. Is it?

Jesus has already said in 4:17 that “the kingdom is at hand”. Quite literally it was in His hands, as they will be nailed to a cross to provide access to the kingdom. The kingdom life begins when we walk through Jesus who is the narrow gate. His kingdom came between His death and Pentecost when the death humanity suffered in the garden (Genesis 3) was given back in life through Christ’s atonement and receiving the Spirit. Adam and Eve lost their access to the Spirit of God the Father. Adam was easy to find physically, but God asked where Adam was because the Spiritual connection had been severed.

Further, what is a kingdom, but a territory. At the end of Mathew, we will hear Jesus say, “all authority has been given to Jesus in heaven and on earth”. But we know that the earth had been given over to Satan back in Genesis. Jesus reclaimed the keys to all the secret places when He rose from death. Jesus will tell Peter in ch16 that believers (the church) will be given the keys to the kingdom. We who are called and accept Christ have been given kingdom authority as the bride of Christ through the Spirit connection, who is the Comforter, given to us by Jesus.

The kingdom has begun, it is NOW. Our eternal life in Christ has already begun. Our treasure is stored in heaven, but our rewards have already begun. We who are Christ’s no longer have to walk in defeat. We are sojourners in a foreign land, but not without authority and privilege. We are the bride, to the One and only Son of the Most High God. Move forward men, aligned with Kingdom principals. His Kingdom is now, and we must learn how to exercise the authority granted to us here and now. He came that we would have life, and life abundantly. It’s begun. Go search out kingdom principals.

The Kingdom has come, but has it come to you? Have you learned how to focus, see, and walk in Kingdom life? Jesus now says, “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”. Let’s ask, what is His will in heaven and how is it implemented here on earth? Is there sickness, sin, arrogance, disorder, etc. in heaven?

Heaven has order, waves of praises, brilliant light, treasure rooms, mansions, books, a throne room, etc. Mathew 18:18-20 deals with discipline but look closely. What we “bind on earth is bound in heaven”. Binding is a contractual term. When we come into agreement here with the Holy Spirit, it is also done in heaven. What is done in heaven is engaged here. Jesus is the gate to a relational God. We reciprocate with heaven. The Lord puts things in our path to agree with. Our agreement is like signing a contract. Once agreement is made, God orders the terms of that agreement carried out on earth.

The enemy also searches out agreements. If we agree with the enemy, he carries it to God, and He is bound by that agreement. God will not violate our will. If we agree with the enemy that we are depressed, we essentially tie heavens blessing away from us, and the cycle continues. God looks at the agreement we make with the enemy and allows it to be carried out. This is why Jesus says, “Your will be done”, because His will is not to harm us but to prosper us and give us a future.

The Word has promises from God to us. If we pray into agree with those promises, God drops the gavel and engages the terms of His promises into the earth, into our lives. Move forward men, agreeing with His will being done on earth as it is in heaven. Be conscious of your words, even in jest. The enemy uses the system against us. Be certain your words, and your agreements are aligned with His will so that His best intentions for us are enacted. Kingdom life.

Vance Durrance

Vain Repetition

repetition

And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. — Matthew 6:7-8. NKJV

Jesus tells the multitude “don’t use vain repetitions when you pray as the heathens do.” We’ve all seen those folks who have learned a few churchy terms out of the old English that are rehearsed and spoken again as a prayer begins. Though nonsensical, that is not what Jesus refers to here. Jesus refers here to those repetitive chants spoken before idols in hopes of summoning a power to respond. Jesus is separating Himself from that form of worship.

These idol worshippers think their carvings and figures will suddenly hear them through their many repetitious words. Jesus tells the multitude and us, our Father in heaven already knows our need before we ask. Our God waits for us to ask with the correct protocol with our answer in hand.

Today we don’t have carvings in our home we bow to, but how many of us have a lucky shirt we wear for every game? Does the god of sports honor your shirt wearing, body painting, tailgating discipline? How many outcomes do we try to manifest by our will and thoughtful meditation? Is it working? Does reciting self-help language in your head bring lasting peace, joy or affirmation? What God/god answers?

The god of this world is deceptive. The god of our mind is unreliable and sick. The god of sports and entertainment really doesn’t give 2 squats for your wellbeing and future hope. The Lord our God doesn’t have to be awakened or summoned out of stone, wood, or a disturbed mental state. He already knows our request. He knew us from before the foundation of the world. He waits for us to come into agreement with His Spirit so that our oneness is restored. Our God is a friend, closer than a brother, who seeks not to harm us but to prosper us. Our God will never leave or forsake us. How many sports fans have felt forsaken by the god of their team?

I submit to you the charge from Joshua 24 “choose you this day whom you will serve”. Move forward men, with prayer that works to a God who hears.

Vance Durrance

Eyewash Station

Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to see the beam of wood in your own? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye,’ while there is a beam in your own? 5 You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. (Matthew 7:3-5, NET)

Have you ever gotten a speck of sawdust in the eye? It is a surprising that something so small could be such an enormously painful irritant. Thankfully the Lord made it so, because the human eye is a quality coated lens that is very sensitive to light, allowing us to be enriched by its visual receptivity. But being sensitive has its drawbacks, because the eye is also vulnerable to scratches and abrasions. Thus, the discomfort we feel warns us we need to remove the foreign fragment that threatens our eye’s destruction.

But one does not simply pluck a speck from one’s own eye. Neither can one do so for another. To attempt to do so may cause additional harm, as human fingers (especially dirty ones) can be boorish instruments. And the natural reflex of the eye makes it nearly impossible for us to allow another to do so. Rather, the eye must be flushed with water.

And as the eye wash stations at my workplace depict through simple illustrations, the person must bring their head down and open their eyes wide in order for the streams of water to rinse away any damaging debris.

And so it is with spiritual specks.

God first makes all that is foreign to our image bearing soul an enormous irritant (Job 33:16-17; 36:8-11), and we are driven to seek the removal of our pain to avoid destruction (Job 33:29-30; 36:15). But much as we try, we are not able to tear it from our hearts (Rom 7:21-24). But neither can another believer reach inside and remove it for us. For we are all clumsy, spiritual brutes, doing more harm than good. There is only one Savior (Isa 43:11), and we should take the approach of Christ before His church—sanctifying us by cleansing us through the washing of the water by the word (Eph 5:26-27). Our hearts must be flushed with pure water (Eze 36:25-27).

So then what is our part in this process? For the one bleary eyed with the sinful substance, we must bow our head in submission (Jam 4:7-10) heeding the voices of faithful disciples ahead of us (1Co 11:1). We must enter the cool stream with eyes wide open (Jer 29:13; Job 35:5; Psa 46:8; 119:18), enduring the initial sting of God’s loving rebuke (Heb 12:6; Pro 3:11-12; Rev 3:12) in order for our heart to be cleansed of impurities.

And as for the one assisting with clear eyes, we must lead (Gal 6:1; Eph 4:15) the one staggering to the eyewash station by going there ourselves (1Ti 4:12). We must demonstrate its use by our own actions—bowing our head (Psa 95:6) and eagerly leaning into the water (Psa 23:4; Pro 12:1; Heb 12:7) by confessing our own discomfort and need (1Jo 1:9), all the while speaking of the refreshing benefits of remaining in the stream (Psa 119:165).

Billy Neal