Monday, July 28, 2008

Love is God's Base

I am convinced that everything God does is motivated by love. The beginning, the creation of all things, the blessing given to Adam and Eve, the promise of a redeemer, the law, the prophets, the redeemer, the freedom we enjoy in Christ, the power of His Name, His glory, the authority and power to enter boldly to His throne room and receive from Him all are reflections of His Love.

A dear friend and I were talking and reflecting on how Jesus prayed in John 17:23 that we should know that God loves us just as much as He loves Jesus. This revelation is one that should propel us past the petty one-upmanship that plagues so many of our Christian bodies. It should bring us to a level of loving one another and others as Jesus did. After coming to the realization that we as followers of Jesus are loved by God the Father just as much as He loved Jesus, should elevate our rhetoric, our willingness to forgive, and our overall testimony.

We don’t need to fight for His attention, forgiveness, or love- it’s already ours. We don’t need to prove to anyone how much more deserving we are over anyone else to receive His Mercy-it’s already ours.

All He calls us to do is to reflect the same love to others, to show others how much He desires to love them too.

Let’s cast off the struggle to be worthy, and embrace His love that was poured out on us (Romans 5:5) and love our family, and our neighbor.

  • John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
  • 1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves has been born of God, and knows God.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Thy Kingdom come on Earth as it is in Heaven

Have you ever thought about what Jesus meant when he prayed this phrase? It came directly after the disciples asked him how to pray. So, He started by making one of the most bold and little accepted statements of His ministry. May the Kingdom of God come to Earth and may His Will be done here on Earth just like it is in Heaven. (Matthew 6:10)

I believe that this statement has been under evaluated, and suppressed. Since it is part of what we have called the “Lord’s Prayer” it has been clumped together with the entire prayer and not looked at and put into practice.

Jesus prayed this and what He prayed came to pass. What he asked His disciples to do it was done and what He asked them to pray came to pass. So here he tells them to pray this way….”Our Father who is in Heaven holy is your Name, Thy kingdom come thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven.”

Do you dare? Do you dare pray this way and with it take a stand to walk like it is unfolding before you? It is a wonderful thing to be saved and going to heaven but it is the ability to bring the Kingdom of God to the needy and the hurt, to heal the land, to bring stability to the economy, to stand in the way of tyranny and violence and to defy nature that makes us truly Ambassadors of this heavenly Kingdom.