When His Kingdom Comes

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down for these words are trustworthy and true.” He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be His God and He will be my son.” Revelation 21:5-7

I have been familiar with the kingdom of God all my life, but I have limited the Kingdom to being heaven you know where all born-again, believers will go, the verse above says these are the over-comers, the ones who live by faith and resist the sin of this life. Look around you is everything perfect and new or can you see that every sorrow you have ever known has come from the brokenness we live in now. Bad things happen around us all the time. When I learned about the Kingdom of God, I learned it as a future hope, a future home, that the kingdom had not yet arrived. So for now we have to muddle through, get by, and survive this life that we live. If that is true, we are in for more disappointment and more brokenness…

No, in all things we are more than conquerors through loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels or demons, neither the present nor the future, no any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:37-39

If the Kingdom of heaven is God and through Christ God is in you and me, wouldn’t that mean that the Kingdom has already come? That we live in the Kingdom now because the Kingdom is in us. Jesus came to renew, restore, and re-create you and me. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:23-24 We make the effort to put off, out, and away our old nature, it is an act of our will to resist to empty ourselves of everything that is not pleasing to God so that He can fill us up with Him.

I get so frustrated with life and how before I know it all the temporary stuff has robbed me of living in the kingdom. In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’” Matthew 3:1-3 The Kingdom is not only some future destination when we did or when Jesus returns for us, the Kingdom is right now in you and me because we have accepted Jesus and He is the Kingdom, He is what we have until that glorious day when He returns to wipe away every tear and there will be a new heaven and a new earth, but for right now in this present age we have a fortress a strong tower, a stronghold in all our trouble and sorrow. We have a hiding place that keeps us safe even though we go through the fire. We have nothing to fear. But this is what the Lord says—he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, you Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead. Since you are precious and honored in my sight and because I love you…Do not be afraid, for I am with you; Isaiah 43:1-5 Because of Jesus we are included in this passage. When it speaks of Jacob or Israel, we are included, the Kingdom of God is in you and me, He is with us, He is in us.

I know how hard it is to grasp that, life is not easy, it is excruciatingly painful sometimes, but it can be less painful and stressful when we take our eyes off the problems, and turn our gaze upon Jesus, the Kingdom will overcome our fear, worry, doubt and all the calamity that comes with the trouble of this world. John the Baptist said that Jesus, the Kingdom of Heaven is near, so if Jesus is in you then the Kingdom is in you as well. We can experience the glory of heaven right now and magnify it even greater because through our problems and through our struggles He will be glorified so everyone can see. We aren’t defeated we are more than conquerors because He is in us working diligently to complete what He began until Jesus returns to take us home.

When the Kingdom comes we will just be moving on up to His glorious level, the penthouse in the sky, the mansion on the hilltop, the city on the hill. Live today like it is…the King of King and Lord of Lord reigns in your heart…We have won.


In HIS Time
Teresa
My Devotion, My Heart by Teresa Preston ISBN # 978-1-61566-460-3