Kingdom Living

  There is coming a time when Jesus will return and establish His Kingdom, the Kingdom of God. We do not know the time of His return but we wait patiently and faithfully for that day. Jesus also speaks of the Kingdom being in us and around us; a place that we can enter. In all of these the Kingdom of God is the place where God rules. So if God rules our hearts, our minds, and souls; our lives, then that’s were we find the Kingdom of God now. In our hope of the Kingdom to come those in Christ live in the Kingdom present.  
  When a person turns their life to Jesus, receiving his salvation by grace through faith, they become "saved", but possibly more importantly they become a disciple of Jesus in God's Kingdom.
  When we become disciples; Citizens of God's Kingdom, we begin to model our life after the life of Jesus. This is a life of giving ourselves to love and good works. This is a life that becomes a testimony of what we have witnessed Jesus do in our lives and with our lives. It becomes our all consuming desire for all to see the power of the Gospel and the power of God’s grace.

God's Glory

  "... for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,". (Romans 3:23 NIV)   Most of the time this verse is drawn upon to point out a persons sin and their need to turn their life to God. And it's true; I'm a sinner, everyone reading this is a sinner, everyone not reading this is a sinner. But I think the optimum word in the verse is "glory".

  It is because of God's glory, his holiness, His majesty, His sovereignty, His supremacy, that we have a reference point to become aware of our sin.
  There are a lot of good people in the world. For the most part we all want to live our lives peacefully and get along with every one else, but held up beside God all our good deeds are nothing. But here's the good news:
  God has shown us grace, a free gift emanating from His glorious love, that through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are cleansed of our sin. We, taking up the righteousness of Christ, can now stand before God in personal relationship.
  And that is the beauty of God's love. He wants us in relationship with Him. Just as He would walk with Adam and Eve in the garden during the "cool of the evening" he wants that personal time with us now. Isn't that glorious?

Prayer as Communion with God

        The Christian life is our present and personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. This relationship brings us the wonderful gift of being able to talk directly with God. Prayer. We have this because of what Christ has done for us, creating a sacred union between human-kind and God. We are in Christ and He is in us.

So many think prayer is a way to get what we want. I truth prayer is bringing ourselves into union with His thoughts, ways, and teachings. Christ is the focus of prayer, His work, and His impact on your life. This is what Jesus teaches in the Lord’s Prayer.

(Luke 11:1-4 NIV) 1 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” 2 He said to them, “When you pray, say: “‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread. 4 Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.’”

  Prayer becomes our connection with God our way to be in tune with Him and His will. God is seeking to strengthen us; empower us for all we encounter in our lives. This is the in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit, who prays for us even when we do not know how to pray. This is just a hint of the depth of which God wants to interact with us in our lives. He desires a moment to moment relationship with us. That is why we are called to a life of constant communion with Him.

We need to recognize and establish the supremacy of God in our lives and an attitude constant communion through prayer helps make that happen. Prayer is probably the most key aspects of a Christian life, Bringing to the fore-front of our hearts, minds and spirits that Jesus Christ LORD.

This is the day the Lord has made...

  Christians have fallen into a trap of prescribing certain things to be done at certain times, such as church happens on Sundays and possibly Wednesday, Prayer time is in the morning and evening, on Saturday we may set a time to go out to witness. The trap is that we have lost sight that all of the above are to take place at anytime, anyplace in our moment to moment walk with Jesus.
  We are the church, we are called to be constantly in prayer, our very life is to be our witness.
  So what about the other aspects of the Christian life; worship and praise, discipleship, loving your neighbor/enemy/everyone? These also need to be the very present aspects of our lives. Setting a schedule is not a bad thing but we need to not limit ourselves to that schedule. In so doing we run the risk of putting Jesus in a little religious box only to be brought out at specified times. We are to have the image of Christ within us projected dynamically outward through our lives.
  Let us marvel everyday at the baby in the manger who is truly God and not set that aside just for Christmas. Let's experience Easter and Pentecost in every moment of the lives. Look! Here is the Kingdom of God! "... Rejoice and be glad in it!"