MAY YOUR KINGDOM COME IN ME!

Bible Verse:
Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Matthew 6:10 (NASB)

Devotional:
In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught his followers to pray for God’s kingdom to come. What does that mean practically? For me it involves praying for the day when Jesus returns and ushers in a new kind of world — full of peace, justice, unselfishness, and forgiveness, rather than hatred, injustice, and broken relationships. However, this prayer is more than simply about the future; it means that I also pray that the kingdom comes in me today as a Christ-follower.

That can be a tough prayer because it calls for me to actually do something about it! I have to spend time listening to God to know what He wants from me; I have to act on what He shows me to do; and I have to live out the life of Jesus through the power He gives me. Only then can I touch others in my own little world and give them a taste of His kingdom.

This month is a good time to evaluate my own life to see how well God’s kingdom has come in me. Do I love my neighbor or am I living to please myself? Do I seek peace and reconciliation even when I don’t feel like doing so? Is there someone I need to forgive? Do I need to apologize to anyone? Do I see my time, gifts, and material goods as wholly God’s or somewhat as my own? Do I seek God and his kingdom more than anything else in life — influence, success, money, fun, security, popularity, recognition, etc.?

I must admit that I prefer to avoid loving others sacrificially as Jesus did. I don’t really want to be involved when life is messy and problem-filled. Let me have my space filled with happy people who require little of me! I want to give to God’s kingdom, but mostly when it touches me personally. With great sorrow, I have to admit that far too often God’s kingdom is absent from my attitudes and my actions.

This time of introspection at Northwest is not really about a building; it is about expanding the kingdom of God first and foremost in our hearts and lives and then in the world around us. May Thy kingdom come in me!

Prayer:
Submit to God’s rule in your own heart. Sit quietly before Him, asking Him to show you what steps you need to take to bring His kingdom into your life in a practical way. Ask Him for the grace and power to do that. Talk to Him about what He would have you give to His kingdom work in the world around you, with both time and money. Silently listen for His answer today and every day.

Written by Kay Daigle, our women’s minister. Kay and Gary have attended Northwest for six years.