kingdom

"Repent, for the kingdom of God is near"

Definition of repent: to change your thinking, to think differently, to bring your thinking into line with God's; possibly, but not necessarily, associated with a feeling of remorse for having previously thought differently.

Why? "for the kingdom of God is near." What is the kingdom of God?? It is the world as God intended. It is the world under God's authority, under His benevolence, under His provision, under His loving care. It is completely contrary to the 'pattern of this world,' which is ruled by the 'prince of this world' a.k.a. the devil. We have been rescued out of the 'dominion of darkness' and brought into the kingdom of His son, whom He loves.

Where is the kingdom of God? "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, 'Here it is' or 'There it is', because the kingdom of God is within you."

Our Father, who is in Heaven, hallowed, honored, revered, respected, be your name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done....where? On earth...in me, while here on earth,...as it is in Heaven....

...ever wonder what God's will is. Think about the only place in the universe where God's will is always done. In Heaven. Jesus told us to ask for God's will to be done in our lives as it is in Heaven. So what's heaven like, anyway?? Hmmm....

Think differently, about everything, because the kingdom of God is soooooo close, in fact it's soooo close that it's actually inside of you....the Kingdom of God is inside me, the Authority of God, is inside me, the benevolence of God, is inside me, the loving care of God, is inside of me, the peace of God that passes understanding, is inside of me. It's soooo close....only believe... only think differently!

It's only a paradigm shift away....

the title deed

Some of you know that I work in a vehicle registry office; you know, license plates, driver's license, etc. It's very interesting work. I like it alot, partly because it is challenging, and mostly because it is a 'people' oriented job. If people don't walk in the door, I have nothing to do. I don't do endless hours of paperwork, alone in a cubicle...I serve people.

One thing that people often don't understand, when they come into my office, is that it is also a job of 'legalities'. There are a number of things that I always need before I can help someone, and that is proof of identification, and proof of ownership. They don't always understand that what they are asking me to produce is a legal document, which must be supported by other legal documents. They think they can just 'say' they bought a truck from Joe Blow down the street, and I will happily just produce them a legal document that proves it. That is not the way it works. The custormer has to provide me with legal proof of ownership, before I can provide them with legal registration of ownership, (which then becomes another form of legal proof of ownership). Blah, blah, blah, who cares...right?

Well, something struck me about this the other day, and that is that a written piece of paper, with a couple of signatures and some pertinent information on it, is enough for me to believe with absolute certainty that this vehicle actually exists. I never ever need to physically go outside and look to see if the vehicle actually exists. I never need to phone around and ask people if Joe Blow actually bought this car. I need no physical evidence whatsoever, beyond the written word. Interesting, don't you think? If I were to doubt the piece of paper, and the integrity of the one who signed it, I may ask to see the proof. I would ask to see the car. Now that person may say, "I cannot show it to you at this time, it is currently parked at home." I would have further fuel for my suspicions, that this vehicle does not, in reality, exist. But then, I would have overstepped my bounds. It is my job to trust the piece of paper, and also, the integrity of the one who signed it.

Do you see where I am going with this?? There is a phrase going around in Christian circles that says, "God said it, I believe it, that settles it." A wise man I know edits it down to say this, "God said it, that settles it." Whatif...I think of the promises, the principals, and the character of God as my 'title document." The Bible is my title document. God wrote it, and signed it in the blood of his Son, Jesus. I have no right to doubt either the document, or the intergrity of the one who signed it, based on what I see, or what I do not see. God said it, that settles it.

Too often we go through life saying that "I know God says he loves me...but, I just don't feel it," "I know He says it is not Him who condemns, that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,...but I just feel so guilty" "I know he said he forgives all my sins..., but, He doesn't know what I did last night, He won't forgive me for that...", " I know he said he heals all my diseases..., but, I just don't see it", "I know He said that 'by His stripes we are healed'..., but, I just don't buy it," " I know I have the title deed, that you signed with your own blood...,but, I'm gonna go with what I see and what I feel." "I know you said it...,but, that doesn't settle it." Oh me of little faith...

Please God let me walk by faith and not by sight. Please God, don't let me overstep my bounds. Please God don't let me doubt your integrity, your character, your heart. Please God give me faith.

message received

So, here’s what I’ve been wondering about lately. I’m not through thinking it through, but writing helps, so here goes…

Growing up in an evangelical church all my life, having Christian parents, reading Christian books, hearing Christian music, etc., etc. I’ve pretty much always known how to get “saved”. By saved, in this paragraph, I mean have my sins forgiven and be assured of going to heaven when I die. I knew that to be “saved” I needed to be ‘born again’, which in practical terms means that I needed to acknowledge (even though only on a very superficial level) that Jesus had died for my sins, and ‘receive’ Him into ‘my heart’.

I was five when I ‘received’ Him into ‘my heart’ and it was a very real experience for me. I didn’t even know about the “Jesus died for my sins part.” I just had this sense of safety and love and acceptance from Jesus whenever my mom or dad would pray with me at bed-time. It was definitely from Jesus and I mentioned this to my mom. She said I could have that feeling, that sense all the time if I invited Jesus into my heart. So I did.

I learned about the dying part when I was ten, and was mortified! My Jesus…MY Jesus was crucified?? That’s horrible! How could they do that?? What’s that you’re saying? You’re saying that my sin, MY sin put him there? He died for MY sin?? It was very traumatic for me. Very real. That was my first time hearing the concept that one needs to accept Jesus as “Lord.” Which I did (although only on a very superficial level.)

You’ve heard that before, right?? The distinction between accepting Jesus as Saviour, and accepting Jesus as Lord? We all talk about the difference between simply (as if there’s anything simple about it) being saved from hell when I die, and being saved from the ‘hell’ here on earth. We talk about it in terms of ‘salvation’ being a one-time contract that God makes with us. We accept him as Saviour…he takes us to heaven when we die. Simple as that. Jesus’ blood covered/paid the penalty for our sins. It’s a done deal. It’s good news.

But it doesn’t take long before ‘pie in the sky by and by’ is just a long way off, and it’s just not much help in the here and now. Life’s messy in the here and now. I prove to myself over and over again that I can’t cut the mustard, so to speak. I can’t meet the standards that I set for myself. I fail myself, and others (and supposedly God) over and over.

The answer to this problem has already long ago been solved, but I am not aware. So I begin to hear things about accepting Jesus as Lord. Unfortunately many of these messages were heard along with an unhealthy load of ‘trying harder’ and ‘feeling remorse,’ but the underlying truth about accepting Jesus as Lord was there. We call it something different now. We call it ‘abiding in Christ.’ THANKFULLY we’ve left off most of the ‘trying harder’ and the ‘feeling remorse’ and are learning to ‘let go and let God,’ to allow the life of Christ to live through us.

Now, it used to be that accepting Christ as Lord was presented sort of as a one-time commitment that I made to God. Christ as Saviour was God’s commitment to me…Christ as Lord was my commitment to Him. It was meant to be a one-time thing, but, since I sucked,…I’d have to do it many times. I, personally, was very fortunate to have wonderful ‘abiding in Christ’ type parents, so I never really bought into the whole ‘my commitment to Him’ type teaching. But I heard it. Many, MANY times.

I don’t look at it as being a commitment at all, at least not on my part. Again it is Jesus’ commitment to me. IF I will let Him, He WILL live His life through me. He will love through me, he will forgive through me, he will be (BE) my joy, my peace, my patience, my hope, even my obedience. IF I will ‘receive’ Him as Lord. Receive. Believe. Accept. If I will dare to believe that this is TRUE, that Jesus didn’t intend us to go it alone, to tough it out till heaven, then life in the here and now will be different for me. IF I believe the TRUTH then I will be free. Free from sin, free from the law, free from the tyranny of self, free from worry, free from guilt, free from fear.

So now, I have really ‘received Christ’ twice. Once as Saviour, once as Lord. Right?? Or not?? (this is getting long) Can the answer be both yes and no? When I receive Jesus, I get the whole deal, but…I am unaware. I received what was presented to me. Escape from hell, forgiveness of sin, is what was presented…I received it. Escape from ‘hell on earth,’ life in Christ, is what was presented…I received it. I did not experience either thing until it was first: presented, and second: received. I did get everything when I asked Jesus into my heart. But I still don’t know what “everything’ is. I believe there are things about the finished work of Christ, about the everything, that have not yet been ‘presented’ to me.

Do you think it possible that I will have the privilege of ‘receiving Christ’ a third time? For it is truly a privilege. Say, maybe, as Healer?? Do you think that maybe the same process of being ‘presented’ with the TRUTH, processing it, thinking on it, being offended by it, rejecting it, hearing it again, processing, thinking, doubting, hearing, praying, and asking, finally meets with faith so I can ‘receive’ Christ as Healer? Did we not go through this whole process before we ‘received’ Christ as Saviour, and again before we received Him as Lord. Why wouldn’t it be the same to receive Christ as Healer? Was the process, the questioning, the doubting, the toomanywhatifs… worth it the first two times?

“Now faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” But how can they hear unless someone tells them??