Build His Kingdom Here

Am I Building My Kingdom or am I building His Kingdom?

It is easy to lose focus.  Even as I write this, I am having to force myself to be focused; there are so many things fighting for our attention in this ADHD instant world that we live in.  When Christ called us to salvation, our eyes were opened.  They were opened to the sin around us, the were opened to the sin in us, and they were opened the great great power He has to overcome and forgive us of that sin. How quickly and often we can forget about that great work that Christ has done in us and the great power that lives in us, that we are partakers in - “having escaped from the corruption that is in the world”.  

If our eyes have been opened to the greatness and goodness of God then we should try to model Christ in everything that we do for the sake of building His kingdom.  We do this through every aspect of our life, so our life screams out, “Christ is Lord”.  If I am being honest, and why should I not be, I am not there yet.  There are many aspects of my life that scream, “Jonathan is Lord”; there are many aspects of my life that scream, “My family is Lord”; even furthermore there are many aspects of my life that loudly scream, “money is Lord”.  Many times I am more concerned about building my kingdom, my families kingdom, and my financial kingdom, than I am building His Kingdom.  

In 2 Peter, Peter says that if I am not pursuing the qualities that scream “Christ Is Lord”, I am keeping myself ineffective and unfruitful for the Lord - furthermore if I lack these qualities then I am nearsighted, blind, having FORGOTTEN the truth my eyes were opened when I was saved.  Peter then says, I need to be therefore highly concerned with making sure to make much of the Lord, to building His kingdom now.  

It is easy to lose focus on what is important; as sad as it is to say, it is easy to forget the great power of salvation of Christ; to lose the joy of our salvation.  It is easy to lose focus that building our Kingdom will accomplish nothing, while building Christ’s Kingdom will accomplish forgiveness and everlasting life in other’s lives.  

Our kingdoms: ourselves, our families, our money - it all pales in comparison to the great love of His Kingdom.  

Let’s be about building His Kingdom today.  

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 1:3-11

Faith Like A Child

Faith Like A Child

Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom 

of God like a child shall not enter it.

Luke 18:17

My daughter, Mackenzie, is a three-year-old who is full of life, energy and excitement.  It is amazing to watch her learn new things and oftentimes quite humorous to see how she processes them.  Before every meal and at bedtime each night we end each of our prayers with “Amen, To God Be All the Glory”.  This has become a standard to her on how one is supposed to end a prayer.  It is has been humorous to see her correct her Sunday School teachers saying, that they forgot to say, “To God Be All the Glory”.  Meanwhile they try to figure out what this three-year-old is saying, since it is not always completely understandable.  

Mackenzie attends the preschool held at the Methodist Church in the town where we live.  A few weeks ago, she came home concerned, worried, and upset.  When my wife and I asked her what was wrong, she said, “Pastor David does not know how to end a prayer”.  I assumed she meant that he had simply forgotten to say, “To God Be All the Glory”, however she continued, he ended his prayers saying, “(Ahh-men)" instead of "(Ae-men)."  She was worried how someone who was a pastor could miss this simple task.  So Mackenzie, with the mind of a child begin to pray for Pastor David every night, that God would teach him how to correctly end a prayer.  

Yesterday, when I picked Mackenzie up from pre-school, it was all Mackenzie could do to contain her excitement as she told me, that “God had taught Pastor David to end his prayers correctly with "(Ae-men)."  Being an adult and not particularly in the believing mode, I tried to interpret what she was saying by asking, “So did you bug him to say that?”, or “Was he trying to make you happy?”.  Mackenzie continued, that, no God had been the one who had taught Pastor David this; He had answered her prayer.  It then hit me, this was Faith Like a Child.  Even though I don’t know what caused Pastor David to end his prayers like this, in my daughters mind, this was God doing exactly what we had been teaching her - answering her prayers.  

I wonder how many of us would have callused hearts in this situation, to think well God didn’t truly answer this prayer, trying to rationalize what had happened, instead of simply exclaiming that God had answered a prayer.  In this moment, my daughter became the teacher and I became the student; she reminded me of a child-like faith that doesn’t reason, or try to explain, but that trusts in God.   

Be encouraged today that the Lord does indeed hear your prayers, and He is at work in answering them.  

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer,

believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Mark 11:24