The Kingdom of God

This is part 3 of a series on the Lord's Prayer.

Your kingdom come. -Luke 11:2 b

We pray these words without thinking about or realizing what we ask, most of the time.  What is the Kingdom, or in gender inclusive language, "kindom" of God, and why should we ask God to bring it about? Do we understand that  for which we hope?

Jesus spoke a lot about it.  One of the first things we hear about Jesus when he emerges from his time of temptation in the wilderness is, that he began to preach, "The Kingdom of God is at hand."  Jesus frequently uses the phrase, "the Kingdom of God is like..."  and goes so far as to remind us that, "The Kingdom of God is within you."   
The Kingdom of God simply put, means an intentional recognition that God is King- um... sorry for the gender assignment there... I mean, Sovereign! 

Oh, you knew that already, right? Of course, because God is Creator, and God has given us life and breath, and we will all someday pass from this world and return to God's loving arms, naturally, God is the One, Sovereign.  God is in charge.   When God's Realm comes, finally, there will be peace on earth. No more war.  The lion laying down with the lamb, and all of that.  "Thy Kingdom come."  And it is a beautiful thing to pray for; it is our hope as people of God!

So now, think about what it will mean for the Kingdom of God to come about... (hint: The Kingdom of God is within you, so you already know this too, deep down...)

God as the One Sovereign means that we, as God's subjects, for lack of a better term, would need to live by God's commandments; live out God's design, live in God's way.  It means that we would love God with all our heart, and soul, and strength, and our neighbor as ourself; forgiving, not 7 times, but 7 times 70 times.  It means that we would reject any form of anger, hatred, prejudice, and violence; and give up retaliation and revenge.  
It means we would not bow down to or follow any leader, government, or national creed not in accordance with God's design, because we are citizens of God's realm first.  That our first and full allegiance is to God's Kingdom, where there are no sides, no political parties, no weapons or military, no greed or wealth.  

I know, it's a lot to take in.  It's a lot to give up. It is almost the exact opposite of the world we presently inhabit.  To bring about whole-ness, means a whole-lot of sacrifice... 

"The Kingdom of God is within you."  Though it may seem like it is beyond our reach, we are all given everything we need to participate with God in bringing this about.  We have Christ's teachings, the Spirit within us,  and God's people around us to help us "seek first the Kingdom of God," (Mt6:33) so that we may know real peace.

Praying one prayer at a time, 
​Pastor Linda

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