This morning I was thinking about the Kingdom of God, and when I opened my Bible, it opened to where I had been reading, Luke 17, but I was focusing on some other things, but when I red down through the chapter, I came across these verses - Luke 17:20-21 NIV:
[20] "Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, [21] nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
I started thinking about the expectations the Pharisees, and really all the Jews, had concerning the coming Messiah, and His kingdom. They were expecting a military ruler and King who would restore the grandeur, power and God's presence back to Israel. They were looking for some great move of God, and Jesus tells them its already here in your midst, some translations say "its within you". The must have looked at Him like He was crazy, because their expectations wouldn't allow the paradigm and reality Jesus was talking about to be recognized by them.
As I was thinking through this, I felt the Lord take me one step further and say, and this is exactly how the church is today, always looking for the great move of God, the coming revival, the demonstration of His glorious kingdom, when it is in our midst and within us! That caused me stop dead in my thoughts...
So....
1. Another way to say this, is His Kingdom starts with me, with us
2. If I am not seeing His glorious Kingdom, maybe I need to look at myself
3. All great moves of God start with the prayers of individuals, why am I waiting for someone else to get things going?
4. I need to change my expectations, so I don't miss His presence - I am not sure what that looks like exactly, but I know I don't want to miss Him
5. Jesus gave me authority, and appointed me to be a representative of the Kingdom, but my actions say I don't believe that, or live that reality
I could keep going, but that is enough for me to think on and act on for the next several years. Lord, help me to live this reality, that Your Kingdom is within me. I could even say - the next great move of God is within me!
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