REPENT! FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS NEAR
Greetings in the name of Jesus:
John preached repentance and when Jesus heard about John's arrest He returned to Galilee instead of going back to Nazareth and began to preach as well " Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is near". It strikes me that what He said should really mean something to us and yet for very few of us are our hearts stirred by those words. Even in the womb John leaped when Jesus came near Him. so what was it that made the Kingdom of Heaven so near?
The first thing we find about what Jesus preached concerning the Kingdom of God was that in order to follow Christ we are required to turn away from our own self centered attitudes. In other words we are to literally give ourselves away to God's control instead of attempting to continue to control things for self. It becomes these small details that we miss in our quest to find power in our Christian experience. The truth is that we cannot really believe and serve God completely unless we are willing to give away our control to God's Spirit in our lives. We acnnot do that without practicing and trying to do that on a daily basis, and that means like anything else worth the time in life if we really want it we will work toward it as a goal. The picture of what we feel is giving away control to God will certainly vary just as does every other opinion differs from another, but in the end we are talking about who has the final word in our lives when there is a struggle that we have when God has asked us to do something. Is it God's word above our word in our lives?
When we find the truth in God's word about a part of our life we know is not right how do we treat that? When Jesus encountered Peter and Andrew as they were fishing He literally told them to leave all that they had ever known to follow Him and to become fishers of men. It was a literal decision for these men to leave everything they knew to follow Jesus because God had a direct purpose for them, and for their lives. Until we get past the point of fighting with God over who is in control of our lives we will never discover our personal purpose in Christ. Like so many other things I have found out about my life I find that my art work is merely a part of who God has created me to be, and so I share that openly with people as a testimony of who I am in Christ today. I no longer try to make money with it like I did at one point because it is a part of who I am that belongs to God each and every day.
My life has changed in great part to the amount of control I have given over to God's Spirit within me. For me to live is for me to do God's will for me, but I find that will changes each and every day my foot sets upon this world. I am beginning to find that I cannot be complete without seeking His will for my life in a moment to moment basis. When my eyes open in the morning I must ask the Lord "WHAT ARE WE DOING TODAY FATHER?" I still don't have my life under God's control the way it should be, but I know that my spiritual power grows the more I give to the Father. For my life Repentance becomes a daily , and sometimes a moment to moment issue for me. How do we know that the Kingdom of Heaven is near? It is when we allow the Kingdom of Heaven to influence our lives moment to moment. The closer I get to God the farther away I can see I still am from His real power in my life. We can know that God is close when we can see His hand at work in our lives.
We have to ask ourselves how close we are to the Kingdom instead of how close is the Kingdom to us? It is we who need to become transformed through the renewing of our minds and hearts; not God. If we can see just that one adjustment in our attitudes toward being a follower of Christ it will change much within our lives. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
John preached repentance and when Jesus heard about John's arrest He returned to Galilee instead of going back to Nazareth and began to preach as well " Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is near". It strikes me that what He said should really mean something to us and yet for very few of us are our hearts stirred by those words. Even in the womb John leaped when Jesus came near Him. so what was it that made the Kingdom of Heaven so near?
When we find the truth in God's word about a part of our life we know is not right how do we treat that? When Jesus encountered Peter and Andrew as they were fishing He literally told them to leave all that they had ever known to follow Him and to become fishers of men. It was a literal decision for these men to leave everything they knew to follow Jesus because God had a direct purpose for them, and for their lives. Until we get past the point of fighting with God over who is in control of our lives we will never discover our personal purpose in Christ. Like so many other things I have found out about my life I find that my art work is merely a part of who God has created me to be, and so I share that openly with people as a testimony of who I am in Christ today. I no longer try to make money with it like I did at one point because it is a part of who I am that belongs to God each and every day.
My life has changed in great part to the amount of control I have given over to God's Spirit within me. For me to live is for me to do God's will for me, but I find that will changes each and every day my foot sets upon this world. I am beginning to find that I cannot be complete without seeking His will for my life in a moment to moment basis. When my eyes open in the morning I must ask the Lord "WHAT ARE WE DOING TODAY FATHER?" I still don't have my life under God's control the way it should be, but I know that my spiritual power grows the more I give to the Father. For my life Repentance becomes a daily , and sometimes a moment to moment issue for me. How do we know that the Kingdom of Heaven is near? It is when we allow the Kingdom of Heaven to influence our lives moment to moment. The closer I get to God the farther away I can see I still am from His real power in my life. We can know that God is close when we can see His hand at work in our lives.
We have to ask ourselves how close we are to the Kingdom instead of how close is the Kingdom to us? It is we who need to become transformed through the renewing of our minds and hearts; not God. If we can see just that one adjustment in our attitudes toward being a follower of Christ it will change much within our lives. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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