“Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.”
Believers pray this often, but what does it really look like?
History gives us an illustration. When Rome conquered new lands, they didn’t bring people back to the capital. Instead, they transformed the new territory to look like Rome. The laws, language, and culture all reflected the home kingdom—so much so that when the King came to visit, he felt like he was home.
Continue reading “Your Kingdom Come”
When a landlord leases out the building he owns to someone else, he gives the new tenant all of the authority and rights to do what they want with the house. But, if that tenant subleases the house, they have to hand over their keys as well as their permission and authority. So, imagine that God is the perfect landlord of the perfect earth. He leased it to Adam, therefore giving him the eternal keys to His house and dominion over all of the things in it forever. His desire was for mankind, as His image bearers, to reflect His character to the world as they walked in friendship and fellowship with Him. But when Adam sinned, he lost the keys.
Continue reading “Keys to the Kingdom”
“Therefore, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith…”
– Hebrews 10:19 -22
Scripture tells us that we should have the confidence to enter into the presence of God because Jesus acts as our high priest. The purpose of the high priest in the Old Testament was to enter the Most Holy Place, stand before God, and make atonement for his people so that they could have right-standing. Christ secured our eternal redemption through His sacrifice, so we are forever in a position of complete right-standing with God. We are His heirs, and we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Ephesians 1:3). Continue reading “Remember Your Position”
“For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”
When we think of empty faith, we typically think of this verse in James. Faith without works is dead, but faith that is misplaced is also dead. If we put our faith in our works, instead of our Christ, we can’t become who He made us to be. A picture of this is when Christians stay in their comfort zone, not believing that He can do greater things. Continue reading “Empty Faith”
As Christians, we know the war has been won, but there are still battles to fight. We can be victims or victors in these battles, depending on our knowledge and understanding of what we are fighting. God knows the strategies the enemy uses, and He shows them to us in His Word, so that “we are not ignorant of his devices, lest satan should get an advantage” (2 Corinthians 2:11). In this passage, Paul says to forgive those who have grieved us, and comfort them, so that they won’t be swallowed up by sorrow. This implies that the enemy attacks us by reminding us of our sin and our unworthiness. If he has a strategy against us, we need a strategy against him. So what do we do when we are attacked? Continue reading “When the Enemy Attacks”
Grace Waves 