Showing posts with label Lord's Prayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lord's Prayer. Show all posts

December 27, 2015

Behold! The Kingdom of God has come!

The Kingdom of God has come and Christians can live in the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven, just as the prayer that Jesus has taught His believers pray daily. What does it mean? It means we live in the presence of God and we live a life different from that of the unbelievers. When they believe in Jesus they can live inside this Kingdom too. While in the Kingdom we enjoy the abundant life and supernatural protection and undeserved favor of God, a supernatural living over the natural world——under the grace and mercy of God.
Is there a proof of this in the Bible? Yes. We read Acts 27 afresh today to see the proof.
God will tell us what he has planned for Christians to accomplish in this world. He will guide us to make the right decision at the right time in the right manner. This includes all aspects of our daily living. There are two things He will tell us: What His believers should do, and what the unbelieving world will encounter. The same physical natural storm comes upon both believers and unbelievers. The outcome will be different when Christians live the Kingdom of God life.
Here is a brief summary of the difference between those living in the Kingdom of God (people of God) and those living outside (people of the world): THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS REAL WHERE CHRISTIANS LIVE IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD AND LIVE IN THE SPIRITUAL REALITY OF THE UNSEEN REALM OF GOD.
1. What the world saw was merely physical and not the unseen: In the eyes of the world at the beginning of the journey, Paul was a mere prisoner just like any other prisoners. And he had no control over the journey. (Acts 27:1-8)
2. Paul gave his advice even when no one listened: but the world chose to listen to the wisdom of the physical man and not to God through a spiritual man. (Acts 27:9-13)
3. The storm event confirmed God's words: the prediction of Paul, a spiritual man who lived in the Kingdom of God. (Acts 27:14-20)
4. God showed His favor for His own people: that even though the unbelievers chose to go their destructive way, because of the presence of His people (Paul and his fellow Christians) on board, His supernatural protection would also include those who happened to be on board with His people. An angel told Paul this, “God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.” Just imagine, God favored Paul so much that the presence of Paul on board had saved the lives of all other on board as long as they stayed with Paul. (Acts 27:21-36) Why? Because Paul lived in the Kingdom of God, with the mighty presence of the living God!
5. When the unbelievers believed and obeyed God’s advice through Paul (a Kingdom of God citizen), continued to stay with Paul and even took steps to stop wanting to kill or harm him, the unbelievers were all saved and reached shore safely. (Acts 27:37-44)
This is how the Kingdom of God works.
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Acts 27
21 After they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up before them and said: “Men, you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete; then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss. 22 But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. 23 Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me 24 and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’ 25 So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. 26 Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island.”
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42 The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners to prevent any of them from swimming away and escaping. 43 But the centurion wanted to spare Paul’s life and kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land. 44 The rest were to get there on planks or on other pieces of the ship. In this way everyone reached land safely.

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