Month: February 2020

Your Kingdom Come

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Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:9-10 ESV

How many times have we prayed this prayer wondering how or when we might see God’s kingdom without considering that He might be most interested in it coming in our home? Maybe that is because we are more accustomed to think of God’s kingdom as only a heavenly place with gold streets and pearly gates. But that part of God’s kingdom is not in need of coming; it already is.

When Jesus taught us how to pray it was all about worship and change. We worship our Father in Heaven, then item by item we pray for Him to change our hearts to be like His.

The title of the well known hymn “I surrender all” is exactly how we should come to the Lord’s Prayer. Why not start a surrender list this morning something like this; Your kingdom come your will be done in my choices relationships and schedule, as it is in heaven? We will be amazed to see what our day may be when it all belongs to Him!

A Cheerful Heart

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A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.   Proverbs 17:22 NLT

I felt frustrated by the small number of people that were coming to our church service at the nursing home. It seemed despite our best efforts; fewer were coming each week and we simply rushed in and did our duty and went home without accomplishing anything.

God’s medicine for my increasingly glum attitude arrived one day at the end of the meeting. “God bless you. How are you today? Thanks for coming.” I said as I shook each person’s hands. About halfway through I came to one lady and she slipped something into my hand. When I turned my hand over and opened up my palm I discovered two shiny quarters there, looking up at me.

“No I can’t take this’” I protested.

bank black and white business cash

Photo by George Becker on Pexels.com

She just smiled and said with a wink, “You keep those; there are lots more where they came from!”

I just shook my head and laughed as the dark clouds lifted from my heart. She taught me that day that real cheerfulness is based on just simply trusting that God is in charge. He is Heaven’s pharmacist and has given to each of us a prescription that must be refilled every day!

Packing a Suitcase For Heaven

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Cast your burden on the Lord , and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.
Psalms 55:22 ESV

Some burdens feel like an overweight suitcase dragging behind us as we run through the airport of life.  But God promises us that if we ask Him, He will carry it for us. In God’s calendar He has marked a day for our departure from our planet and like every other trip we must pack our suitcases. We have a close friend who has traveled so often that he joked that he could pack for overseas in 15 minutes. The reason for his boast was that he had learned the secret not only of what to bring, but also what to leave behind. When we pack for heaven that is doubly true. First be sure to include lots of mercy. Mercy takes up almost no space at all and considering how often we mess up here on earth I need plenty! 

Second be sure to include the portion of faith that God has given you. Remember that in heaven we will still walk by faith because even after we see His face we still need to trust in His goodness. And don’t forget to stuff in so much love, joy and praise that you may need to sit on your suitcase to get it closed. The way to have enough room for all these is learning what to leave behind. The first thing to take out is bitterness because it will make our luggage way too heavy. And as you are tossing that out you can put complaining back on the shelf as well. God won’t be interested to hear from us about our brother or sisters faults. He will instead show us how much it cost Him to forgive ours. God is so good and any day one of us will stand before Him. What we choose to pack or not pack for our most important journey will stay with us forever. Be sure to travel light!