Around The Next Bend

So I thought I had my summer planned out. 

My lifestyle has become somewhat nomadic over the last several years.  I’ve been on the move a lot, seeing and experiencing more of the world.  The freedom and increased independence is fun!  Maybe this is why I am attracted to pirates?  Well, minus their black-hearted motives.  But anyway, as I was saying….

Between spending the summers serving families at His Ranch in Missouri, road trips with friends, living in a small halfway house for a season, working and gaining a circle of friends in a new town, a trip overseas, and moving back home temporarily, life has been  rich with variety and adventures!  There have been some low spots.  But for the most part, I am enjoying life immensely!  And yet there are also plenty of times where I wonder if I seriously need to do the responsible adult thing and stabilize in one place, become financially independent, perhaps seek further education in order to pursue a career for a more “secure” future.  People I trust and respect are on both sides of the issue.  I have a lot more thoughts on this subject which I hope to write in another post, but for today….. 

I want to share about the new twist my road has taken for the next few months or so.

I’ve been dreaming about resettling in another state eventually.  So I thought the smart thing to do this summer would be to work a better paying job and save money towards the goal of financial independence whenever I decide to make my move.  As much as I love the ranch ministry, I could never decide if that is where my heart wants to stay for the long haul.  So without closing the door on that chapter of my life altogether, I decided a year’s hiatus was in order.  I’d been working at a former job for the last several months, but had plans to find something different for the summer.  In a perfect world, it would be a job more conducive to my financial goals, while at the same time allowing me the freedom to leave in six to eight months!

Someone gave me the idea of looking for seasonal jobs with the area state park or metro-park system.  That sounded like an agreeable possibility to me, so I began to pursue a few leads.  I had actually been contacted about setting up an interview with a company that trains and hires lifeguards…one of those things I always thought would be a cool job! 

And then God threw in the twist.

My grandparents have been dealing with mounting health issues, as well as some other things that were increasingly concerning our family.  Things came to a head a few months ago when my grandpa’s stubborn skin rash on his leg turned out to be a serious internal infection which spread to his foot and culminated with gangrene in a couple of his toes!  The doctor who finally discovered the real problem wanted to take immediate action, which initially meant surgery to insert multiple stents in both legs to try to improve his poor circulation.  The first thing needed to heal an infection is healthy blood flow to the affected area.  However, the stents have not helped as much as they had hoped, and the infection had already gone so far that it is likely he will face amputation of the toes, at the very least. 

They live independently in a retirement community, but now the need is evident for them to either transition into assisted living or another situation where they have someone nearby to help them.  Several options were being explored, but it just wasn’t a good time for them to make a move.  It would have to be a rushed decision, and there would be all their belongings to deal with, not to mention the physical stress on my grandpa who is already weak.

So another option that was put on the table, kind of as a long-shot, was the question of whether any of the grandchildren might be looking for a change of scenery and available to move into the area temporarily as a personal assistant to our grandparents.  And just at the time I was about to begin pursuing new employment options, I got a message from a family member asking if I would possibly consider doing this! 

To shorten the story a bit, within about two weeks, no better options had really presented, and I had become convinced after praying and talking things over with family that this was the right course of action for me to take.

 

You would think I’d be pretty good at this pack up and move thing by now….well, not exactly.  For some reason it always turns out a lot harder than I think it should be!  More time consuming!  More stressful!  More distracting!  But I’ve done it before, and I did it again.

I quit my job, packed up my important stuff, and moved to northwest Maryland to live with my other grandpa, who is close enough for the daily commute to the retirement village in Pennsylvania. 

And here I am until further notice!

It’s a pretty great deal, actually.  I get my own room…I can clean the house and it won’t be messed up within a day by half a dozen people… I get to spend time with family I normally only see once or twice a year…I’m close to mountains…and I have a totally flexible schedule to boot!  My financial needs are being met as part of the arrangement.  So my “job” now is that I get to hang out with my grandparents, listen to their stories, feed them goodies, clean their house, play their piano, take them out in the sunshine, play in the dirt under the auspices of gardening, and just generally enjoy the challenge of making their lives more pleasant and care free!  I can make my own schedule, I’m not stuck in a mall under artificial lights all summer long (freedom!!!), and there’s lots of scope for finding adventures around these parts…think mountains, think the coast is only a few hours away….

With all this, of greatest value is the privilege of just being there for some of the most important people in my life.  I would not be here without my grandparents.  They had a huge hand in making me who I am.  Do you want to know the best part about that?  They have given me a wonderful heritage.  It is a heritage of strong faith in Jesus Christ and the freedom gained through the truth of His Word made living and active in me, first through the influence of my grandparents in the way they raised their children, and secondly through my parents who have carried on that legacy. 

God revealed to me that serving my grandparents now is a privilege and a small way that I can honor and thank them for the way their lives have imprinted on mine.  They gave themselves as living sacrifices to God, to our family, and to the church families they served for decades as pastor.  Their lives are full of richness; their memories, though fading, are filled with stories.  Sure, life has been tough, and our family has brokenness just like every family….but let the fruit of the tree speak for itself.  My grandparents’ two lives have multiplied into 21 grandchildren….most of whom are actively seeking and following Jesus today! 

My grandparents may not be rich, famous, or successful by worldly standards, but in my eyes they are great.  This time with them in their sunset years is precious to me.

Your legacy is the most valuable treasure you can leave to those who come behind you.  I want to remember that. 

Psalm 16:6  “The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.”

Celebrating 100 Posts!

So I just realized today that I have written 100 posts on this blog! This is my 101st post! I think that is worth celebrating!

So on this momentous occasion, I would like to share with you a quote from great literature.

"I know I chatter on far too much, but if you only knew all the things I wanted to say and don't! " Anne of Green Gables,  reproved for saying too much.

Now try this one on.
"If you only knew all the things I wanted to write and don't! " Kari Keener,  reproving herself for not saying enough.

100 posts deserves celebration.  It also feels like the perfect opportunity for a fresh beginning….new resolve to start digging out more from the deep well of thoughts in my soul that are begging to be written!

So many seeds of inspiration are left to shrivel away, whether out of forgetfulness, perceived lack of time, loss of motivation, or simply a mix of weariness and laziness at the end of the day that says, “Writing is the last thing I feel like doing right now!”  It can become depressing if I think about it too much.  I guess if you’ve never felt the stirring within you, it would be hard to understand why it’s such a big deal.  It’s like there is a dam of deep thoughts and words pent up inside me, and they want to come spilling out, but it’s not as easy as breaking the dam.

So many words…..

Sometimes a barrage of words can say precious little.   And sometimes a few well-chosen words can speak volumes.  What are words if you don’t mean them when you say them?  What are words if you don’t live what you speak?  Or write? 

I believe God has given me a gift and a desire to write.  Sometimes it burns within me, and most of those days I am left feeling frustrated because I haven’t done anything with the stirring.  I wonder what God meant me to do with this gift and if I am simply burying it in the ground because I don’t have the time or resolve to learn how to use it.

We have all been given gifts.  If God gives you something, then surely He also gives you what you need to use it.  But the gift is not like a magical super power.  That gift needs discipline.  It needs time and practice.  It needs to be developed and honed. 

I don’t want to just write.  To simply spill out a barrage of thoughts and words with little care of their meaning.  I want to write well.  I have many things to say, but I want to choose carefully the words that I use and craft them for impact, rather than volume.  I want my words to exude quality, and that does not necessarily mean quantity.  I long to write truth in a way that draws people in to a different way of thinking, a renewing of their minds, which in its course will work to change their lives. 

I know I have promised more frequent posts several times.  I always have that intention, but it keeps getting lost somewhere!  I’m expecting to have more time to write in the next few months as my life/work situation has changed for awhile and gives me greater flexibility.  But I should know better than anyone that envisioning all the free time I might have and what productive use I can put it to is only a pipe dream unless I put the rubber to the road.  I have to be willing to sit down, whether I feel like it or not, to exert the mental energy and sweat to pull out thoughts and form them into meaningful words and sentences that make sense, and to make myself write, even if it’s just a little bit every day! 

So if you’ll stick with me, I will keep at it.  I want to begin making a new habit of writing just a little bit every day, to try to keep those creative juices flowing.  The goal I’m working toward is one post a week.  That looks pretty lofty to me right now, simply because I know myself.  I know how easily I push writing aside for everything else.  I know my discouraged perfectionist tendencies….how I subconsciously tell myself that if I can’t do it well, (which often means I can’t do it to some abstract level of my own expectations), then it’s not worth doing at all!  

But maybe the things that take the hardest work, the things we have to push ourselves to do more than anything else in life….maybe those are the things that are worth the most.  Maybe our enemy knows this?  Especially when it pertains to gifts that God has put within us for the purpose of delighting Him, bringing glory to His name, and drawing people into His kingdom?  And maybe the enemy would like nothing better than to keep these gifts dormant and watch them never get off the ground because we fell for his carrots on a stick….all the little glittery things that seemed more worth our attention, and all the little “urgent” things that crowded in to monopolize our lives.  Yeah, I think I might be onto him. 

So reader?  If you’re out there?  And you’re on track with what I’m saying?  I just might need you to give me a push now and then.  Tell me to quit making excuses and keep the words coming!  Because maybe someday God will give me something to say that could change a life.  And I don’t want to miss that.

What Is Love, Really?

In the last couple months, I've read three books by Don Miller.  I love this guy!  He writes in such a relational way, as though you were sitting down with him in a coffee shop having a conversation. His theology is refreshingly simplistic and outside the box, especially for someone like me who grew up in the "conservative Christian" culture.  Don himself was raised in much the same culture, perhaps more "religious fundamentalist" than my own experience.  Nevertheless, the way he was drawn out of religion to the person of Jesus Christ and the things God has taught him about life and relationships through other people have breathed fresh perspective into my soul.

I recommend his books as an excellent read.  I cannot endorse his theology as being perfectly correct; in fact, I have come to realize that I cannot say that of any human being.  A simple, perhaps obvious conclusion to some, but you have to admit that we are far too eager to attach the label of pure truth to the ideas of mere men.  We are too willing to follow men rather than Christ alone.  One idea of Don's that I really like is this: he says basically that maybe we'll never get it all right.  Maybe we'll never discover all of truth in this life.  But he believes that's okay.  Someday, face to face with God, we'll know perfectly.  This life is a journey into truth.  

I think he's right.  Because if any man or woman could "get it right", we wouldn't need Jesus, would we?

The journey into truth is like getting to know a person.  Because Truth is a person.  Jesus Himself. He never told us to figure it all out.  He just asks us to follow Him.  Relationships are fluid, always in motion.  Healthy relationships grow.  And there's conflict.  We will have conflict with the Truth. Some things are hard to swallow.  Especially when you begin to see that something is not the way you always thought it was.  And every one of us has a unique relationship with Jesus.  Following Him will not look exactly the same for you as it does for me.  It's art, not a formula.  It's not always black and white.  And we will never come to an end of knowing Him.  

Sometimes I wonder what Scripture means when it says, "Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face.  Now I know in part; but then shall I  know even as I also am known." 

(1 Corinthians 13)

I think maybe there is a degree to which we will see clearly and know fully in the presence of God. And yet how can you ever fully know God?  He is so fantastic, so "other" from us.  I think He is kind of like this enormous country, without borders, that we can spend all of eternity exploring and never stop discovering new things!

Anyway, to get to my main point.  Don Miller wrote something about love that bears thinking over. It could really get under your skin.  For me, writing on this blog is sometimes a way of chewing on something that I want to get hold of.  

What Don said is that one day God showed him that the idea of "love" as he was living it, as held out by much of the church, is not real love.  That we treat it as a commodity, like money.  We assign value to people according to what they can do for us or how they make us feel.  We give love in order to receive love.  We are willing to love if there's a good trade-off.  

But if someone is too different from me?  If they think and believe differently?  If they make me uncomfortable?  If for whatever reason I just don't like them?  If they can offer me nothing in return? Woahh, then I get stuck.  I withhold love.  I decide they are not worth it to me.  I pass them by.  

This is not Jesus' kind of love.  Real love is not a commodity.  It cannot be bought, earned, or traded. It is a free gift.  Without condition.  In Jesus' economy, you don't have to think like me, look like me, talk like me, or behave the way I think you should in order to be valuable.  You are valuable because He made you.  And love is free.  It is meant to be given away.  You can take it or leave it.  You can spurn it, spit on it, fight it....but it is offered freely and constantly.  

And this kind of love changes people.  You can't change people by devaluing them, controlling them,or guilting them.  When people encounter genuine love and acceptance, they open their hearts. They are willing to listen.  They'll take a second look, wondering what kind of person can love them like this?  They'll pay attention to what makes the difference.  We don't love someone to change them.  But I think love by its very nature is a change agent.  

Jesus, change my heart and mind.  I have treated love as a commodity to be traded for my own benefit.  Help me to see people with Your heart.  Help me to love them like you do.  Work in me real love for the people who turn me off, the people who scare me, the people I would rather ignore or avoid, the people who are outcasts and worthless to society, the people who are different from me. Teach me how to offer love as the free gift it is.  Let your love catch the world off-guard.  May my life sing value to every person.  And may the story you are writing with my life always point to the Truth in love.

Love Story

Do you ever grapple with deep longings for intimacy that you think can be fulfilled if something in your life would change?  If you're married, it might be...."If my husband would just tune in to me and understand what I really need!"  If you have children, perhaps...."If only my kids would appreciate me more, acknowledge their need for my counsel, guidance, etc., or open up and share their deepest thoughts and feelings with me!"  If it's about friendships.... "If I could find a true kindred spirit, or if my friend didn't live so far away, or if so-and-so just had more time to spend with me."  If you're single, like me, then very likely...."If  I could only find the love of my life!"

Do you find yourself in moments where you want desperately to experience a degree of intimacy that you have not known?  It could be a life experience you have not yet had, such as marriage, and you're dreaming of how wonderful it could be.  Or perhaps you are married, or enjoy a close friendship, or are blessed with healthy, growing family relationships, yet you feel let down, disappointed at times, like there should be so much more in this relationship than what you already have.

I'm going to be personally candid right now.  Sometimes I really miss a man I have never met. Sometimes I lie in bed at night and long for experiences in intimacy that I have not had.  I imagine things that are not healthy for me to imagine because I'm coveting something that is not mine.  I want fulfillment from someone who will never realistically be able to give it, because no person on earth can satisfy my soul.  And I know this.  I know the difference between reality and fairy tales, but that doesn't stop me from wanting the fairy tale.

What do we do with this desire?  Where do you go with your craving that has been disappointed by the realities of wrestling in relationship?  Where do I go with my cravings for something I've never had, something I make too much of in my imagination?

There's an answer.  It's not easy, but it's real.  Psalm 37:4  "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart."

Jesus created us for relationship and intimacy.  He created us with these desires, and so they are good. But they are meant to be satisfied (humanly) in relationships with real people, through self-giving love that is rooted in His love.  And our soul's deepest need for intimacy was never meant to be fully satisfied in another human being.  Our human longings are really just an echo of something much deeper, much more real.  It is the echo of eternity and absolute intimacy that has been placed within our souls by our Maker.  This longing is for the perfect, eternal intimacy with the One who formed our innermost being, who breathed into us the breath of life, the One who knows us fully and loves us perfectly!

So today I am practicing a new thought pattern.  Directing my desire toward Jesus.  This is the response of a soul to its maker, of a heart seeing glimpses into the realm of eternity.  Perhaps your soul will resonate with this as well.

Jesus, it is to You I belong.  You tell me who I am and give me incredible value.  You complete me and answer my existence.  You are the Love who pursues my heart, who is always coming for me. No matter where I go, no matter how far or how long I run, You will find me.  You have never lost me.  I can't hide from You.  I can't get away from Your presence.  Even when I feel light years away from You, Jesus, You are with me.  It is only a delusion of the enemy that I have chosen to believe, that You would ever be far from me.  You gave Yourself so I could be one with You and never be separated from You again!

What love is this?

The greatest Love Story ever.

And I am the bride.

I am the harlot, and I am the bride.

I am the rebel and the redeemed.  The lost and the found.  I am the runner and the greatly desired beauty, wanted by the King.

I am the outcast and I am the chosen.

I am the filthy made clean.  I am the walking dead raised to life!  I am the hopeless sinner made righteous!  I am darkness overcome by Light!

I am the hater turned lover.

I am the fighter and the slave of Love.

I am the orphan and I am the beloved child of the King of Kings!!!

Jesus is my Maker, my Righteousness, my Lover, my King, my Wisdom, my Light, my Bread and Water, my Joy, my Hope, my Exceeding Great Reward, my Counselor, my Author, my Way, my Truth, my Beginning and End.....and my LIFE!!!

The greatest Love Story ever.  The Story with no end.  I am the beloved one.  You are the beloved one.  This is the Story of the Lover who has always been coming for us.

Turning Off The Noise

Hey there!  If anyone is still sticking with me here in blog land, and you've read many of my previous posts, you may remember that I did a media fast a couple years ago, after reading the book Seven by Jen Hatmaker.  Although I adapted my fast quite a bit differently from the ones described in the book, I called it my Seven fast because Jen had inspired me to do it.  Media was the main area where I had an issue and needed to clear space in my life for deeper relationship with God.  In fact it still is.  And I have not fasted media since the 21 days I set apart that October.

Therefore I have decided it is high time I take myself in hand again and make the choice to do some hard things for the sake of seeking Jesus more purposefully.  I'm doing another fast.  And I'm putting it out before whoever reads this blog, again, as a way of holding myself accountable.  This will be similar to my Seven fast in that it focuses on pulling away from media and setting times to purposefully spend with Jesus instead of entertaining myself.

In thinking about the concept of Seven, I was reminded that God spent six days creating the earth, and on the seventh day, He rested.  I think it is fitting to call this a fast of rest.  It is a time to rest from the constant noise, bombardment, and distraction of media like movies, Facebook, and endless internet surfing.  You know how sometimes when you have been surrounded by constant noise input and then you turn it all off, you feel this sigh of relief.  You can feel the silence settling on you like the feeling of sinking your head into the pillow at night.  I have an addiction to noise.  And sometimes I know I need to just turn it off.  Because how can you hear God when you always have the noise on?  I also have an addiction to virtual reality.  I like the way I can escape into a dream world when I watch a movie, or let myself get lost in Youtube.  I like the way it makes me feel.  But it inhibits me from living fully in reality.  From being engaged in my real life.  From investing in my real relationships, the greatest of those being my relationship with my Creator and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

So this fast is about rest.  It's about clearing out some of the worst noise and distraction that keeps my attention off Jesus.  It's about coming to rest in Him instead of escaping into a virtual reality or just drowning everything out.  It's a focused time to center myself back on Jesus and His greater reality that is unseen, but more real than what we can see and hear and touch right now.

I'm keeping it simple.  I'm limiting my Facebook time to one day a week.  Except for the couple minutes it takes to link a blog post.  Because I have a lot of thoughts going on that I want to write about.  And I think part of my fast should include making time to write more regularly.  I'm limiting my computer time.  I need to be on it for business and personal emails, and I still want my worship music, but my goal is to spend less time on the computer altogether and to shut it down by 9:30 at night and do something different before bed.  There are some good spiritual things I could read or listen to online that I won't necessarily abstain from completely, but come to think of it, I should try leaving the computer off at least every other day!  Even the good things can be a big distraction.  We simply don't need that much input.  I don't believe we were built to take it all in.

As far as movies go, if my family is going to watch something together, I'll participate, but otherwise no movie watching on my own or with my little sister for pure entertainment.  It's just too much of a habit for me.

And the most important thing is not simply to abstain from these things for a season, but to replace them with something better, something that has eternal rewards.  Built in with that is some much needed discipline being reinstated in my daily routine.  Getting up earlier so I can spend at least 30 minutes first thing in the morning focused on Jesus.  Going to bed earlier so I can handle getting up! And ending the day with another focused rest time with Jesus.

I started on Resurrection Sunday and I'm doing it for the rest of the month.  And hopefully you'll be hearing more from me on here as I'll be creating more space for my heart and mind to think and hear from God and write!

On Resurrection Sunday, we celebrate new beginnings.  Life out of death.  Beauty out of ashes.  Joy out of suffering.  So I find it fitting to begin again to practice saying yes to Jesus.  This fast is one way I can do that.  Saying yes to Jesus isn't easy.  But it is an adventure.  And it will bear fruit.  There hasn't been much useful fruit coming out of the default mode of my life these days.  So it's time to regroup.  It's time to pull out and rest from the things that weigh me down.  It's time to let God redeem the time.  It's time for a new beginning.    

Sweet Sixteen Doubled!

32.

I figured out the significance of this number.

We celebrate 16th birthdays as a time of sweet blossoming from child to almost-adult.  It's a golden time of youth.  32 is 16 doubled.  Twice the years, twice as sweet!  And sometimes, maybe.....twice as silly?

So yes, I'm not sure how I got here so fast, but here I am, and I imagine those twice my age would attest to the same swiftness of the years and remember with wistful fondness what it was like to be where I am now!

I pretend to be slightly freaked out.  But I enjoy birthdays too much to be really upset.  And so I shall do my best to savor this time of my life and this marking of age and all the adventures to be had in this year!

I'm a little late with the writing, being already a week past the eventful day, but I wanted to share some of the thoughts from my journal as I contemplated becoming 32.


Jesus, thank you for 32 years.  You are the reason I am here.  How easily I forget.  But You are my Life.  The Author and Finisher of my faith.  The Sovereign Writer of the ages who has graciously, in Your reckless love and almighty wisdom, given me a part in Your story!  I do so want my life to be an offering of thanksgiving to You, my Lord!  How can I remember better?  How can I live as sovereign, as one who carries Your life?  Only Your life gives me power to abandon the dream of the flesh world and vibrantly live in Your kingdom.

I celebrate this day of my emergence into the world on a clear, blue-sky February morning.  The sun glitters on deep snow, casting blue tree shadows all about.  The world is shrouded cold, yet the promise of Spring whispers already in the frigid air.  The old oak in the backyard stands pregnant with buds against the bright sky.  Buds preparing to crack open in just a few more weeks, exposing tender new life cradled inside.

Sky!  Brilliant jeweled hue, my favorite in all this grand creativity of God!  It calls to me with a beauty that hurts....as if I could fall up and dive deep into its shimmering mystery, like a lake of God's love in which I could lose myself and breathe the water of life and really live!  Little birds flit and chirp through bare woods, like a world slowly awakening to the first strains of renewed life.  This life is not dead; it only lies dormant.  So also, the Sovereign life in my soul has often waited and slept like a dormant bud.

But what is the promise and triumph of Spring?
LIFE SHALL COME FORTH!
Abundantly!
Awakening is gradual at first, timid and sleepy.  But suddenly, when the time is right, it seems almost overnight to burst forth into full bloom, unable to contain itself any longer!

And so I wait.  Feeling not yet perfect in love, often with fears and doubts and forgetfulness....yet in faith.  Waiting and praying for the life within me to awaken in Spring glory.  Fighting to remember. To hold on to what I have until He comes.  HE!  My Sovereign, my Maker, my Lover who gave His life to save me, my King who gives me a purpose in His kingdom and a part to play in His story, my Bridegroom who is preparing a place for me, my Everlasting Life and Exceeding Great Reward....Jesus Christ, Son of God!

It is by Him and through Him and in Him I exist.  He is before ALL things and in Him ALL things hold together!

"Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!"  Revelation 5:12

Jesus, You are my past, present, and future.

"Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for You were slain, and by Your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and You have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth."  Revelation 5:9-10

In Christ I overcome.  In Christ I live.  In Christ I look forward with hope and confidence on the threshold of this new year of my life and to the horizon beyond it, to every day He will give me!

"To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power forever and ever!  Amen!"  Revelation 5:13

Heaven On Earth

Today as I was praying for revival, I listened to the song Our Father by Bethel Worship.  It's taken from the Lord's Prayer and goes like this:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name
Your kingdom come quickly
Your will be done the same
On earth as it is in Heaven
Let Heaven come to earth as it is in Heaven
Let Heaven come

For Yours is the kingdom
And Yours is the power
And Yours is the glory forever, amen.

Let Heaven come!


This song is a passionate heart-cry for God to invade our world with His kingdom, to make things on earth as they are in Heaven.  As I was worshipping and talking to Jesus about His kingdom, I sought to understand what it means for His kingdom to be reality on earth.

Now I know there is a movement among some in the church today that basically says God's intent is to bring Heaven to earth.  In Heaven there is no sickness or injury or pain.  So they say that God's kingdom on earth means people will be healed of all manner of physical ailments.  They pray and believe for these miracles.  In Heaven, no one is poor or marginalized or victimized.  So it follows that if we solve world hunger, bring about material equality, and put an end to all the injustice, we will have God's kingdom on earth.  Right?  Okay, let me just say I'm no expert on this movement....I haven't studied into it and I'm not trying to make a blanket statement about any certain group of people and their beliefs.  But this is the line of thinking that some are following, and you have probably heard of it as well.

My point is that when Jesus told us to pray, "Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven," we could take it to mean that He wants to fix everything that is broken here....Heaven on earth.  But looking at Scripture, I don't think that's what He meant.

Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world."  John 18:36

Romans 14:17 says that "the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking buy of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."

And in 1 Corinthians 15:50 we're told, "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable."  It goes on to reveal the mystery that when Jesus returns for His church, the dead in Christ will be raised imperishable, and those who are still alive will be changed.  The perishable will put on the imperishable, and the mortal will put on immortality.

The Bible clearly tells us that these earthly bodies will die.  Obviously Jesus didn't mean that His kingdom would bring us freedom from all sickness and trouble and death on earth....immortality. While we live on this earth in these bodies of flesh, we are still subject to the brokenness that sin has brought upon the world.  Jesus didn't heal every sick and crippled person.  He didn't come to make everything right on this earth.  He said, " I came into the world to bear witness to the truth."  John 18:37

Jesus came to show us a new realm, a kingdom not of flesh and blood but of spirit.  And He came to be the Way for us to enter that kingdom.  One day He will make a new earth and everything on it will be right.  All the sad things will be made untrue, all the broken things made whole.  Those who belong to Him will be changed to immortality and we will reign with Him in His kingdom forever! The book of Revelation proclaims, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our God and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!' Revelation 11:17

When people asked Jesus when the kingdom of God would come, He said this, "The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, nor will they say, 'Look, here it is! or There!' for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you."  Luke 17:20-21

So what does His kingdom on earth look like?  What does it look like for us to live in His kingdom while we are still in these bodies of flesh?

Jesus' realm is a love that cannot be stopped by any hatred or overcome by any fear.  A love that loves the unlovely.  Perfect love that casts out fear, because those who know and believe the love of Jesus know that nothing can truly hurt them.

It is forgiveness that knows no offense, because we are held and accepted and kept safe in Perfect Love, and nothing in this world of flesh and blood can threaten our place with Him or the everlasting life He has given.

It is peace that abides through the darkest storms of life as well as the myriad turbulence along the way.  Knowing that in Jesus, everything really is going to be alright.

It is joy that cannot be crushed by any suffering or sorrow, knowing that all our afflictions will be like nothing compared to the eternal glory that awaits us.

It is light that gives wisdom and understanding to the soul, that lets us see beyond the dream of this world into the reality of God's eternal nature and incorruptible realm.

His kingdom is a power that transforms not the physical realm, but the spiritual, giving life to our real selves.  Transforming minds and thoughts with the truth.  Releasing souls to freedom from fear, bitterness, rage, anxiety, and a host of other demons.  It is a realm of exchange.  Jesus takes our sin-twisted lives and gives us His own righteous life.  He gives us His kingdom of love and light in exchange for our own kingdoms of God-less pride and self-destruction.  He gives us the power to live supernaturally....to go beyond what is possible for human nature.

This is the kingdom to which we belong....those who are bought by the blood of Jesus and made new in His life!  This is the kingdom we carry within us to everyone we encounter on earth.  And this is the kingdom for which we must pray.  It is already here, among us.  But I don't think many sons of the kingdom are living like sons.  I don't think we know the reality of this kingdom in which we live. So for this I pray.

Let heaven come.