Let’s reflect on what it means to build the Kingdom of God on earth.

When Jesus was on earth people asked Him about the Kingdom of God.

“Being asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The Kingdom of God does not come with observation; neither will they say, ‘Look, here.’ or, ‘Look, there.’ for the Kingdom of God is within you.” Luke 17: 20-21

Jesus told them: “The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!”

This was the Good News: Jesus would save His people from their sins and give them a new heart, full of the Holy Spirit.

This was the ancient prophecy that Jesus would fulfill:  “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” Ezekiel 36: 26-27

The Kingdom of God that lives ‘within us’ is an inner transformation caused by Jesus, Our Lord.  It’s a peaceful revolution that changes the human heart and soul. This transformation begins with repentance as we come to Jesus for forgiveness. The Sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross allows us to be cleansed by the infinite love of God, giving birth to a spiritual kingdom within us where God Himself can dwell in a purity and a sanctity that God alone creates.

The notion of a kingdom, implies the existence of a king. In our world today, too often ‘EGO’ is king. Everything people do is focused on self-gratification, feeding personal ego’s through vanity, greed and self-indulgence. The ‘Kingdom of God’ cannot be born until we decide to acknowledge Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour as King reigning over our lives. We must decide to serve Our King respectfully and faithfully and once we do that God’s kingdom is born within us through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Did you know that a lack of faith limits God’s divine intervention:  “And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.” Matthew 13:58

Faith, repentance and Baptism in Jesus Christ are the first steps in a spiritual process of personal transformation that enables us to become more and more like Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus.

It was prophesied long before the birth of Jesus that we would be cleansed through the Sacrament of Baptism: “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.” Ezekiel 36:25

In any kingdom there can be many disrupted forces that threaten the kingdom. Idols are one of those disrupted forces that destroy the spiritual kingdom of God within us. Consider how the pursuit of money and pleasure can become idols (kings we serve) that take our focus away from serving Our Divine King, Jesus Christ.

As Christians we learn to pray the prayer “Our Father who art in Heaven. Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom Come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven…”

God’s Kingdom is focused on ONE important thing: God’s Will being done.

If we focus on our will rather than trying to discover God’s will, we will be serving ourselves and our ego’s not God. Your ego is your conscious mind, the part of your identity that you consider your “self.” When we say someone has “a big ego,” we are saying he or she is too full of themselves, too selfish.

There are many counter-forces to God’s Kingdom and the biggest one is our EGO or our SELF. If we are the ‘King’ and we are focused on ‘me, myself and I’ and every choice is determined by ‘what’s in it for me?’ then God’s spiritual kingdom within us cannot be formed.

God’s kingdom begins with us praying the prayer, God, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done…” For those of you who have been following these posts, you may recall me describing a miraculous experience I had with God many years ago. I was searching for God, feeling empty and sad when I heard God’s voice speaking in my heart. He asked me this question: “What is love?” I thought I knew what love was. I said, “love is a feeling” and to this God said, “wrong”. So I asked God, “what is it then?” and God said, “love is a choice”.   This mystical conversation with God changed my life and allowed for me to give God the room He needed to change my heart, my priorities, my commitments and my choices.

This happened over ten years ago and I know now why it happened. It’s so that I could share it with you and with whoever would listen.

Like so many people I was a woman lost in the world. I was seeking joy and peace and fulfillment.   I had many blessings, but I was not happy and the reason I was not happy is that I did not have the right relationship with Jesus. I knew Jesus was God and occasionally I looked up into the clouds wondering if God could see me. I had no idea He had a plan for my life. I wasn’t going to Church and I had never read the Bible, but when I heard God say ‘love is a choice’, I realized that God wanted me to reflect on my choices.   I realized as I began to reflect that I made all choices based on my ‘feelings’ – e.g., if I pursue this new career path, how much money will I make, will I feel more happy, will I have more power, where would it lead…My decision making process didn’t include God, it only included my selfish interests. I realized God wanted to be included in my life; in fact I realized I needed to give my life to God.

There is one day in my marriage that I will never forget. I told my husband I felt God calling me to a new life and I felt I needed to have time to reflect on His Will in order to find this new direction and I asked my husband to please support me as I needed to give up my job and a large salary. My husband never challenged my decision and I gave up a job with a high income taking a deep plunge into the unknown. This was the right decision for me. I left the business world and I ran towards God and entered into His tender embrace. I went on to spend years learning the Scriptures and the meaning of these words: “Be still, and know that I am God…” Psalm 46:10

I embraced silence and I began to contemplate God’s Word as I began to study the Bible with the help of many spiritual guides, like Andrew Murray who wrote so many amazing books exploring the meaning of God’s Word.  Throughout my journey, I continued to hear Jesus speaking to my heart. Over and over again He kept saying, “Trust Me”. It wasn’t an order, just gentle reassurance that He was in charge and that we were going somewhere important.

The Kingdom of God is born through a ‘peaceful revolution’, a personal transformation that is nothing short of being revolutionary.  In this transformation, God enables us to evolve from sensual people focused on what we ‘feel’ to being spiritual people focused on ‘discerning God’s Will’ in our life. Alone with God, I had time to learn about God. I studied God’s Word and learned about His Holy Will and His Holy Way and on that spiritual journey I discovered my true identity—I was God’s.

My husband used to always ask me this question: “who do you belong to?” I remember I used to always say ‘you’ and he would smile at me with a grin that said ‘you got the right answer’, but unbeknownst to him I always felt a bit sad when I said ‘I belong to you’, as though at some level of consciousness I knew I was lying. So one day my husband asked me his favorite question ‘who do you belong to?’ and I said with total conviction and joy in my heart ‘I belong to Jesus’.  And he smiled, like all this time he was testing me with this question and he said, ‘I know’.

The Kingdom of God is all about a relationship between the King and you. Jesus Christ, the King wants a relationship with you. Jesus Christ, the King died for YOU! He died so that you could become a person of great dignity and honour, a royal subject in His Kingdom dedicated to Him.

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” 1 Peter 2:9

If we all knew how much we were loved by God, that love would fill us with such joy and peace and hope that nothing would disturb us and nothing would take away our focus from pleasing God.

I know now that God re-purposed my skills in communications and marketing so I could proclaim the Good News and help others to discover the love of Our Saviour Jesus Christ. I know now that God had me leave the business world so I could learn His Word and become an evangelist. I know now that we must humble ourselves to discover the greatness of God’s love and give Him the place of highest honour in our lives if we are to discover our true identity and purpose in life.

God’s Kingdom will be born in you (and perhaps it already has) if you give Jesus a chance. We can’t have a relationship with a King until we begin to understand what kind of relationship the King wants. Jesus Christ, the King didn’t die for us to have a casual relationship with us. He wants an intimate relationship with us.

Jesus did something for me that helped me so much to understand how much He loves me and that something involved some pain.   Jesus took my hand and brought me to Calvary to see what He had suffered during His Passion. When I realized that Jesus wanted me to reflect on His Passion I initially paused for fear of what I would see and feel in my heart. But in response to this pause, Jesus kept saying to my heart “honour Me”. They were the Words of the Bridegoom Jesus Christ speaking to a woman who had no idea that she was to become His Bride. So I commenced taking a walk to Calvary everyday at 3pm, the time He died for us and everyday as I climbed the Hill with Him, Jesus opened my heart to see how much He suffered to save us, how much He suffered to have His Bride, His people, eternally.

‘Thy Kingdom Come’ is all about God’s people becoming His Bride on earth, a Bride that loves Her Saviour, Jesus Christ, and works with Him in a Oneness that helps all people to embrace peace, love, reconciliation, mercy and justice as we renounce sin, greed, vanity, evil, vengeance, impurity and injustice.

Jesus Christ will one day establish His Kingdom on earth and He will return in His Second Coming to reign on earth, but in the meantime let’s allow Him to establish His spiritual reign in our hearts and in our lives as we strive to learn His Holy Word, His Holy Will and His Holy Way.

Please join The Mercy Movement, a Christian prayer movement where followers of Jesus (all over the globe) are stopping to pray for the Holy Spirit to transform our hearts and our world. We stop every day at the Hour of Mercy, the Time Jesus died for us, 3pm, in our local time zones, to honour Jesus as we remember His Passion and pray for all souls. Jesus will answer our prayers! Let’s trust in Him!