Has life improved over the last week? Has a little less stress and a little more confidence in the future become your reality? Probably not. They speak of a new surge in the Covid19 pandemic. New government restrictions and a limited Christmas celebration. It is all for our good, so they say. The cacophony of voices can drown out that still small voice of, "Peace on earth, good will toward men." In my last post I spoke of assurance we can find in a common prayer that many of us have memorized. It is recorded for us in Matthew 6 and Luke 11. A reminder that God is our heavenly Father. He has a perspective that we can lean on and a love we can trust. Our heavenly Father is not unaware of our situation. We are welcome to call Him, Abba, and rest in His arms of comfort and protection. In the times and situations we find ourselves in we may adopt a, sort of, bunker mentality. "Keep your distance and just let me hide away until it is all over." However, that attitude may well be self defeating when it comes to God's answer to the "What Now?" question. God's prayer not only gives us comfort it also gives us purpose.
"Your kingdom come, Your will be done", is the request we are to make of the Lord God Almighty. It is a thought provoking phrase. If I do not pray will that prohibit the coming of His kingdom? And what of God's will? In the long run can we ever escape His will? I mean, isn't God going to do what He desires to do? As sovereign Lord doesn't He have this all worked out in advance? If I sequester myself in my basement would it make any difference? That odd tension between God's will and my responsibility never seems to go away. Paul's question to the Romans's in 10:14 comes into play when we think of hiding in our attics. "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?" We are the answer to the "how." Praying, like faith, takes action if it is going to be effective. James uses a bit of an edge as he directs those scattered to have a faith that works. James 2:16, "One of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what good is it?" If you are praying for God's Kingdom to come you need to be doing things to advance His kingdom now, day by day. Covid or not, government edicts or not, we are to be actively advancing His kingdom. We still have a purpose. We still have responsibilities.
To accomplish this we simply have to do God's will. That, in and of itself, could fill a significant number of posts. Knowing and doing God's will has been a means of selling a plethora of books while leaving many a weary believer feeling inept or discouraged. Jesus asks us to pray that God's will would be done, "on earth as it is in heaven." That is supposed to be helpful. However, I have yet to visit heaven or have viewed a valid documentary on exactly how heaven works. I do imagine it runs smoother and more in tune with God's will than our current situation here on earth. Fortunately the Lord has given us a book on establishing His kingdom readily available to most of us. We need to be well versed in His Word if we are to know His will. Let me just give a few hints that may be helpful. We should be those who live by the power of the Holy Spirit. That is a bit easier to know. The Apostle Paul was directed to give the Galatians a list of nine aspects of the Spirit's fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Each day, even each moment, allows us to put this fruit on display. Our responsibility is to incorporate these various aspects of Spiritual fruit into our lives. It is fairly easy to imagine that being in glory would reflect these attitudes so we can both, do God's will, and advance His kingdom, as we live out Spiritual fruit.
Society is fragmented and hatred has spread like a cancer infecting millions. Sacrificial Godly love is the cure. We are surrounded by anxiety and fear so showing joy and peace would be a kingdom response. How about those lines with angry people joining in the odd contest of toilet paper hording? Could a bit of patience and self control put God's kingdom on display? Our communities could obviously use some gentleness and kindness. That just leaves the opportunity to weave a bit of faithfulness and goodness into our interaction with the local representatives of humanity. With that we are on our way to doing God's will and helping to get a little of His heavenly kingdom into our earthly realm. Could that be doable? We could even start tomorrow with minimal training. We simply need to make the choice to produce spiritual fruit instead of the world's corruption. It is one simple step forward that does not require governmental approval or the "right" person in the White House.
What now? How about coming confidently to our loving heavenly Father, trusting in His care. Then we might start praying for God's kingdom to come and His will to be done. We could go about advancing His kingdom a little each day. There are lots of ways to be obedient. If you need a place to begin, living out His Spiritual fruit might be a place to start. It certainly couldn't hurt.
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