Your Kingdom Come:when it doesn’t feel like it

       "Our Father in heaven,        hallowed be your name,     your kingdom come,        your will be done,        on earth as it is in heaven…..”    

Jesus in Matthew 6: 9-10

Kingdom of God Now and Not Yet

So I find this law at work: although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 

My Brokenness - Romans 7:21- 24

"Mess Of Me“ SwitchfootI am my own afflictionI am my own diseaseThere ain't no drug that they could sellAh, there ain't no drug to make me well

There ain't no drugIt's not enoughThere ain't no drugThe sickness is myself

I made a mess of meI wanna get back the rest of me

Creation’s brokenness - Romans 8:21-23

For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 

Sharing His Sufferings - Romans 8:14-17

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

I waited patiently for the LORD;    he turned to me and heard my cry.He lifted me out of the slimy pit,    out of the mud and mire;he set my feet on a rock    and gave me a firm place to stand.He put a new song in my mouth,    a hymn of praise to our God.Many will see and fear the LORD    and put their trust in him.

Finding my way back to solid ground - Psalm 40

I waited patiently for the LordHe inclined and heard my cryHe brought me up out of the pitOut of the miry clay

I will sing, sing a new songI will sing, sing a new song

How long to sing this songHow long to sing this songHow long, how long, how longHow long to sing this song

He set my feet upon a rockAnd made my footsteps firmMany will seeMany will see and hear Bono U2 ’40’

1. Quieting my soul – Psalm 131A song of ascents. Of David

My heart is not proud, LORD,    my eyes are not haughty;I do not concern myself with great matters    or things too wonderful for me.But I have calmed and quietened myself,    I am like a weaned child with its mother;    like a weaned child I am content.

Israel, put your hope in the LORD    both now and for evermore.

2. Confession - I John 1

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us

Romans 8:17a

Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ….Ephesians 3:20-21

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

3. Worship – remembering who we are and who’s we are

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ……

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

4. Trust in His Promises – Romans 8:35-38

5. Share – 2 Corinthians 1:3-5Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ

6. Press on – Philippians 3:10-12I want to know Christ – yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

Seeking the NOW again….

your kingdom come,        your will be done,

       on earth as it is in heaven