Come your kingdom!

Come your will!
The kingdom of Heaven is within you.

Jesus told his followers to preach the gospel of the kingdom. He told us to occupy til he return. He told us we were ambassadors, that he had given us power and authority to destroy sin, sickness, death, poverty.

And what have we dwindled into? A religion that makes Jesus a sentimentalist and God's kingdom a continual striving.

I was at the diner a few months ago and an older woman was very sad that her friend -- an old guy of about 70-- had just died. What does the waitress say with her glib Christian self? "It was his time. God took him." I was pretty annoyed. I talk about my beliefs here but I'm not one of those Christians who challenges other Christians over stupid theology (okay I DID get a bit peeved with a christian friend who picked on Absalom in one of those typical sermons that turn some Bible characters into scapegoats and villains and others into sacred cows.)

So I just sat there. The older woman kinda protested. But the waitress said in her pious way, "It was God's will."

I so wish people would stop blaming God for things that the devil does, that we do to ourselves, that people do to each other. It's that "God is sovereign" thing. People keep behaving as if God's will actually gets done on earth without our help. God has said it is his will that all should come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, but he also said "how shall people know anything about the gospel unless someone preaches to them?" So, God may will that everyone be saved...but it ain't gonna happen unless we work as co-laborers with him.

God probably wanted the old man to live. But unfortunately, we have way too much unbelief and are not exercising our faith for miracles. The Bible says God is able to make all things work together for good......according to the faith that worketh IN US. Our faith has to meet God's grace and we must hope and do what he says in order to bring his kingdom into the world.