The coming of Jesus incarnate ushered in the kingdom of God and marked the beginning to the present rule and reign of God in our hearts and lives. So Jesus was not only talking about a place, an afterlife or future return, but a way of seeing, thinking and living right now. A distinguishing mark of the kingdom is this: the rule and reign of love in the hearts of God’s people…us, the Church.
Lord, your kingdom is a present reality waiting to be received. Teach us what this kind of kingdom looks like in our midst.
Lord, show us in practical ways how you are inviting us to join you in your redemptive kingdom purposes. May we be empowered and enabled by your Holy Spirit.
Help us to live like we believe.
Forgive us in our ambition to “make an impact” in such a way that we blow past the smallness of the Kingdom of God, profoundly demonstrated in practices of prayer, acts of obedience, and ways of love.
Jesus, as kingdom people may we live as sent ones connecting with others in life-giving, not judgmental ways. May our lives be marked by love and compassion. May we live as bearers of grace to the world.
Lord, help us to love people individually through their hard times, their struggles, in their failures and hurts, and through all their madding inconsistencies.
Lord, help us to realize that “being on mission” first means that we are experiencing personal transformation of our inner life-thoughts, attitudes, desires, and reactions-becoming more and more like those of Jesus.
Lord, give us courage when we chose to see and to listen to other’s stories of grace and step into that place of discomfort, messiness, and pain.
Holy Spirit, redeem our lives. May the love of Jesus be formed in our hearts so our actions flow out of a heart that has been shaped by God that we might incarnate the love of Jesus to the world.
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Gail Johnsen 