Category: Is it Already-Not-Yet?

Let’s read and pray aloud the following Scripture/prayer, repeating this request aloud for the kingdom to come until it becomes the primary cry of our hearts today:

The Lord’s Prayer (Agapé)
Our Father in heaven,
help us to honor your holy name.
May your kingdom come soon.
May your will be done on earth,
as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us for doing wrong,
as we forgive others.
Keep us from being tempted
and protect us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power
and the glory are yours.
Now and forever.
Amen.

Our Father in heaven,
help us to honor your holy name.
May your kingdom come soon.
May your will be done on earth,
as it is in heaven.

May your kingdom come soon.
May your will be done on earth,
as it is in heaven.
 
May your kingdom come soon.
May your kingdom come soon…

Prayer: Our Father in heaven, we pray as Jesus taught us to pray, may your kingdom come soon, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We long for this reality of heaven on earth. Let the blessings and benefits of heaven be manifest in our midst today as we pray. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s worship as we sing “Forever & Amen” by Cody Carnes (click here).

-KW

Matthew 28:18 (NIV)
¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

“So Jesus is King. We’re not waiting around to be whisked off into heaven. The kingdom and the King has arrived to us and he is present among us as a gathered people and church. The church is a unique footprint on earth where the kingdom is expressed in the present. Jesus is King in this place, Jesus is Lord in this place. And wherever Jesus is King, the blessing and the benefits of the kingdom break into that realm.

How do we experience this more? Faith and prayer are given to us as means to experience the blessings and the benefits of the kingdom of God. Gathering with God’s people in worship is a means for us to experience the power and the presence of God. Worship and reading the Scriptures becomes a means for us to experience the power and the presence of God.” (P. Ed’s message)

Pray in faith for our upcoming Sunday worship and various ministry meetings, for a greater experience of King Jesus and his kingdom activity present among us.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we worship you. We declare you are the King present in our midst. In faith and anticipation, we ask to experience more of your authority and presence among us, especially as we are together this Sunday. Lead us to exercise all the ways you have given to us to experience you. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s worship as we sing “Way Maker” by Leeland (click here).

-KW

“If the kingdom of God is not observable, how can we know if we are in the proximity of the kingdom of God? Jesus teaches a lot about that. There is a way to determine if God’s kingdom is present and active…

Luke 11:20 (NIV)
²⁰ But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

People came to Jesus with all kinds of oppressions and afflictions and Jesus frees them…When people are freed from oppression that is a mark that the kingdom of God is real, that the kingdom of God is within our midst. When people are delivered from darkness that is a sign that the kingdom of God is active and present.

Luke 10:9 (NIV)
⁹ Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’

Jesus sends out his disciples to heal, and he says when healing happens make sure the people understand that’s a sign that the kingdom has come. So when we pray for one another and healing comes…understand that the kingdom of God has come near you.” [Adapted from P. Ed’s message]

Prayer: Father, thank you that you have set us free and healed us. We recognize your kingdom present and active among us in these ways. We ask you to use us this season to heal, set people free, and to preach the kingdom of God that has come. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s anticipate God’s kingdom coming near as we sing “Open the Gates” by Vertical Worship (click here).

-KW

Luke 17:20-21 (NIV)
²⁰ Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, ²¹ nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”

“Jesus begins his reply by noting that the kingdom does not come with signs to be observed. This remark is important, because Jesus is challenging the idea that the kingdom’s coming is marked with some cosmic display. The Pharisees’ expectations need changing…Jesus’ point is that the kingdom hope is present in his presence. All efforts to try to determine where it might be located are a waste of energy, given its proximity.” [Bock, Darrell L., Luke, NIVAC, 451]

Where do you have the question, “when is the kingdom of God going to come?” or “who can help me?”, “when will things get better?” Hear from Jesus that the kingdom of God, the Helper we need is already here in our midst, accessible to us already in Jesus.

Prayer: Father, may my expectations and ideas about your kingdom be shaped by your word, that it is not far off, but very close, within my reach. So as I reach out my hand to you, Jesus, fill me with your presence, hope and help. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s rejoice as we sing “I Will See The Lord (Land of the Living)” by People & Song (click here).

-KW

 

Matthew 4:17 (NIV)
¹⁷ From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

Matthew 6:9-10 (NIV)
⁹ “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.

“[The gospel] is the story of God’s kingdom being launched on earth as in heaven, generating a new state of affairs in which the power of evil has been decisively defeated, the new creation has been decisively launched, and Jesus’s followers have been commissioned and equipped to put that victory and that inaugurated new world into practice.” [N.T. Wright, Surprised By Hope, 204]

God’s kingdom has already come into this world in Jesus Christ, but it is not yet full, and so we pray as Jesus taught us, “may your kingdom come soon!”

Spend time to declare what is ‘already’ and ask for what is ‘not yet’. What of God’s kingdom reality do you need more today – love, joy, peace, forgiveness, reconciliation, power, healing, wisdom…may his kingdom come!

Prayer: Our Father, thank you that your kingdom has come near, it is the true reality I walk in today. And yet there are places where I need to experience more of your kingdom, and so I ask, may your kingdom come soon, on earth as in heaven! In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s worship as we sing “Heaven Invade” by Kari Jobe (click here).

-KW