Monday Morning Musings - September 19, 2011

This past week I celebrated another birthday milestone. The calendar says that I have reached 55; my heart and spirit don’t feel bound by a “speed limit.”

I have been blessed by many during this past week with their kind words. I’m so grateful for the continual and faithful ministry of the Spirit in my life. I am more committed than ever to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and share in His sufferings becoming more like Him in his death (Philippians 3:10).

Nothing moves my heart more than to see the Kingdom of God breaking out all over: four guys in a public place talking about Jesus and the signs of the Kingdom, God bringing unexpected people together to join one of our community members in an architecture project in the Bronx, a corporate sponsor agreeing to make a school mural possible to bless the vision of another community member, people responding to the needs of others through generosity, English class students asking for prayer because they know we pray and others realizing that we are there because we care and love our community.  And that’s just the beginning…

In the days to come we will see more and more signs of the Kingdom:

  • Salvation/Deliverance
  • Righteousness and Justice
  • Peace
  • Joy
  • God’s Presence
  • Healing
  • Return from Exile

Paul lifts a prayer for the church in Colosssae in his letter to them: “And so, from the day we heard (of you), we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.  May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.  He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (1:9-14).

I take great courage and comfort in the fact that right now JESUS IS KING! Not in some distant future or in some ethereal spiritual realm that cannot be touched, but RIGHT NOW in your life and in mine, in our neighborhood, in our city, in our world. Can I repeat it? JESUS IS KING!

How does that impact your life today?

Serving the King!

Gary