The Eye of a Needle

"Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." -Matthew 19:24
 
Once I had a coworker friend when I was a server at an upscale restaurant. For our purposes, we'll call him Rob. Rob was an extremely gifted young man. He was a big, tall lumberjack type of fellow with wit and intelligence as sharp as a knife. He had a photographic memory, and he never had to write down any of his orders. Now, that's quite a feat for a restaurant of that type - with a wine list a mile long and 3 different dinner specials a night. I believe he was working on his Masters degree at that time.

Now something really struck me about Rob. He never really needed anybody. He was a pleasant guy, and you could tell he enjoyed being so intelligent- more than others around him. But the sad part was, he didn't seem fulfilled. He seemed bored with his life. I got to thinking about Rob one day, and the scripture Matthew 19:24 came to mind.

"Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God."
 
If you grew up in church, you might remember this Bible story. Normally when it is taught the reference to "rich" is correlated to money. But this is not necessarily the full extent of it's meaning. As I saw with my friend Rob, he was rich in talents, gifts, and personality, so he hadn't needed to learn to depend on God the way I had needed to. Sometimes our greatest gifts are the things that can hold us back the most. Ever seen gifted people try to get out of responsibility because of their giftedness? The degree of our giftedness does not excuse us from needing God or avoiding consequences - in fact, it places a greater burden on us to depend on Him and use our gifts to the greatest extent. How much further could we go with God than in our own strength? "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." -Luke 12:48b
 
Are you a really gifted person? Do your strengths sometimes get in the way of your reliance on God? (Ps 26:3) Pray that you and your gifts can be used to the fullest extent to serve Him and those around you.

As It Is In Heaven

"And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven." -Matthew 16:19
 
You know, God gave us quite an incredible gift when He sent His son Jesus to die for us.  In addition to this free gift of eternal salvation, He also gave us many keys that, when activated, can move mountains on our behalf.  All He said we needed to have was a mustard seed of faith, and to keep asking (Matt 17:20, 7:7).

Recently a friend was going through a really difficult situation.  Something had happened with her place of residence, and she was facing undue eviction!  Understandably, she was very upset.  I said, "You know what?  God doesn't want you to be evicted.  He wants you to have a place to live that is safe and secure.  So since that is His will for you, we should pray that His will be accomplished on earth as it is in heaven." (paraphrase)  So that is exactly what we prayed!

It took several days for a decision to be reached about her eviction, but thankfully, the landlords decided to let her stay!  After she discovered that the motion was halted against her, she told me and we prayed and thanked God for His moving on her behalf.

Is there anything in your life that needs to be, "on earth, as it is in heaven?"  Pray with firm belief that the things you are hoping for will be manifest on the earth.  God can do incredible things through us, if we will believe.

The Kingdom of God

“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, nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you." -Luke 17:20 & 21

Dr. Miles Munroe, senior pastor of Bahamas Faith Ministries International, wrote a book called “Kingdom Principles: Preparing for Kingdom Experience and Expansion.”  In the book he describes the difference between religion (do's and don'ts) and the Kingdom of God that Jesus taught in the Bible.  He calls the Kingdom of God “the foundation of God’s plan for mankind.” (p. 81) 

Jesus mentions the “kingdom of God” or “kingdom of heaven” about 85 times in the New Testament.  In fact, if we read the entirety of Jesus‘  teaching in the New Testament, we will find He spent nearly all of His time on earth talking about the Kingdom! 

Why then is the kingdom so misunderstood?  What is the kingdom exactly?

According to Merriam-Webster online dictionary, a kingdom is:  “a politically organized community or major territorial unit having a monarchical form of government headed by a king or queen.” In this case, the King is our Father God in heaven. From this we can gather that true Christianity has a lot more to do with a perfected and uncorrupted form of heavenly government then it does with religion.

Dr. Monroe goes on to say, “Life in the kingdom is really about returning to the governing authority of God in the earth and learning how to live and function in that authority.” (p. 158)  Because of Jesus, we are now in the process of gaining back what was lost in the Garden of Eden.  (Genesis 3)  

Repentance and our acceptance of grace through Jesus Christ unlocks the door for us to enter God’s kingdom.  But, it doesn’t stop there.  Jesus teaches about many keys that, when activated, unlock the power of heaven in our own lives.

There is so much we can learn about God’s kingdom.  Ask the Lord to show you His kingdom and the part He might have you play.  He desires that we pray, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:10) and that we seek first his kingdom and his righteousness (Matt 6:33).  He promises that all these things will be added to us when we do.