Presence of God

I work at a restaurant on the weekends. When I work I wait for specific moments where I feel the Lord is giving me grace to minister. Two weeks ago I had that moment. I felt a grace to be able to ask my manager questions about her life and she began to share what was on her heart in relation to God and pain. I told her everyone has to make a choice with how they handle pain: to either blame God or go to God. I asked her if she wanted to experience God's presence because she said she had felt it before through experiencing His warmth and love. She quickly replied ,"No" because she was starting to feel that warmth again while speaking to me. Her eyes were tearing up and you could see she felt really loved. It was great to see someone feel God's presence while talking to me, I didn't even have to do anything. Since then, I have gotten to love on her more through hugs and encouragement.

Romans 5-8

I heard a speaker say the other day, "Romanced by Romans."

I feel like these are the greatest, most profound chapters of the whole Bible.

To make it very simple you should read Romans 6:1-10.

You are totally new. Crucified with Christ, dead with Christ, raised up in the exact same manner as Christ, seated in heavenly places with Christ. Wow.

I'll even put it here for you, in the message translation:

6 ^1-3 So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? I should hope not! If we’ve left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didn’t you realize we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace—a new life in a new land!

^3-5 That’s what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where we’re going in our new grace-sovereign country.

^6-11 Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer at sin’s every beck and call! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ’s sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That’s what Jesus did.

Faithfulness

This week has been really hard. Not just for me but for a lot of people.

Some good things to think about:

God is "good-er" than you ever could have imagined.

He is Abba, still. Full of love, never ceasing, as he portrays his patience, goodness, and kindness to me.

He is King of the Universe

He is healing, providing for, and celebrating.

He is faithful.

I am adopted. Royal.  Friend.

I am chosen, special, son, made righteous.

Circumstances:

Nothing that "circles" me will change my "stance." I am sold on who God is and who he says I am. He is my rock and I will not be greatly shaken.


God does not change in the midst of hard times. Who you are doesn't change in the midst of hard times.

Kingdom Theology

When Adam and Eve sinned, they were no longer allowed to reign because they handed their authority over to the devil. But now, Christ has restored the standard and has given us the keys to rule.

Matthew 16:19, "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

When Jesus rose from the dead he revealed himself to his disciples. In John 20:19-23, we find this account of Jesus; Jesus goes even further by breathing the Holy Spirit onto the disciples after saying, "As the Father sent me, I am sending you."

In every account of Jesus telling the gospel of the Kingdom, it was followed by miracles: healing of every disease and affliction (Matthew 4:17-25, 9:35-37). Even the disciples did the same thing: proclaiming the Kingdom of God (Heaven) is now, healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out demons.

In the Lord's prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray in such a way, "Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

So what actually is the Kingdom of God? If we go to 1 Corinthians 4:20, 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, and Romans 14:17 we find that  God's kingdom consists of: power, demonstrations of the Spirit, righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Jesus died, restored the standard, and has given us the keys to heaven. He has called us to reign in this life by destroying the works of the devil and establishing his Kingdom. He made our bodies temple of the Holy Spirit (bought with a price); now we have the victory of Christ under our belts to carry out his kingdom through power, righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

I hope this is challenging.

*These are some of my notes from school.

If you want testimonies on kingdom theology click here.