When we receive from God, either from our brethren or from the Spirit of God, it feels like robbery. We know that we do not deserve it. Sometimes we might feel ashamed, or maybe even a bit afraid when the Lord has given us more than we feel able to be faithful towards.
I don’t say this to boast, but to teach. One of my daily prayers for the past few weeks is that the Lord will “strengthen me to do your will.” Life is challenging, and I want to meet these challenges righteously. I also feel like God has been gracious to give things that I need to share, and if I don’t share, I’ll be like an old wine skin that will burst. Maybe that’s ridiculous.
None the less, I know that any good thing I have and any good thing I am able to do with that which I was given came from the Lord, and as Jesus teaches, “It is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.”
Though it is His good pleasure, experiencing this can be very difficult and trying. If I want strength, I might find that I am stretched and pushed beyond measure until I can bear a bit more than I could before. I know this has been the case with other things I have asked.
I truly believe that the gospel is more than forgiveness. It is having the Kingdom of God come to us in heart over the course of our lives. Sometimes we receive things in an instant, but most of what we receive comes from patiently continuing to seek, going through challenges, and overcoming by His working in us.
It is not that we work to receive salvation. We are forgiven by grace through faith in the blood of the Lamb of God. However, there is work in the Kingdom of Heaven. The more of that we want in this life, the more we must endure.
I will never be satisfied in this life concerning the Kingdom of Heaven, because these things are Jesus Christ and He is worthy to be loved and desired. I am greedy and jealous over Him, but I also know that because He is so good and gracious, it pleases Him to share what we get. How could we not? After receiving what we do not deserve, how can we just “hide it under a bushel?”
I know that many people would disagree with me, but I will not back down from this. I won’t back down because I know just enough of what that Kingdom looks like that I want more and more.
In the Kingdom of Heaven we don’t need any other light but Him. In the Kingdom of Heaven there is a stream of life. In the Kingdom of Heaven there is fruits of healing. In the Kingdom of Heaven there is peace; even the wolves lay down with the lambs and the suckling child can play on the snake’s den. Lions eat straw like an Ox. There is no destruction there. There is no violence there. The knowledge of the Lord is life and peace forever. No more pain. No more sorrow. So, if we must sorrow to get there, it is worth it.
Never give up. It is God’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom, and one day the Kingdom of Heaven will come to this dying world and the Wicked One will be destroyed with the brightness of the coming of the Son of God: Jesus Christ: the Only Name worthy of praise and the Only thing worth seeking with all your heart, soul, and mind.
I don’t want it to be said that I “labored and has not fainted.” I will not do the bare minimum. Again this is not to boast, but to teach. I have labored until I fainted, and I will do it again if that is what it takes to enter into a rest and peace that this world does not know. Lord willing. I say this to encourage you. Keep going. Don’t let people rob you of the Kingdom with half-truth gospels.
I believe that those who trust in the blood of the Lamb for forgiveness and hate sin will be forgiven and they will live forever. I know that I want that judgment, and that is true. Yet. We also know that Jesus said that He rewards those who seek diligently. There is more to gain. We can rob each other of what God gives us—it is our duty to do so because all things are of the Lord and for the body of Christ. But NEVER let anyone rob you of seeking more from Jesus and the Kingdom that comes “without observation” and lies “within you.”
Jesus Alone 