The Perfecting Church

When we pledged allegiance to Jesus we became residents of another Kingdom — another world. In this world, we are offered paths of compromise, comfort and self-preservation. But we're not called to escape; we are called to stand firm, bearing witness to another Kingdom — another world. We are called to remain as faithful witnesses to God’s reign, even when the world around us is hostile and uncertain.

Those who’ve accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior have seen something. Eyes that were once blinded to the truth of His death, burial and resurrection have seen that indeed He is the Christ. Having seen and accepted that truth our lives have been radically and eternally changed. We have seen something and we have to say something! 

We live in a culture of “now” moments. Good and bad ones. It can be discouraging what we see in our world. What we see in our nation. What we see in our cities. We must get beyond the cultural and worldly “now” we get stuck in and realize God’s Kingdom is here, and it is our NOW! It’s our new reality. It has redefined our “now”. Given our “now” a new perspective. Because Jesus and His Kingdom is Here.

We serve a God of justice and righteousness. He has commanded us to uphold both in the public square. We have to be careful not to turn justice into poison and righteousness into bitterness by pursuing our own agendas rather than God's.

Prayer is an act of resistance. Prayer honors and esteems the unseen, eternal God over all the little temporary gods -- refusing to give them the reverance and allegiance that belongs to Him alone. Prayer gives us perspective and power to oppose realities that are accepted as inescapable and unchangeable by those who suffer from prayerlessness. It’s in prayer that we access and surrender to the rule and reign of God on earth as it is in heaven. The act of prayer is an act of resistance.

 It is in prayer that we become portals for the wisdom and revelation we require—heaven has hopes for you and for me and it is in prayer that we access the power of God that is necessary to live in and to live out the plans of God.

Coping techniques are the conscious and subconscious things we do for relief and comfort in the on-going stress of daily life in a fractured world. Our lives are filled with things we do, some knowingly and others unknowingly to cope. The challenge with coping in a world filled with problems and difficulties is that our coping sometimes ends up needing coping. But there’s a coping technique that God gives that helps us to truly deal with problems and difficulties and the problems and difficulties that our coping techniques created. It’s the ultimate coping technique. 

As the newly minted King of Israel, Solomon worships God at Gibeon. In his prayer he teaches us that although power is given, power is never owned. His heart towards God and the power entrusted to him, causes him to become a version of himself he’d never known and the world had never seen. We often believe power means do what you want, but power actually means become what I’ve designed. 

Losing control never feels good, but it always has the potential to produce great good. Times of crisis open our eyes to how little control we really have in this fallen, troubled world. Those that experience losing the illusion of control know the kind of desperate prayers that can come from those moments. In crisis and impossible circumstances, we learn how to pray out of control.  

Jesus’ very first instructions on prayer included the phrase, “on earth as it is in heaven.” This is still the heart of all sincere prayer — that the Father’s will would be done on the earth as it is in heaven.  While prayer can include more than this, it is never any less.  On Earth As In Heaven, pursues the heart of prayer, just as Jesus’ original disciples did when they asked, Lord teach us to pray.