GodSprings - 15, May, 2017

Am I Ready to Change?

Thy Kingdom Come.

Matthew 6:10

Once during my visit to Jammu I had a chance to meet a Muslim guy named Shabnim Ijaz who got so struck by the love of Christ that he decided to leave his home and go out preaching Christ. I met him at the residence of one of the Malayalee families in Jammu. He had to go through a lot a struggle and persecution. He started to share his story. Listening to his story I asked, “What would happen if you got persecuted for preaching, or killed for preaching. He simply said this in a cool and composed manner: “Well, you know, if they come after me, and they take everything I have, and put me in jail they can never touch anything that’s valuable to me. They can take my car, and they can take my house, they can take my clothes, they can take all the stuff. But they can’t take the love I have for my wife and her love for me. They can never touch my friendships. They can never touch Christ in my life. They can never touch anything of His kingdom. I invest my life there, and so my causes become God’s causes, and the only issues that the believer should be concerned about are those issues that build hid Kingdom.

We as humans are always bent towards our self. If we observe a new born baby we find that it knows nothing about letting someone else have their choice. A baby understands one thing, and that’s me, me, me and I want, I want, I want. When they get a little bigger then its “that’s mine, you can’t have it.” And as we grow we continue to have the same bent towards us.

When Jesus asks us to pray ‘your kingdom come’ He wants us to change our affairs. Jesus says when God invades a life then it isn’t me, mine or I. It’s hallowed be Thy name, Thy will be done and Thy kingdom come.

Thy kingdom come signifies that we are not involved in a human kingdom, it’s God’s kingdom. We are not of this world. We have been translated out of this world. If this has to be understood we all have to be converted. Charles H Spurgeon says this is a missionary prayer since it asks for our conversion.

Thy kingdom come requires us to be ready to change everything about ourselves. A change that brings our life more in line with how God’s will is done in heaven. Next time when we say this phrase in the Lord’s prayer we are saying that we are ready for that change.

Let us pray – Dear Lord, we are ready to change everything. We are ready for a new life, a new way of being according to your kingdom. Change me O God.