Your Will be Done on Earth
Dear Friends
You will recall that when His disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray (Matthew 6:5-15), one of the things He asked them to pray about was that God’s kingdom should come and His will “be done on earth as it is in heaven” (vs.10).
As believers, we understand that we are God’s “chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people”, who have been called to “proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light” (1Peter 2: 9-10). Our assignment on earth is to bring God’s kingdom into every area of our lives, so that what we do on earth, will be in line with God’s will – “as it is in heaven”.
This is the concept of kingdom colonisation. Those of us who come from nations that were once colonised (e.g. Nigeria, Ghana, the Caribbean, etc) can understand that when the colonial masters came, they brought their laws and practices with them, which influenced the way of lives of the people they colonised. In essence, this is what we are called to do, to establish God’s way of life and His will on earth. Hence Jesus commissioned us in Matthew 28:19-20: “Go therefore and make disciples of ALL NATIONS, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, TEACHING THEM TO OBSERVE ALL THAT I COMMANDED YOU; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age”.
Beloved, we are called to teach the people of this world, principles of God’s kingdom – “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17). Unfortunately, what has happened is that rather than us teaching the people of this world how to live according to the principles of God’s word, we have allowed the world to teach us their own way of life, to influence us so badly, that these days it is difficult to differentiate believers from non-believers, for “you will know them by their fruit” (Luke 6:44). Christians have often been found to compromise their integrity, thus allowing the heathen to blaspheme the name of our God.
Many of us have been following what is happening in the news lately with ISIS, who are trying to establish an Islamic state across the globe. They have taken this principle of establishing a kingdom and turned it upside down, slashing people’s throat as their way of getting them to conform to their ideology. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that my dear husband is in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia even as I write this. He will tell you how much the lives of the people in that kingdom are influenced by their religious belief, even if we do not agree with the way they go about it.
Establishing God’s kingdom on earth does not imply we are to live in bondage, for Christ has come to set us free from things that held us bound. However, it appears that many of us have carried our freedom to another level. In Galatians 5.13, the Bible declares: “for you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another”.
Dear friends, ISIS is a wakeup call for Children of the Kingdom, blood-washed and sanctified saints, to rise up to their responsibilities of fulfilling the Great Commission – “Go…and MAKE DISCIPLES OF ALL NATIONS, … TEACHING THEM TO OBSERVE ALL THINGS THAT I HAVE COMMANDED…” (Matthew 28:19-20). Also Jesus said in Matthew 24:14, “And this GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM will be preached IN THE WHOLE WORLD as a testimony to ALL NATIONS, and then the end will come”. We are the ones delaying the coming of ‘the end of the world’ because ‘The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead He is patient with you, not wanting ANYONE TO PERISH, but EVERYONE to come to repentance’ (2Peter 3:9). He is giving every one on earth the opportunity to hear and believe the gospel. “… And how can they believe in One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? ... How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things” (Romans 10:14,15).
Beloved, it is my prayer today that we would rise up as obedient children of the Most High and do as we have been commanded, to establish His kingdom and to let His will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. This requires each of us to do some soul-searching to see if we have been living the kingdom life, and working to see it established here on earth. We are in the world, but not of the world (John 17:16; 1John2:15-16).
The Lord will help us, in Jesus’ name. Amen!!!
Your co-labourer in the Vineyard
Elewechi Ngozi M. Okike
(16/09/2014)