ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN

ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN…

What does this mean? How can it be true?

Why did Jesus teach us, showed us to pray this way? Your kingdom come, your will be done, ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN? Why this way?

It has been a while since i felt Dad speaking to me about this, and it has been a very long and intimate and sweet exploration of this thought that has brought me to truly believe that this is one of the most important aspects of our faith, of the gospel, of our experience of life here on this earth.

The idea that His life, His kingdom, His realm, the way things are in heaven are available to us here on earth, that they can be experienced here on this earth, today, as we live and go through our lives everyday.

That his love, his peace, his comfort, his provision, his freedom, his power, his friendship, his abundance, his healing, his promise and his fullness can be lived out in our lives everyday regardless and in spite of our situations, our challenges, trials, tribulations, temptations, mistakes, brokenness, darkness and just everyday happenings. That it can truly affect for the better every relationship, every friendship, every word, every emotion, every feeling, every pain, every wound, aching, disappointment, failure, eetc.

But how? How can this be possible? Is it true to hope for something like this?

Or are we doomed to go through life struggling without hope? Without joy? Without peace? Without joy?

Why are we here? Why did Jesus come to die for us? Was it just to pay the price for our sins? To rescue us from the penalty of dead? To cancel our debt? To get us a ticket to heaven? WHY? I always ask the why’s because it is so important to explore, to dig deep, to wonder, to inquire, to look for the answers.

WITHOUT EXPLORATION THERE’S NOT DISCOVERY. WITHOUT DISCOVERY THERE’S NO EXPERIENCE AND WITHOUT EXPERIENCE THERE’S NO KNOWLEDGE!

So, if Jesus’s whole stint on earth was just to save us from death and sin and damnation, then why are we still here on earth? Why not just take us with Him once we have embraced His forgiveness and the gift of His sacrifice for us? Why not just rapture us right now and bring us with him and end this whole thing?

Why are we in the midst of political turmoil, a rise of immorality, hatred, injustice, war, despair, murder, lies and deceit, division, indifference, etc?

What’s the purpose, the deal with our lives here on earth?

I’ve heard it said that in this life we are not to look at our situations as “troubles” or “struggles” but just as events. That we ought to change our perspective from looking at what life brings us and calling them troubles to looking at them maybe as events, or opportunities or something else like that. And i maybe get the point they’re trying to make. But this is not the way of the word of God or what Jesus said.

He did say “in this world you WILL have trouble…but TAKE HEART, i have overcome the world”

And Paul says it over and over to the people he writes to in the different churches that he help plant. To the people that he dearly loved and cared for. He knew that in this world we would have trouble.

But he also knew there was a reason that we we still here on earth even after having embraced God’s gift of salvation, and that was to bring others to the knowledge of the hope, the salvation, the life, the freedom and the peace we could experience and live out everyday of our lives. To bring the hope of the true gospel of Jesus Christ!!!

“On earth as it is in heaven” reminds me of that song that has truly made a huge impact in my life and i know in other people’s lives as well, and in some cases it has impacted others with a negative connotation. Which is sad because we are so narrow minded that we lose focus of truth, and we twist it and dismiss it and overlook it or criticize it without truly looking, digging, pondering, meditating, and exploring its meaning.

The same thing we have done with the word of God. We have failed terribly at holding the word of God as what it is…the INSPIRED, GOD-BREATHED and POWERFUL word that comes from the very heart and mind of the creator of all things! WE have forsaken, sugar-coated, minimized and made irrelevant the very word that was given to us for life, for teaching, for admonishing, correcting, disciplining, and forming in us the very character of Jesus in us.

***But that’s another topic which i will touch on on my next blog about this election and our prayer meeting that we had at Spider Lake Church last night.***

The song I am referring to is John Mark McMillian’s “How He Loves”

And the part i am quoting is “and we are his portion and he is our price, drawn to redemption by the grace in his eyes, if his grace is an ocean we’re all sinking; so HEAVEN MEETS EARTH LIKE A SLOPPY WET KISS AND MY HEART TURNS VIOLENTLY INSIDE OF MY CHEST, AND I DON’T HAVE TIME TO MAINTAIN THESE REGRETS WHEN I THINK ABOUT THE WAY THAT HE LOVES US!!!

Heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss? I asked the youth what they thought about this line and they were all like “gross!!!”

And that is exactly the response a lot of people have gotten from it. And here’s where I think is so sad that we have missed the point.

When i hear this phrase and think about the mental picture it brings to my mind, what i can see is this intimate, very passionate and yes, maybe gross to look at, kind of physical expression. But what gets me is the meaning, the intention, the strength behind it.

This reminds me of passion, of true lovers, of an expression of intimacy that should only be experienced in the right and holy realm of committed love before God, (marriage) but nonetheless a gross, unashamed, unreserved and very intimate expression of desire, love, unity, connection, harmony, consent between the two parties involved, a fusion of bodies expressing their feelings and their connection with each other.

Maybe i am being too graphic, but it is with a purpose. Because when i hear this phrase in relation to the kingdom of God meeting earth, meeting us, like a sloppy wet kiss, it makes me thing of heaven, God, with all His passion and desire for us, with all his promises, his love, his joy, peace, his thoughts of good for us, his plans, his purposes and his riches, provision and comfort and healing, forcefully and furiously breaking the realm of dimension and time and space and connecting with us with all the power and force and strength and majesty and divinity of His nature!!!

And when Jesus says “on earth as it is in heaven” it makes sense then that as he lived this way Himself, healing, comfort, peace, joy, freedom, forgiveness, and all other kind of miracles were possible, cause helped his life experiencing heaven on earth. When he touched a person it was the kingdom of God being present and available and here with us. When he loved someone it brought not only physical healing but real wholesome healing to their souls. When he said “all these things you will do and ever greater things than me you will do” he meant it! He knew and believed that everyday we could experience the kingdom on heaven here on earth.

But what does it take? It takes truly embracing his word, what he offers, what he promises, and in order to do that we need to let go of our own way. Our own wisdom. All that we hold dear. We need to repent. WE need to surrender. We need to empty ourselves of ourselves. We need to relinquish all power, all control, all fear of what it might look to truly trust him, rely on Him, believe him, abide in him, and not pursue what our hungry and thirsty souls are running after.

Which sadly are all empty pursuits. Things that will never satisfy the true need of our souls. HIM!!!

IF WE ARE WILLING TO LOOK AT THIS, AND EXCHANGE THE PURSUIT OF ALL OTHER THINGS FOR THE PURSUIT OF LIVING HIS KINGDOM AND EXPERIENCING HIS LIFE EVERYDAY, WE WILL BEGIN TO SEE A CHANGE IN EVERY ASPECT OF OUR LIVES. INDIVIDUALLY, AS FAMILIES, AS SOCIETY, AS A NATION AND THE WORLD!

WHAT DO YOU THINK? GIVE ME YOUR THOUGHTS. AGREE? DON’T AGREE? WHY DO YOU AGREE? WHY NOT?

LET’S BEGIN TO PRACTICE THE DIGGING DEEPER, ASKING QUESTIONS, CONVERSING ABOUT THIS AND EXPOSING THE LIES AND THE DECEIT OF SATAN. IT IS TIME