Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. (Matt. 6:10)
Today's article outlines specific Kingdom exercises to talk to God about on a regular basis. These exercises will allow you to partner with God to inject Kingdom qualities into your relationships, finances, and so forth so that others will experiences the Kingdom of God right now through you. Remember from last week that we are called to be God's Kingdom agents. To read last week's article, click HERE.
True intimacy with God takes more than just good intentions; it takes real action. In the Lord's prayer, Jesus suggests we do something with God that is really different than we are naturally prone to do. He says that we should have a discussion regularly (daily or hourly) with God about what Kingdom actions, qualities, rules, and speech should appear in our world through us. God has specific ideas in mind and He wants to talk with you about all these things. Without prayer, we can miss out on God's assignments and the subsequent blessings that come out of obedience.
I want you to come up with 20 specific, doable answers to each of the exercises below. Take out a blank sheet of paper or open up a new document in your computer or on your phone and put the questions as the first statement. Ask God to give you practical, doable answers for how you can become more of a Kingdom touchstone in this modern world. This is such a good exercise and I can assure you that God will bring to your mind some amazing things to write down. Then I want you to take action on at least one of the things that you and God came up with. Let's run through three Kingdom exercises.
How can I partner with God to inject more fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23) into my relationships so others can experience the Kingdom right now?
We all have nine basic relationship of life into which God wants to inject His kingdom rules and qualities. He wants your life to be a laboratory of new marvels, where He gets glory from how you let Him work through your life.
Actually pray and ask God what you could do that would allow more love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control to flow into the various relationships of your life.
Marriage, Family, Work, Finances, God, Friends, Church, Society, Self
I know that when I did this exercise for the first time and had to come up with twenty answers about how I could partner with God to inject more love and joy into my family, about the eleventh answer was to start making videos and photos of my daily life and posting them to a family text group we have. They have been such a hit and everybody has this closeness because we all react and talk about all the stuff we all put up there. One of my girls said it was like sitting around the kitchen table and having a conversation. It has significantly increased the love and joy in our family. By-the-way, my new book The Keys for Grapeness: Growing a Spirit-led Life talks all about this, and my hope is that it will give you more clarity on what love, joy, peace, etc. actually looks like in a practical, day-to-day sense.
How can I partner with God to bring new levels of financial security and well-being to my life?
When I started writing the answers to this question, I was surprised by what was being revealed! The things I could tangibly do were to: Look at other job options. Learn new skills to enhance my position. Watch the budget tighter. Make a tighter budget. Explore other business options. My mind became a whirl of ideas and possibilities, and God has begun to bring some of these about so that I can partner with Him to bring them into our financial life.
How can I partner with God to bring more of Christ's character into my life? Pray about ways you can become:
Poor in spirit: humble, grateful, teachable, self-assured
Mournful: grieving pain, losses, wounds and guilt
Meek: power under control, impulse control, thoughtful requests and wise adaptations
Hungry and thirsty for righteousness: desperate desire to bring about what is right
Merciful: not demanding every ounce of vengeance
Pure in heart: positive, pure, and edifying thought life
Peacemaker: reconciliatory, bringing harmony, order, and calm everywhere I go
Persecuted for righteousness and for Christ
Other questions you can include in your daily discussion with God are:
How can I bring the Kingdom into the world through my life right now?
How can I do God's will on this earth today? What does He want me to do?
How can I love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength?
Write down 20 specific, doable answers, and pick one to act on.
Will you do me the favor of actually praying to God through one of these questions today or tomorrow, and then let me know what He says to you? I would love to hear from you and your experience with God your Father. Feel free to reach out to me at info@ptlb.com. Remember, your greatest life is just ahead.
In His service,
Gil Stieglitz
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The Fruit of the Spirit explained simply and with relevance for today.
Find out what God is asking from you when He tells you to "be loving" or "practice joy" or "be peaceful," and so on to the people in your life. Get ready to experience life change, deeper relationships, greater success, and more joy. You won't want to miss this one! This book comes with video commentaries from Dr. Gil that accompany each chapter, easily accessible from your smart phone or electronic device.