Thy Kingdom Come: A Call to True Discipleship Part 1

I want to thank you for the kind and encouraging feedback we have received. We are upholding you in our prayers, especially the one who asked us to pray for your healing from hip pain after hip surgery. We speak healing to every part of your body now, in Jesus’ name, Amen!

I’ve been meaning to write about the subject of the Kingdom of God which is the central call of our Ministry here Kingdom concept. I feel led to write on the call to true discipleship.
In Matthew 6:10 Jesus taught his disciples to pray “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is heaven.”

I grew up in a highly religious community in Africa. We had and still have lovely worship services, big cathedrals or church buildings, and a lot of nice religious events. However, I often wondered why the beautiful church atmosphere did not necessarily translate into a change in the culture of the community. We still had a lot of people living immoral lives, lying and cheating in business, being selfish, greedy and corrupt. Sadly, Christians even perpetuated these.

Some pessimists and critics would easily use this to conclude that Christianity has failed. This could not be farther from the truth. The failure of a few does not negate the inherent power of the word of God to save the Human soul from corruption. These societies were much worse before Christianity came. The church played a central role in the civilization of these cultures.

Where did we miss it? When we embraced a form of godliness but denied the power of godliness. We became more concerned about the traditions of the religion than its true essence, which is a sincere, personal relationship with God that results in a true love for people. Like Martha, we love the activities rather than sitting down to listen to God’s will. We extol positions and events rather than a lifestyle of true discipleship that results in a transformed life and society.

Towards the end of 2023, I began seeking God about the year 2024. As usual, I was looking for a prophecy or revelation to run with, but nothing happened. I felt somehow discouraged, but I knew that when God seems silent, it is often because we do not want to listen to or see what he is showing us. While praying the Lord told me he is not showing me the future because he wants me to look at Him and not the future. He wants my attention first. If he tells me the future, I will become busy and ambitious to fulfil the vision. The vision then becomes a distraction from His presence. Wow! I was humbled and glad that God drew me back to himself. The song by Don Moen echoed in my heart: “I just want to be where you are, in your dwelling place forever… in your presence, that’s where I always want to be…” My desire for greatness and popularity died there. I now choose God’s pace.

Often when God shows us our future, we may get distracted. Moses knew he was to be the deliverer of the Israelites, but this vision of his future distracted him. He became ambitious and tried to do it with his human abilities but failed woefully. This vision became fulfilled when he was 80 and his human strength had failed. He was so dependent on God that He told God “If your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.”

We will only accomplish his will here on earth when we know his will in heaven. This a call to a deep personal devotion that will overflow into a transformed life, family and then community.