Thy Kingdom come

Thy Kindgom come,

Thy will be done, 

On earth as it is in Heaven....

I really love this prayer. It centers my heart on the Lord. It gets my perspective off just only seeing this moment, to seeing this moment within the bigger moment of my life, and more importantly, eternity (my forever life). It is important to see life this way. We can't always just look at the tiny moment we are in because we would always want to do what makes us happy for just that moment- we would probably find ourselves on the couch, eating ice cream and watching tv. Nor can we only look at eternity because then we may feel that worship is all that matters and neglect what God is calling us to do here. So we've got to keep our eyes on what our calling here is and the eternity that is coming. God has work for us to do here and he will greet us when we get to Heaven. We want him to say, "well done good and faithful servant." So this prayer centers my heart.

So now that leaves me with 2 questions... 

What does it look like to live in Heaven? What would it look like to live for the Kingdom on earth? 

What is Heaven like? 

Jesus is there and is alive! Revelation 1:18

Jesus sees what is going on in the churches on earth. Revelation 2-3

God is the center of worship. Revelation 4

Jesus is worshiped for dying for our sins. Revelation 5

There is judgememt for those who do not worship Jesus and this makes those who do worship Jesus worship him even more. Jesus is strong enough and holy enough to battle Satan and win. Revelation 6-20

There is a sweet place for Jesus to live with his people. There are no tears or death or sin. The glory of God is so bright. This city has real streets, walls and gates made of beautiful stones and gold. Revelation 21

There is the river of life with trees beside it that will heal us. We will be able to see the face of God. Revelation 22

(Side note--- I looked for a picture of what people this Heaven looks like based on Revelation-- but I'd rather read Revelation 21 and 22 and dream of it on my own-- try it!!)

That obviously is a quick running summary but really, what does knowing this mean for our life on earth? What are we asking for this Kingdom to come here? 

Well let's look at just those things I just said....

Jesus would be in our life and living in our life. We would listen to his words and live like he died for our sins and rose from the dead. 

We would remember that Jesus sees what's going on in our life. Not a creepy- he's watching is- but that he actually cares what's going on in our lives.

We would worship God- not ourselves, not other people, not other things. We would make God the chief direction of our praise, thankfulness and purpose. 

We would worship Jesus with thankfulness that he paid for our sins. We would be grateful for the peace that brings. We would want to confess our sins and we would want to sin less. 

We would realize there is a judgement coming. We will be accountable for our actions. We will want others to know Jesus so they will not be judged for their sins. We will know that Hesus is stronger that Satan. The temptations, the fears and the troubles we face here---- we will see these and remember- Jesus is greater. 

We will not  fear death but look forward to Heaven. We will not be sad when people die as if there is no hope of heaven. To say it in another way- we will be glad when believers die bc we know where they are (but we will be sad bc we will miss them but we will know we will see them again!) We will live with that faith and hope every day.

So it's a simple phrase. But it packs a lot of meaning. And when we live this way, we show the world Gods kingdom! 

Thy kindgom cone, 

Thy will be done,

In earth as it is in Heaven.