Friday, February 3, 2012

February 3, 2012

"Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Matthew 6:10

I was walking Tyrod early this morning and I watched as the light from the rising sun slowly overcame the darkness leftover from the night. The walk that began in darkness was completed in dawn. And, this evening as Barbara and I are heading out for our date we will observe the process in reverse as the setting sun gives way to darkness.
God gives us dramatic daily reminders that the battle between darkness and light is relentless. So it is in the spiritual realm, darkness never rests in its assaults on the light. I have shared a couple of contemporary examples of how the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light is raging around us.
What can you do? How can you push back the darkness and see the light prevail?

This moral and spiritual battle between the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness is waged in your heart and mind every day – sometimes hourly and often moment-by-moment. It must be won there!
Could this be why when the disciples asked Jesus how to pray, He instructed them to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done”?

That prayer is a declaration of war against the darkness that relentlessly attacks you daily. It is a declaration of surrender to the presence and power of God. It is an acknowledgement that He is King and you are not! It is a recognition that you are unable to defeat your inner darkness without His might and His light.
Praying “Your Kingdom come” is not a rote or ritualistic petition, it is a continual cry of the heart in the midst of your daily routines. Moral and spiritual darkness is relentless in its attacks against you and you must go on the offense against it! Fight in the light!

In this very same Sermon on the Mount, Christ has already challenged His hearers to be the “light of the world” and “let your light so shine that men will see your goodness and glorify your Father in heaven”. You are to be a lighthouse in a dark world.

God’s plan to overcome the darkness in this world is to snuff out the evil and darkness within you and me. The Son must rise in us! His kingdom must be received in us and His will must be accomplished by us!

If you don’t exercise your will toward God, the prince of darkness will use it against you! A kingdom will rise within you today, you decide which one.