Heaven On Earth

While on earth, Jesus said, “The Kingdom of God is in your midst.” (NIV)  The NKJV says: “The Kingdom of God is within you.”  Both versions are correct.  In Jesus, the Kingdom of God was literally here on earth, “in the midst of you”. (ESV)  However, for those who follow Christ, who have put their faith and trust in Him as their Lord, the Kingdom of God now resides within the individual.  So, in essence, the Kingdom of God is always in our midst.

If the Kingdom of God is already with us, and within us, why do we pray “Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”?  It’s because we want the Kingdom for God, the presence of Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit, to become fully formed within us. In other words, we want the fulness of Christ to dwell more richly within us.  Furthermore, we want others to sense the Kingdom of God, the presence of Jesus, and the power of the Holy Spirit evident in our daily living.

To ask for the Kingdom of God to be here on earth, in our midst, within our being, is because we want others to have what we have, to see what we see, to know what we know, to experience what we experience.  We want others to encounter the fulness of Jesus as Heaven invades their lives and their souls.

A group of people from our church have been doing prayer walks around a certain part of our city.  I believe that as we walk, and as we pray, we do not need to do or say anything in order for the Kingdom of God to flow through the streets of the neighborhood – streams of living water are being released as we walk and pray, because we do indeed have the Kingdom of God, the presence of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit within us and flowing from us.

Then, as the prayer also says, “Your Kingdom come, Your WILL be DONE.”  We do the will of God as we bring heaven into the lives of people we encounter.  Heaven is released on earth as we live our lives for “Heaven’s Sake”.  People do not need to seek heaven, for heaven comes to them through God’s people, His Church, and by the Holy Spirit.

Consider this:  
Jesus did not die in order that we could then go to heaven.  Going to heaven is the icing on the cake.  Jesus died so that we might know our Heavenly Father.  Jesus died so that we might receive the riches of Heaven here on earth through the Holy Spirit.  Jesus died, so that we might taste and see the goodness of God here on earth.

We now get to live as Ambassadors for Christ – we get to bring heaven into the lives of other people.  All that we do, all that we say, reveals to others that we belong to the Kingdom of God.  The Kingdom of God is revealed to others by our actions and our words, our behavior and our interaction with others.