THE DAILY FOUNTAIN DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE OF THE CHURCH OF NIGERIA (ANGLICAN COMMUNION)
DATE: FRIDAY, 14TH JULY, 2023
TOPIC: THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU
TEXT: LUKE 17:20-29
20. Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, "The kingdom of God does not come with observation;
21. "nor will they say, 'See here!' or 'See there!' For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you."
22. Then He said to the disciples, "The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see [it.]
23. "And they will say to you, 'Look here!' or 'Look there!' Do not go after [them] or follow [them.]
24. "For as the lightning that flashes out of one [part] under heaven shines to the other [part] under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day.
25. "But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
26. "And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man:
27. "They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
28. "Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built;
29. "but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed [them] all.
MESSAGE:
Through the ages, many people have always wondered how the kingdom of God looks like and for some, the question has been, “when will it come?” In our text today, the Pharisees asked the Lord Jesus when the kingdom of God would come. First, we note that they were expecting the kingdom to come and they had been trying to observe the times and study events. But the response of the Lord to them showed that they had a wrong perception of how the kingdom of God would come. Jesus Christ said the kingdom of God does not come with observation: “... for indeed, the kingdom of God is within you” (v.21). There are two important issues here. First, that the kingdom is an inward thing in the life of a believer. It is an internal day-to-day experience, wherein God reigns as the King. Second, that wherever a believer is, there, God reigns.
As a Christian, wherever you are, people should find the reign of God. Where God is, nothing else rules. In other words, you are the carrier of the Kingdom of God. This glorious position is exclusively reserved for those who are truly God's children by faith in Jesus Christ. This is non-negotiable. Those who are born again and have been washed in the blood of the Lamb are the members of the Kingdom of God. You must be in this group to have the Kingdom of God within you. Your daily lifestyle will then show that the kingdom of God is in you. And God will use you for His own glory.
Prayer:
Father, keep reigning in me to affect my world for You. Amen.
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