Kingdom of God

Last week, I had lunch with one of our ministry partners at a restaurant in Castleton in Indianapolis, IN. At our table, we were greeted by a high-energy waiter; he smiled and asked for our orders. After a few minutes, he came back with our delicious food. Just before he left our table, I asked him if we can pray for him. The question caught him off guard and suddenly, he got quiet. It took him almost a minute before he look at me and with a couple of deep breath, he asked to pray for his marriage. He left immediately so my friend & I prayed for his marriage and blessed our food.

During the course of our stay in the restaurant, our waiter visited our table a few times thanking us for praying for him. Just as we were about ready to leave, he gave me a card with a note, “Thank you soo much for the prayer, you have no idea what it means to me!”

This morning, one of our ministry leaders, Bill & I visited one of our volunteers who was hospitalized 4 weeks ago. The operation restricted her to move around. At the end of our visit. We prayed for her. Nehemiah 8:10 came to mind, “for the joy in the Lord is your strength.” and I shared it with her.

Suddenly, she stood up quickly as if she was fully recovered. She walked rapidly towards her piano, cleared the bench and looked for a hymnal. I did not know what was happening. To my surprise, she played, “Joy to the World.” I was floored to hear how she played it with passion. A simple words of encouragement lifted her faith and changed the spiritual atmosphere in her residence.

These 2 stories of simple acts of kindness and encouraging words can be the miracle that people are waiting for this Christmas season. As we are getting close to Christmas Day, keep in mind that God can use you mightily in someone’s life…the best gift that you can give. The reality of the Kingdom begins within you.

In the Old Testament, Moses had the same issue. In Numbers 13 and 14, Moses was instructed by God to send one leader from each of the 12 ancestral tribes. They were to explore the land of Canaan with very specific orders: find out if the people living there are weak or strong, few or many, and find out if the land is fertile. After 40 days of exploration, the men reported that the land was a bountiful country—land flowing with milk and honey. But they also found out that the people living there were powerful and their towns were fortified. Ten out of the twelve men came back with negative reports, trying to convince the entire community not to take the land. They said it would be impossible to conquer it. They would prefer to go back to being slaves again in Egypt or to die in the desert.

After a few thousand years, our society is still the same. There are more negative people than the Calebs and the Joshuas. More people complain and even convince others why it cannot be done even though God has already told them to take the land. More people are willing to go back to the slavery in Egypt than to work hard and take the promise. All twelve spies reported the same information but only two believed God and were willing to take the land—that’s just 16% who came back with courage to do God’s work. Remember in my previous Blog, the pastors said that, generally, only 10%-20% of the congregation tithes and does the works of the church.

God had promised the people a land flowing with milk and honey. All they had to do was take it. Instead of believing God, they came up with all kinds of excuses and rebelled against God by not taking action. The end of the story was that God granted their wish to rebel; no one in their generation, including Moses, reached the Promised Land except Caleb and Joshua.

Our generation has the responsibility to take action to take the land. Similar to the generation of Moses, the future of the next generation depends on our generation. We are all a part of the history of Christianity in the U.S. and in the world. Our generation can reverse the trend of increasing apathy of the church by taking God for His Word.

Next, I will share with you some practical and simple things that Christians can do to reverse the trend. Missions is not an event but a lifestyle.

For a full story regarding the 10/40 window in our own backyard, you can order my book, The Kingdom in Our Midst by visiting www.merlingonzales.com

All posts tagged: Kingdom of God

Miracles in Our Midst

After a few thousand years…