Day 4- open eyes to God's kingdom

Murray is keen to go to the beach this morning (North Argeles) so to get there in time and avoid the midday heat it's a short and sweet one!

Going to use S. O. A. and P. for Scripture, observations, applications and prayer points. For more on this see Good Morning Girls website, but basically it's the very simple reflective model I'm using for my bible study here.

Luke 17 v 20-25: 

(Just writing v 20 and 21) 

S- Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, ''The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, 'look, here it is!' Or 'There!' For behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you!''

O- 1. The Pharisees have missed the point that the kingdom of God has already come amongst them in Jesus!

2. The days are approaching when Jesus will no longer walk amongst them and they will want him to be there.

3. The day on the 'Son of Man' (another word for Jesus) will be dramatic and visible to all, like a bolt of lightening. This is the day when Jesus returns to judge the earth.

A- 1. Thank God for opening my eyes to Jesus as King.

2. God's kingdom is invisible and to the worlds eyes unimpressive. Ask God to help me to 'seek God's kingdom first' Matthew 6 v 33. 

P- As the bible says Jesus will come again like lightning across the sky, with no warning, there is a sudden terror for those who do not recognise his kingdom. Therefore there's an urgency in sharing the gospel. Praying that God would give me his compassion for others. 

We're struck by how the model of those with faith is being taught the disciples in this chapter: Lord would you help us to live the kind of authentic faith you teach here?

Keeping others from sin, loving your children and forgiving (vs 1-4)

Having faith that realises that God is off our scales ( so much bigger than ourselves!) with power to do mighty things (vs 5-6)

Realising we look for incentives of praise and glory for our willingness to serve instead of simply serving God for his name's sake (his glory) (vs 7-10)

Worshipping in humble thanksgiving for all that you've given us, all you have done to redeem us from our fallen selves and for the hope of sharing in your eternity! 

For the praise of your name! 

Amen