Bring Heaven

 

The prayer taught to His disciples was this, “Our Father in heaven, may Your name be kept holy.  May Your Kingdom come soon.  May Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.  Give us today the food we need, and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.  And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.”  (Matt 6:9-13)

“May Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.”

His Will.  Done Here.  Now.  On Earth.  Not waiting for heaven… but where we are at this very moment.

And I would hear it in a sermon and resonate with it long and hard during one of the most difficult seasons of my life.

And I would pray it as one who longs to, like David, to, “see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”  (Psalm 27:13).

Because it’s one thing to KNOW the reality of goodness there… the other side of this ugly and dark place… but it’s an entirely different thing to know that the goodness of the Lord CAN and WILL be seen this side of forever.

It’s in His WILL… Here as it is there.

My job might not, after all, be “getting to heaven when I die.” 
Because that’s not my job… it’s His job. And only He can get me there.

Maybe my job if it’s not to go to heaven when I die, is to BRING heaven as I live.

To “bring” by definition is this = “to carry, convey, conduct, or cause; to attract; to convince of a belief, persuade; to restore to consciousness; to give birth to; to deliver; to give rise to; to introduce, lead, transfer, import, begin, move, produce, create, or serve.”

Ahh yes… all of it, God. 
I want to BRING the reality of YOUR world to THIS world until MY world looks like YOUR world.

And it is possible.
To CARRY His love to those who feel unloved.
To CONVEY His goodness to a world living with corruption.
To CONVINCE people of His faithfulness by demonstration of His nature and character.
To PERSUADE others of His power by offering radical forgiveness when it doesn't make sense.
To RESTORE to consciousness what has been lost within people by forgetfulness and disregard.
To GIVE BIRTH to new levels of trust.
To GIVE RISE to His holy name.
To LEAD people to the feet of Jesus - the only One who can rescue and deliver.

His Will, I am convinced, is to use His redeemed people to broker into our environment the reality of heaven.  To offer the broken a taste of what’s to come by experiencing an encounter with Him this side of eternity that changes absolutely everything!

It’s become the cry of my heart every day… “May Your will be done on earth as it is heaven.” And that You, God, would trust me to partner with you to ensure this is done!