"When you pray, say: '... Your kingdom come.' "
~ Luke 11:2 (NKJV)
Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, [Jesus] answered them and said, "The kingdom of God does not come with observation ... For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you."
~ Luke 17:20-21 (NKJV)
"But whatever city you enter, and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, 'The very dust of your city which clings to us we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near you.' "
~ Luke 10:10-11 (NKJV)
"I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom."
~ Matthew 26:29 (NKJV)
Your Kingdom Come
I ask the kingdom to come inside me in ever greater measure as I'm emptied of Self and continually filled with God's Spirit. I ask the kingdom to come, through me, to the people in every place I go. With yearning for commUnion with Jesus in the kingdom of God yet to come, I plead, "Maranatha! Come quickly Lord Jesus, and come soon!"
I ask the Lord to make the kingdom of God manifest now by uniting His subjects to prevail over the enemy; by moving us to yield to His Spirit and prevail over flesh; by conforming us to His Word to prevail against being conformed to the world.
I ask the Lord what clothing of righteousness He likes to see on His bride, and how I might inspire others in the body of believers to put it on so His own yearning becomes too great to stay away.
King of kings, Lord of lords, Beloved Bridegroom: Your kingdom come.
Feedback invited. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. Copyright 2009, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Monday, May 4, 2009
Teach Us to Pray
Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray ..." So He said to them, "When you pray, say:
'Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.' "
~ Luke 11:1-2 (NKJV)
Jesus said to him, " 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' "
~ Matthew 22:37-39 (NKJV)
My plan for each day is to start it by talking with the Lord and reading His Word, in order to get His perspective on Him and me and life. I use the Lord's Prayer as a prayer outline—though the conversation rarely goes as I expect. As long as I make it through the first line, I get in what's most important.
Father
In the original Greek, the first word is "Father." God is always first. He gets the first of my time, treasure, talent—first place in the tabernacle of mySelf. The privilege to call God Father came by the blood of Jesus, without which I couldn't even enter His presence.
Of Ours
Though my Father's great love makes me feel like His favorite, I'm part of a family in which each child is favorite. My prayer ministry isn't just for me. My love of self must be my love of everybody else.
In Heaven
I acknowledge who is high and lifted up, and who is bowed to the ground. He is God. I am redeemed riff-raff. Without Him, I am nothing and can do nothing.
Hallowed be Your Name
To fear His name is to depart from iniquity. To love His name is to live surrendered to Him. To worship His name in spirit and truth is to worship Him as He is (not what I want Him to be), and as pleases His Spirit (my pleasure is the delight of worshiping Him).
Father of ours in heaven: hallowed be Your name!
Feedback invited. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. Copyright 2009, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
'Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.' "
~ Luke 11:1-2 (NKJV)
Jesus said to him, " 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' "
~ Matthew 22:37-39 (NKJV)
My plan for each day is to start it by talking with the Lord and reading His Word, in order to get His perspective on Him and me and life. I use the Lord's Prayer as a prayer outline—though the conversation rarely goes as I expect. As long as I make it through the first line, I get in what's most important.
Father
In the original Greek, the first word is "Father." God is always first. He gets the first of my time, treasure, talent—first place in the tabernacle of mySelf. The privilege to call God Father came by the blood of Jesus, without which I couldn't even enter His presence.
Of Ours
Though my Father's great love makes me feel like His favorite, I'm part of a family in which each child is favorite. My prayer ministry isn't just for me. My love of self must be my love of everybody else.
In Heaven
I acknowledge who is high and lifted up, and who is bowed to the ground. He is God. I am redeemed riff-raff. Without Him, I am nothing and can do nothing.
Hallowed be Your Name
To fear His name is to depart from iniquity. To love His name is to live surrendered to Him. To worship His name in spirit and truth is to worship Him as He is (not what I want Him to be), and as pleases His Spirit (my pleasure is the delight of worshiping Him).
Father of ours in heaven: hallowed be Your name!
Feedback invited. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. Copyright 2009, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
At Jesus' Feet
Mary ... sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word... "One thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her."
~ Luke 10:39-42 (NKJV)
"And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your young men shall see visions ... "
~ Acts 2:17
"I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have concealed these things from the wise and sharp and learned, and revealed them to the childlike and unskilled and uneducated. Yes, Father, this was Your gracious will and pleasing to You."
~ Luke 10:21 (author, amplified)
Every time Mary of Bethany is mentioned, she is at Jesus' feet. She anoints His feet and uses her hair as a towel for them. She falls at Jesus' feet in worship and weeping. She sits and listens to the Word. A woman in patriarchal society, she found blessing in such lowly position.
God revealed something to Mary others missed—perhaps because she stayed lowly, perhaps because she had childlike ignorance. God takes great pleasure in such servants and rewards them with His choicest blessing—a view of Himself.
Jesus was an uneducated man who shared truth with words the wise and learned failed to understand. I've recently become acquainted with one of Jesus' humble servants to whom God gives both startling insights and the ability to share them with vivid simplicity.
If you're inclined to spend your Sunday looking for a view of God pure and plain, visit Billy Coffey at What I Learned Today. I promise you'll be blessed.
Lord of heaven and earth, You are good to make Yourself known in Your creation, in Your Christ, in Your Counselor. Thank You for loving the most lowly and humble and sinful of us and making us Your servants. Thank You for the ability to see Your face each day. I love You.
Feedback invited. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. Copyright 2009, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
~ Luke 10:39-42 (NKJV)
"And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your young men shall see visions ... "
~ Acts 2:17
"I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have concealed these things from the wise and sharp and learned, and revealed them to the childlike and unskilled and uneducated. Yes, Father, this was Your gracious will and pleasing to You."
~ Luke 10:21 (author, amplified)
Every time Mary of Bethany is mentioned, she is at Jesus' feet. She anoints His feet and uses her hair as a towel for them. She falls at Jesus' feet in worship and weeping. She sits and listens to the Word. A woman in patriarchal society, she found blessing in such lowly position.
God revealed something to Mary others missed—perhaps because she stayed lowly, perhaps because she had childlike ignorance. God takes great pleasure in such servants and rewards them with His choicest blessing—a view of Himself.
Jesus was an uneducated man who shared truth with words the wise and learned failed to understand. I've recently become acquainted with one of Jesus' humble servants to whom God gives both startling insights and the ability to share them with vivid simplicity.
If you're inclined to spend your Sunday looking for a view of God pure and plain, visit Billy Coffey at What I Learned Today. I promise you'll be blessed.
Lord of heaven and earth, You are good to make Yourself known in Your creation, in Your Christ, in Your Counselor. Thank You for loving the most lowly and humble and sinful of us and making us Your servants. Thank You for the ability to see Your face each day. I love You.
Feedback invited. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. Copyright 2009, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
On Our Side
"Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow with us." But Jesus said to him, "Do not forbid him, for he who is not against us is on our side."
~ Luke 9:49-50 (NKJV)
For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist... He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him.
~ 2 John 1:7-10 (NKJV)
Whenever possible, I try to write these posts first thing in the morning, after time devoted to the Lord and before time devoted to life and family. Once five children are awake, the day will be peppered (hopefully lightly) with contentions over my time and whatever else they don't like to share.
Contentions most often arise over conflicting perceptions. "He hit me" vs. "I bumped into him." "He's supposed to" vs. "Mom said." The ever popular, "It's not fair." (Masculine pronouns include all five of my darlings.) I try to respond with principles like "treat others the way you want to be treated" and "is this important enough* to argue about?" and "please—love each other!"
Our Father surely grows weary with all the ways we His children complain about family members on our side. Conflicting perceptions distract us from the real enemy. We have real demons to cast out. The spirit of the antichrist roams the earth to deceive saints and unsaved alike.
Our strength against the enemy is in our unity in Christ.
Our Father in heaven, oh what manner of love You've poured out upon us that we should be called the children of God! Please help us see our blood ties in Christ in moments when we are offended. Please alert us to that for which we should contend. Unite Your children in strength.
* Often expressed as, "Do you really want me to get involved in this since you're more wrong than him?"
Feedback invited. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. Copyright 2009, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
~ Luke 9:49-50 (NKJV)
For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist... He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him.
~ 2 John 1:7-10 (NKJV)
Whenever possible, I try to write these posts first thing in the morning, after time devoted to the Lord and before time devoted to life and family. Once five children are awake, the day will be peppered (hopefully lightly) with contentions over my time and whatever else they don't like to share.
Contentions most often arise over conflicting perceptions. "He hit me" vs. "I bumped into him." "He's supposed to" vs. "Mom said." The ever popular, "It's not fair." (Masculine pronouns include all five of my darlings.) I try to respond with principles like "treat others the way you want to be treated" and "is this important enough* to argue about?" and "please—love each other!"
Our Father surely grows weary with all the ways we His children complain about family members on our side. Conflicting perceptions distract us from the real enemy. We have real demons to cast out. The spirit of the antichrist roams the earth to deceive saints and unsaved alike.
Our strength against the enemy is in our unity in Christ.
Our Father in heaven, oh what manner of love You've poured out upon us that we should be called the children of God! Please help us see our blood ties in Christ in moments when we are offended. Please alert us to that for which we should contend. Unite Your children in strength.
* Often expressed as, "Do you really want me to get involved in this since you're more wrong than him?"
Feedback invited. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. Copyright 2009, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Friday Freelance: FULL Part II
Last Friday I shared my journey in a quest for truth, with the desire to feel spiritually Full. I went from being hungry because I'd yet to be fed enough, to finding what's good while still hungering for more of it.
Hunger drives the emergent church. I'm largely ignorant of the emergent church movement and may not change that. But I understand that their followers were left feeling empty and hungry by traditional churches. From what I've learned, emergent churches tend to emphasize those truths which counter past hurts, but do so at the expense of greater truths; they tend to elevate doing good to people above worship of God with truth.
Truth elevates God first. Jesus' curious way of elevating people is indirect, by bringing them low. The last will be first. The least will be the greatest. The one forgiven much knows great love. Jesus seeks out outcasts and makes us His. Our exaltation lies in reconciliation to God through Christ's blood, relationship with God and all its blessings, and the privilege of being counted among His lowly servants—without picking on other servants.
Picking on other servants has been a problem in those traditional churches which say, "We want you here but only because we expect you to become just like us, and if you don't we won't be sorry to see you go." I've seen this, and even got caught up in it for a while. (If I've yet to thoroughly eliminate it, it's not for lack of trying.)
The Bible describes the church as the body of Christ with varied members. Both John the Baptist and Jesus preached a message of repentance from sin, not conversion from personality.
Repentance of sin does change the way a person looks—on the inside. Those changes will show up on the outside in as many ways as there are people. A full church will have diversity, and it will always have room for improvement because sin and incomplete knowledge do not cease this side of heaven.
I admit that if I choose to look at them, revealing clothing and body piercings are a distraction. If embroiled in a debate over doctrine, I can choose to see another as a heretic and distance myself. But if I look at someone with love as a vital member of Christ's body, I see a person I don't want to live without.
Last Sunday I shared my heartbreak over the estrangement of my brother John from our family. The void he leaves never goes away. We no longer take a family photo that feels right. We don't have a get together where I don't feel his absence. Without him, our family isn't full.
There are a whole bunch of people who aren't in church because church left them feeling empty. Until we win them back, we won't be full either.
Feedback invited. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. Copyright 2009, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
Hunger drives the emergent church. I'm largely ignorant of the emergent church movement and may not change that. But I understand that their followers were left feeling empty and hungry by traditional churches. From what I've learned, emergent churches tend to emphasize those truths which counter past hurts, but do so at the expense of greater truths; they tend to elevate doing good to people above worship of God with truth.
Truth elevates God first. Jesus' curious way of elevating people is indirect, by bringing them low. The last will be first. The least will be the greatest. The one forgiven much knows great love. Jesus seeks out outcasts and makes us His. Our exaltation lies in reconciliation to God through Christ's blood, relationship with God and all its blessings, and the privilege of being counted among His lowly servants—without picking on other servants.
Picking on other servants has been a problem in those traditional churches which say, "We want you here but only because we expect you to become just like us, and if you don't we won't be sorry to see you go." I've seen this, and even got caught up in it for a while. (If I've yet to thoroughly eliminate it, it's not for lack of trying.)
The Bible describes the church as the body of Christ with varied members. Both John the Baptist and Jesus preached a message of repentance from sin, not conversion from personality.
Repentance of sin does change the way a person looks—on the inside. Those changes will show up on the outside in as many ways as there are people. A full church will have diversity, and it will always have room for improvement because sin and incomplete knowledge do not cease this side of heaven.
I admit that if I choose to look at them, revealing clothing and body piercings are a distraction. If embroiled in a debate over doctrine, I can choose to see another as a heretic and distance myself. But if I look at someone with love as a vital member of Christ's body, I see a person I don't want to live without.
Last Sunday I shared my heartbreak over the estrangement of my brother John from our family. The void he leaves never goes away. We no longer take a family photo that feels right. We don't have a get together where I don't feel his absence. Without him, our family isn't full.
There are a whole bunch of people who aren't in church because church left them feeling empty. Until we win them back, we won't be full either.
Feedback invited. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. Copyright 2009, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
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