Daily Devotion

Early in the morning, Jesus went out to be alone. He was able to meet the insistent need of people only because He first companied with His Father God.There is no word of complaint or resentment when Jesus' privacy was invaded by the crowds. Pray, we must; prayer cannot protect a person from the insistent cry of human need; it must prepare them for it.

 

Jesus would not let the demons speak. Why? For a very good reason---the Jews had their own popular idea of the Messiah. To them, the Messiah was to be a conquering king who would drive out the Romans from Israel. Israel was in an inflammable condition. Rebellion was always just below the surface and often broke out. Before people could call Him Messiah, He had to teach them that Messiah meant not a conquering king but a suffering servant. If they started out with the wrong ideas, death and destruction would follow.

 

Here is the first mention of the kingdom of God in Luke's gospel. Jesus came preaching the kingdom of God. What did He mean by the kingdom of God? For Jesus, the kingdom was three things at the same time. (a) it was past. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were in the kingdom and they had lived centuries ago. (b) it was present. "The kingdom," He said, "is within you, or among you" (Luke 17:21). (c) It was future. It was something that God was still to give and for which people must ever pray. So, the kingdom is past, present, and future at the same time. Mankind will be sometimes obeying and sometimes disobeying. Only Jesus did it perfectly. That is why He is the foundation and the incarnation of the kingdom. To do God's will is to be a citizen of the kingdom of God.

 

Life Application: We may need to pray- "Lord, bring in thy kingdom, beginning with me."

 

Praise/Prayer: Dear Father, there is so much about the "kingdom of God" that we can't fully understand. Please direct us, Your children, so that we will do that which will please You. I want to please You with my life on earth because I want to be in Your kingdom. I have dreamed about Your kingdom, and I want to go there to be with You, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the host of saints of all ages. I know that there is a lot about Your kingdom that I don't know, but I just want to be with You. Amen!