Which Kingdom?

 I once heard a man pray, Father, may I be host to the Christ Spirit and not hostage to the spirit of the world. There are two paths before us. Will we be "hosts" to all the fullness and life of Christ, vessels of His Spirit and Life, possessing His mind and thought processes, or will we be hostage to the thought processes and value system of this world? A world we're born into but commanded to come out of. Commanded!

We like to think in terms of His calling or inviting us, because it leaves the matter in our hands, with no sense of urgency. A command is either obeyed or disobeyed. We'll be either obedient, or disobedient. That's a little too black and white for our flesh. We're more comfortable thinking it's more His suggestion, and that He'll be OK if we choose to ignore. Disappointed perhaps, but it passes. He is understanding, isn't He?

We may not be so blunt in how we actually put it all, but this is what we tend to do. How many times have we said that we heard Him speaking to us on a matter? If He's speaking to us once, His expectation is that He doesn't need to speak it again? To the degree we're hosting His Holy Spirit, He won't need to. To the degree we're held hostage to a fleshly spirit, He will. 

Philippians 2:5 reads, Let this mind (spirit) be in you that was also in Christ. The only way we can do this is to yield to that mind and spirit. When we do, that is when we truly begin to grow into the ways and image of Jesus Christ. We live, choose, respond, and act in the Spirit of Christ. We process everything through His understanding and not our own. Instead of our all too human reactions to the unexpected, unusual, and unloving, we take our thoughts about all of it into His Presence. In His Presence, He shows us what's real and what isn't. Where the source of it all is from Him and where it's from the darkness. We see things with His discernment. We are able to see beyond the surface of things. We see what is really happening and hear what He is saying. This is our taking every thought captive to Him instead of every thought taking us captive to the darkness, where we become hostage to the enemy who is behind it all.

In Christ's ministry and conversation, He always looked to see from which kingdom the words, thoughts, and actions were coming from, the kingdom of hell or of heaven. He looked to see which kingdom was being advanced. Each day, in our choices, words, and actions, which kingdom are we advancing? In our day to day lives and ways, which kingdom are we helping to grow? One or the other will consume us. One or the other will either lift us up or throw us down. One or the other. Which one for you and me?

Blessings,
Pastor O