Living out faith seems fun and easy when things go well. But what are we supposed to do when things don’t go so well? Still keep going strong? But how is it possible?

The trick here is….we are not to lean on our own strength…but on God’s strength. We are not to  thrive on our own…but to let God empower us.  Then it’s not about good times or tough times. It’s about kingdom living. It’s about Christ living in us.

My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Gal.2:20, NLT)

“Mary DeMuth states in her new book  The Wall Around Your Heart   “When we pray, “May your Kingdom come soon,” we submit ourselves to God’s kingship over us. We let go of our assumptions about how we think our lives should go. We rely less on reacting to a negative past to fuel us and instead focus forward, compelled by the glorious future awaiting us. It’s a positive, God-fueled way to live.”

This is crucial. Otherwise we don’t live out our faith but our fears and feelings. We try to manage our lives on our own and we sink deeper in desperation. Only when we live and breath God’s kingdom, we are able to live freely and joyfully as a child of God. Only when we receive grace upon grace, we are ready to move forward according to God’s plans.

Mary writes “God wants to woo us forward to kingdom building. It’s a greater motivator than anything else, including negative encounters. We can live in reaction to a negative relational experience and eventually stagnate, or we can ask God to compel us forward to a kingdom goal. Similarly we can become Christians because of our fear of hell, or we can follow Jesus in the adventure of living in light of the kingdom of God. See the difference?”

Kingdom living is what God has planned for his children. Do we want anything less? I hope not. Because then we are living under the privileges of God’s beloveds.

Yet we do struggle with this from time to time. Because we don’t dare to believe the goodness of God. Or we are not ready to wait for God’s timing. Or we think we’d know better than God. But then….we are not living our best life, even if we dare to disagree.

I’ve learned that the more I surrender, the better my life turns out. Step by step I learn to lean on God and not on my own understanding. And then -by God’s grace- blessings of kingdom living surround me. All the days of my life.

 

Gracious God,
Forgive us for wanting our way
when you are offering us the best way.
Show us how to embrace kingdom living.
Enable us to surrender to your leading.
Empower us to always live in your grace,
surround us with your love.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: Have you learned to embrace kingdom living or do you live in the past or out of fear?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you fully embrace kingdom living!

Image courtesy of Jeff Brown, design by Mari-Anna Stålnacke.  Linking up today with Sharing His Beauty, Hear it on Sunday, use it on Monday, Playdates with God, and counting blessings with Ann Voskamp:  #1051 By God’s grace we can enjoy kingdom living all the days of our lives.

I am part of Mary DeMuth’s launch team for her new bookand I have to say that this book absolutely rocks. It’s not only well  written but it is full of uplifting stories that just I can’t capture here on the blog. But make sure to visit the other blogs that are linked up here. They are also blogging through the book. Maybe together we can give a more vivid and accurate picture of the book. And the launch date is coming up too! Hence even more fun in the horizon!