On Earth, As It Is In Heaven (Lord of All, 2015)

This article was published in Lord of All on 2015, the official publication of the Cathedral Church of St. Michael - Kalibo, Aklan; Philippines.

There’s no such thing as coincidence.

It’s not a coincidence that I am typing this right now, and it’s not a coincidence that after so many years, I am at last writing for the Lord of All. It definitely isn’t something that my mind just conjured out of nowhere. Simply put, I believe it means that finally, I listened.

Let me pause right here and just say, how great is our God! He is truly loving, compassionate, merciful, gracious – words will never be enough!

And so, if our God is THAT amazing, how then, in our human capacity, can we be more like Him? How can we manifest the Kingdom here on earth when our sinful nature always tries to get in the way? Do we just give up and say – “I’ll never be like Him anyway. Why should I even try?”

We should try because we are His children and we were created in His image and likeness. In the book One In A Million by Priscilla Shirer, she wrote:

“He wants your life to give daily evidence of His presence as seen in the way we handle everything. He wants His influence to weigh more heavily over your actions and decisions.”

Daily evidence --- do you realize how challenging that is?

It is a good thing that His mercies are new every morning and that every time we repent and confess our sins, we become a new person in Christ. Let me share a few verses from 2 Corinthians that can encourage you in this journey. 2 Corinthians 5:17-20 says:

“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.  For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.  So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” (NLT)

We have been commissioned to become Christ’s ambassadors here on earth. It is a God-given duty for us to manifest His Kingdom to the world. After all, whenever we pray the Lord’s prayer, we always say “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.” Jesus Christ Himself taught us to pray like this. So from the very beginning, it has been God’s desire that we on earth would become more like them in heaven.

Furthermore, in Matthew 5:16 we are encouraged to “let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (ESV)

How then?

I, in my human understanding, can never answer that question. But I believe it all begins with having an intimate relationship with the Lord. The more we speak to Him, the more we listen to Him, the more we become like Him and develop some of His traits. We then start desiring the things of God. We begin desiring living a life that can ultimately please Him.

When that happens, people will begin to see that. When that happens, remember that you are an ambassador of Christ. Go then and manifest His Kingdom into the world. Be not afraid. You will stumble and fall, but God’s grace is sufficient for you.

Dear Lord, help me so that the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart will always be pleasing to you. Help me radiate your glory and greatness to the people around me. Teach me Your ways that people will see You and feel You when they are with me. Thank You Father that in my life, I will decrease and that You will increase. Amen.

That prayer which I just shared is something that I wrote when I was pursuing God in a place where I did not have the distraction of familiar people and places. I didn’t know that I would eventually end up sharing it here because it was relevant to the theme – Manifesting His Kingdom.

Well, like I said at the beginning of this article, there’s no such thing as coincidence.