Day 4 of 31 Days of Hope-filled Living. If you’d like to start at the beginning, click here.
And this hope is not a disappointing fantasy, because we can now experience the endless love of God cascading into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who lives in us!
– Romans 5:5
When God’s Kingdom comes on earth, hope arrives.
There is no country on earth, not even America, that would constitute as the Kingdom of God. And also, the Kingdom of God has come, according to Jesus in the Gospels. But where is it? Where do we see it among our neighborhoods and communities? Who can give me directions?
The Kingdom of God is the Presence of the Holy Spirit in our very flesh that changes us and makes us new. The Bible says that we are a new creation in Christ when we are born again, as we put our trust in Him to rescue us from our past and provide a path for our eternity. That newness in Him is the hopeful promise and evidence that even if we can’t see what is coming next, we KNOW it will be good and we have a secure place there.
The word hope in Romans 5:5 is the greek word elpis, which means hope, expectation, trust, or confidence. And the word disappoint is the greek word kataischuno, which means shame, disgrace, bring to shame, put to utter confusion, or frustrate. So, in other words, we can infer that God, through the writer Paul, is saying that because we can feel God’s love through the Spirit, the hope we have is not only an expectation of what is to come, but a lack of disgrace and disappointment, because it is also beginning to manifest through us now. So we know that what we’re hoping for, God’s Kingdom, is starting to form in us presently. It is here in us and on its way.
We don’t have to wait forever to start our forever! We can allow Jesus to start bringing about His Kingdom in us with new life in our veins. We have proof that what we hope for is on its way because we see our lives reborn in Him. We are not ashamed when heaven is delayed because we’re already tasting it in His loving presence.
[Regarding the exchange between Jesus and Nicodemus] “Except a man is reborn, he cannot see or comprehend the Kingdom. That new birth that he was talking about is an exchanged life; it is where one person forfeits, abandons, abdicates all rights to himself, and gives the right to Jesus to do whatever He pleases. And in that process the wind of God impregnates that person. New life develops and the life that they now live in the flesh becomes the life of the Son of God. That is what qualifies one for new citizenship in this new order.”
-Tom Skinner
The best story I can use to explain this concept is when I’ve seen delight where no earthly delight belonged. I actually find it difficult at times to see God’s Kingdom in the abundance of America and other first world societies. Where material possessions abound, it is nearly impossible to know from whence they have arrived. And taking joy in homes, cars, and toys could possibly be taking joy from oneself and one’s own accomplishments.
But when material possessions are scarce but joy still abounds, it’s easy to see the source of that joy, even that hope, is heavenly.
When I traveled to Haiti after the earthquake of 2010, devastation grieved the nation, but when I looked into the eyes of the followers of Jesus there, I saw more hope, joy, and peace than I’d seen in a hundred of my church-going friends in America. I was astounded and confounded. How can this be? I thought. How could such grief and poverty leave a smile on their faces and such a twinkle in their eyes? How could they dance with joy before the Lord when He had allowed the earth to swallow their homes and family members? What did they have that I was still missing? They had the Spirit manifesting His Kingdom through their new lives in Him. Their hope was not in their slum-like homes or possessions, or even in one another. Their hope was in Jesus, whose love was more than enough.
When I enter a prison or jail to deliver a message to the inmates, it is they who end up schooling me in the Kingdom of God. Many of the women I meet have found or re-found Christ in jail, and though they don’t even have a pillow to lay their heads on at night, they delight in being children of God. They smile more, sing louder, and give more thanks for the privilege to come to a “church” service than the people I find at church. How can this be? I ask myself every time. How can they worship so gladly when they have no freedoms? How can they be so thirsty for God when they lack so much? What do they know that I still can’t understand? They know what it is to feel God’s loving Spirit as a guarantee of the abundance and freedom that is on the way. Their hope is in Jesus, and He is more than enough.
Have you ever felt ashamed of your hope because it hasn’t come to pass? Have you been disappointed in God before for not answering some of your hopeful prayers? Listen, Friend, that’s normal, and it happens when we’ve accidentally misplaced or misunderstood our hope. If you’ve cast off hope that this world can improve, hoping only for the next one, let Jesus’s prayer remind you of an important hope to hold close:
“Your Kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven”
-Matthew 6:10
That Kingdom is IN you, God’s Spirit making you new, and it can also be found among communities of faith where God’s kids are dedicated to praying for, surrendering to, and cooperating with God’s will and God’s ways. I have much more to say about that, but another post is required.
Hope How-to: To cultivate your hope, consider how you pray Jesus’s prayer, especially the second line: “Your Kingdom come on earth, as it is in heaven.” What did Jesus mean when He taught His disciples to pray this? How do you think they interpreted it? How can you apply that prayer to the ways in which you live today with new life and tomorrow with fresh hope? Take a few minutes to journal about these matters, as well as anything else that God puts in your heart.
Prayer: Precious Spirit, I ask you to fill my Reader with a fresh revival of hope for Your will to be manifest here on earth, here in her heart, mind, and body. Thank you for making us a fresh, new creation at the point of our salvation, and I ask You to revive Your Kingdom in each of your followers. Show us how to cooperate with what You’re doing to bring that Kingdom here while we wait for its fullness on the other side of eternity with a hope that burns like a bonfire. Only You are worthy of this kind of dedication and trust, and for that reason we give it to you today. You give us many reasons to praise You, but we don’t need them. You are worthy, period. Amen.
I’d love a comment from you to let me know how this series is speaking to your soul. If you haven’t already, please subscribe to my newsletter so that I can keep you updated and close to my Nest. Finally, if these words have helped you, consider sharing them on social media or sending the link for this blog to a friend.
With love and hope from my Nest,