St Peters RC Church Hamilton

“ ‘Indeed, the kingdom of God is within you’.” (Luke 17 v 21)

Thank You that the holy power of the Trinity is unstoppable, for no longer does satan hold us in bondage to his evil ways. We have been inspired by the Spirit, to look towards Jesus and emulate Him.

May the Holy Spirit model our life on the highest example of the Lord Jesus’ holiness, helping us to overcome the stumbling block of our errant self-centredness.

Let the Spirit inspire us through the perfection of Jesus, to extend His kingdom here upon earth, that kingdom within us, based entirely on holiness.

Thank You that this spiritual gift becomes a reality when the Holy Spirit introduces us to the Lord Jesus to secure, maintain and allow a friendship to flourish.

Without the touch of the Holy Spirit we are lost to the love of the Lord Jesus. Without the all loving Word of life being meaningful to us, we are lost to You, Father God.

This is why the world is in such a sad and sorry state, still subject to satan’s interference and disruption. This must not be. Please, please help us.

May the Holy Spirit impact more and more, both upon believers and none believers, to daily invite the Lord Jesus to be Saviour and King to us, placing us under royal authority.

In this position, as valued members of the Lord Jesus’ household, we must accept Him as Master and Ruler over us in all things.

All our affairs of work and socialisation must be brought under holy scrutiny, if we are to live according to the highest principles of love and forgiveness which the Lord Jesus sets out for us.

Thank You that our Saviour Brother has done all that is necessary to win grace and favour for us, to re-establish the peace between You, Father and us, but now it is up to us to fulfil our obligations.

May the Holy Spirit enable according to His power of love, the Lord Jesus to live in, amongst and through us, to make a very evident difference to our world.

We must hear and heed the call to serve wholeheartedly, willingly, uncompromisingly, champion the love we have received to be the basis and development of all our plans.

May the Holy Spirit continue to construct the kingdom of love the Lord Jesus established within us by our response to Your will, wishes, plans and purposes, Lord God. We must never try to live independently, for in

that way lies the path of errors.

Thank You that the King of Glory’s rule is re-established through the full forgiveness of sins, and the redemption won for us at the †, that satan can be overcome, outwitted, banished.

How great the power of Holy love must be! May the divine spark within us, ever be fanned into a flame brightly burning, by the Holy Spirit directing or re-directing all our thoughts, decisions and actions, to co-

operate with and accommodate to the life the Lord Jesus sets out before us, so as to honour and delight You, dearest Father.

What is right and pleasing to You, is the very best in life for us, as life carries a holy purpose to be developed to its full capacity now, leading to the joy of heaven eventually.

For all of this graced work, we need Your Spirit of love and Your ongoing mercy, as gifted us in the Lord Jesus, Lord God. May our life be an ongoing good work in progress.

I ask that we be guarded against “...the futility of our mind having our understanding darkened, being alienated from the life which Lord God, You desire for us in the Lord Jesus.” (based on Ephesians 4 v 17, 18)

There is a real danger “because of the ignorance within us,” (Cont) and the defiance, our rebelliousness, “because of the blindness of our heart”, (Cont) our senses dulled by satan.

We must find another way, the only way, the better way according to the truth the King of heaven and earth spells out to us, by word, by example, by the Holy Spirit. Thankfully, we are not abandoned to struggle on

our own.

Once we were “Foreigners, outside of Your Kingdom Lord God, because we had only our natural birth and were not among those whom You had set aside for Yourself by entering into a covenant with them.” (based on Ephesians 2 v 11 The Truth)

Mercifully all this has been changed for our benefit, to richly bless us by the possession of our Lord and Saviour, us belonging to Him and He, by the Spirit, alive in us. What an honour, what a grace, what a privilege!

Father, “We used to be separated from Christ by our sin. We were excluded from having citizenship in Israel, Your chosen people, being outside the covenant relationship.” (based on v 12)

“We were without hope for the future and had to live our life in the world without You” (Cont). It remains the same for none believers and this is tragic. May we endeavour to evangelise with love for the sake of spreading the good news of Jesus.

For when we belong to Him, all thanks, all praise, all glory ever be, instead of being far away from You, Lord God, outcasts, we become united with You, as the Lord Jesus is not ashamed to make us His brothers and

sisters.

Herein is our peace, our hope and our eternal joy. Who would not want to be a citizen of this heavenly kingdom upon earth? It is wonderful to be in a position of acceptance by You, in receipt of true love, thank You.

At the † we have been made a new creation, no longer condemned to die in our sinfulness, but to become co-workers with the Lord Jesus, according to the industrious Spirit ever busy about the work of the kingdom.

This is our calling and our blessing. Through the Lord, our Saviour, the Master, we who accept Him as the King of Glory, “Have direct and personal access to You, Father, through the same Holy Spirit who

lives in every believer in Jesus Christ.” (based on Ephesians 2 v 28 The Truth)

How meaningful and marvellous are Your plans and purposes for us. We have been made Your people in the family of Jesus, impacted upon, inspired by, strongly influenced, according to the Spirit of belief.

“Jesus Himself being the chief cornerstone, the pivotal truth of the revelation You have given us” (based on v 20) based on the power of holy love, a truly amazing, ever life enhancing love.

Salvation restores us to Your grace and favour in all their life enriching qualities, as we look to Jesus as our Leader, needing the Holy Spirit to enable us to see how the kingdom set up by Jesus affects us.

The Holy Spirit upon the Lord Jesus as an anointing “ ‘To preach the gospel, heal the broken-hearted, proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD’,” (Luke 4 v 18, 19) is made our own to claim.

Turning to the ever loving, life saving Brother, our Lord and Master according to our understanding as developed by the Holy Spirit, no longer in ignorance, nor living in defiance, our gaze fixed on Jesus, “Of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace...grace and truth came through Jesus Christ,”

(John 1 v 16, 17) of this we have no doubt.

We have “An anointing from the Holy One...The anointing which we have received from Him abides in us...and just as it has taught us, we will abide in the Lord Jesus.” (based on 2 John 2 v 20, 27)

And this is our hope by which we pray and work: “Love has been perfected amongst us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world.” (1 John 4 v

17)

May our possession of Your love and mercy dearest Father, as made known to us by Your Spirit ever alive,active and effective in the Lord Jesus, result in a fearless confidence towards You, for we love each other

fully, making us well pleasing to You.

We are the subjects of a King and rejoice to belong to this earthly kingdom sourced and shaped by the Spirit of faith ever active through the most meaningful and marvellous way in which we are brought fully alive in Jesus.

“Let all those who seek You, rejoice and be glad in You, and let those who love Your salvation say continually, ‘Let God be magnified’!” (Psalm 70 v 4)

Blessed to be possessed of the Holy Spirit of Jesus, Your very own Spirit Father God, “Make Christ to be found in us, that we may dethrone self in our hearts and make Him King; so that He may be in us and us in Him, today and forever.” (based on a prayer of the late Bishop of Bloemfontein) Endowed with this power, together may we make our world whole. Amen.

CATEGORY: (SANCTIFICATION, Jesus, Kingdom)