LEARNING DAILY

 

Matthew 11:12, And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.  Jesus

 

The kingdom of heaven presents opposition to Satan’s dominion on earth.  It is God’s showing His authority and power in all His work. Those who have given their life to Him have a role to fulfill in this kingdom!  This kingdom has both a present and a future part to consider.  In our present time God’s power and rule are not fully experienced because of the work and influence of Satan and the evil people who willing or unwillingly follow him. This will continue until the end of the age.  God’s rule will occur when Jesus returns to judge the world and finally puts an end to Satan’s evil opposition and hands the kingdom over to God the Father.

 

The question is what Believers are to do until that time needs to be addressed.  It is the responsibility for every Believers to “be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15).  In other words, each of us must be diligent to study and understand God’s Word.  It is not enough to listen to a sermon once a week and believe we can stand against the enemy of our soul.  If we are not diligent about the study of Scriptures it can be easy to be led into bad doctrine and to be deceived.  My “opinion” is not enough – What I say needs to be centered in what the Scriptures are saying.  That can only be achieved by diligently examining God’s Word, meditating on it and understanding and “rightly dividing the word of truth.”  That simply means an approved worker must handle the Word with accuracy and care, as any master craftsman would handle his craft.

 

The importance of handling God’s Word so carefully brings us to today’s verse.  The kingdom of heaven is taken hold of only by forceful people who committed to breaking away from their sinful ways and turn to Christ, to His Word, and to His righteous way (the narrow way!).  Jesus is telling His disciples and all Believers that to experience the kingdom of heaven with all its blessings requires earnest and diligent faith and will include spiritual warfare to resist the continual attempts of Satan, our sinful nature, and the worldview we see all around us.

 

The kingdom of heaven is not for those who seldom pray or who continually compromise with the world.  You cannot neglect the Word of God, do not use the excuse of being to busy; you have to find time each day to be in prayer and Bible study. 

 

I will close today with my prayer I pray daily.  Father, I pray that each member of my family and each person who reads this blog to have a greater “hunger and thirst for Your righteousness” because you will fill them (Matthew 5:6) and that each of them will “seek first Your kingdom” before everything else (Matthew 6:33) in Jesus’ Name!  Amen

 

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