The Kingdom Within

Read: Philippians 2:12-13

God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. Philippians 2:13

IN WORD

You have desires. We all do. In an effort to follow Jesus well, you may have laid them down, perhaps even crucified them. Many Christians do. But what if those desires were placed in you by God? What if your will overlaps with His will more than you thought? What if the plans and purposes you thought were yours were actually those of the Spirit at work within you? Then crucifying everything inside is not only paralyzing to your Kingdom mission, it’s contrary to God’s plans for your life.

It’s right and good to submit everything to God; He is Lord, after all, and to follow Him means we submit to His leadership. But having done that, we need to be willing to let Him cultivate desires within us and satisfy them. It’s unreasonable to expect that whatever His will is, it will inevitably be contrary to ours and a hardship to accomplish. Believe it or not, He might actually want us to have a sense of fulfillment. At some point, we have to trust the Spirit within us.

One of the marvels of God’s Kingdom is that it isn’t imposed from the outside; it’s cultivated from the inside. Most kingdoms begin outwardly and try to work their way into people’s hearts. God’s Kingdom takes root in the inner core of our being and moves outward, eventually into every relationship and every corner of our world. Kingdom goals, dreams, desires, and plans will therefore begin in the hearts of God’s people. Seeds planted there, if not smothered, will grow and bear fruit in the lives of others.

IN DEED

Trust the Spirit within you. Begin to cultivate the dreams and desires that God has put in your heart. Vet them with Him, of course, and give Him full access to rearrange them, redirect them, or whatever else He wants to do. But don’t crucify the Spirit who is at work in you, both to will and to work for God’s good pleasure. Give Him freedom to thrive, and enjoy the process. The good purposes of the Kingdom—and your own desires—may manifest in ways you never expected.

ADDITIONAL READING: John 15:7

When the dream in our heart is one that God has planted there . . . all of the spiritual resources of the universe are released to help us.

CATHERINE MARSHALL