Incarnatation

In the beginning of one of the biographies of Jesus, the writer uses the word "Word" to describe Jesus. "Word" in the original language means an expression of the inner being. It is an expression of thought, or reasoning. The Greek philosophers used this word to describe the order ingrained in the universe.

God is the force behind creation. He gave it form, order, and purpose. He designed it like an engineer, and an artist. And God's inner being became reality.

The "Word" shows us the nature, and essence, of the God-head. He shows us the likes, and dislikes of God. He shows us God's passions, motivations, values, loves, and hates.

And the Word is also God. The Word is eternal. The Word created all that exists.

The Word gave life. The Word shows us how to live in fellowship with the Father, and how to live as a human being was designed to live. The Word shows how people can return to fellowship with the Father, and how to return to living as God intended.

The Word lived with the Father in the spiritual realm, throughout eternity. There were witnesses, who said he would move into the physical realm. And when that happened, the world reject him. Even his people group, who expected him, and watched for his arrival, rejected him.

But anyone who saw, and listened to him, if the decided what he said was true, and accepted him, those people were granted pardon, justification, and restoration into God's kingdom, and family. They were given authority to renew fellowship with the Father. They were claimed as his child. They were appointed as ambassador, and priest. And each one is beloved, and welcome to the Father's presence at any time, any place, and in any situation.

Invoking the Kingdom (b)

God's family — who is also his army, his kingdom, his ambassadors, and his body — is charged with rooting out the presence of the enemy, and establishing God's kingdom in the world. The question becomes: what does this form of "combat" look like? How do we carry out our assignments?

Like a modern army, God's family has different people carrying out different assignments, and different functions. (Hence, the body analogy.) So, what one person's assignment looks like does not necessarily mean that another person's assignment looks the same. But there are areas where functions overlap.

One common area is proclaiming the gospel. Simply, God's army drives out the enemy's army by capturing the captives. One person — an enemy of God, a rebel, and a slave of sin — hears the gospel, and becomes convinced of its truth. He gives his allegiance to the Father. He is forgiven, and redeemed. He becomes a part of God's family. God begins the restoration process. One person begins to live as he was designed. And the world moves a little closer to following its design. God's kingdom has claimed a little more turf.

The actual communication of God's message is essential. It is like the rifle in an army. It is the most foundational weapon in the God's armory.

But it is not the only weapon. God has others. And these need to be used for the Gospel message to be effective.

Jesus prayed for the unity of those who believed in him. He prayed that his family would have the same unity that he and the Father had. Jesus said that the unity of God's people is a demonstration that God sent Jesus.

Unity is an expression of love; and love is a larger expression of God's nature. Jesus said that love demonstrates who are his true disciples.

Love moves in a direction that is contrary to the world. Love proclaims who God is. Yes, God will judge the world for its sin. But Scripture describes judgment as God's unusual, and extraordinary, work. Gould wold rather give love.

And since, God is love, and love is contrary to the ways of the world, love is a strong witness for God, and God's life. God's family does need to stand for what is righteous, and just. We often see Christians standing for what is just, or standing for what is loving. God is not one, or the other. God is both. And God calls his children to be both.

And, just as God designed, and created, the physical realm, he designed, and created, the spiritual realm. There are laws that govern how the physical operates. There are laws that govern how the spiritual operates. And there are ways the spiritual can invade the physical.

Prayer is probably the most common, perhaps the most important, way to connect the spiritual to the physical, enabling the spiritual to impact the physical. Which means that some of the spiritual laws affect how prayer functions. If you will, there are rules of prayer.

That makes prayer seem to operate mechanically, by formulas. Which is not true, because prayer is an expression of relationship. But, there are "rules" about how people people relate to each other. In Korea and Japan, there are specific ways of addressing older people. I "tease-insult" my brothers. (And they "tease-insult" me in return. Or initiate it.) So, I relate to my brothers in ways that would never be proper with strangers, or, even, certain friends. Husbands and wives have ways to address each other that build the relationship, and prevent fights. Sometimes, my wife will make a statement, and I will have information that makes her statement not quite accurate. If I value this relationship, I will need to introduce this information in a way that does not seem to insult her, or seem to inflate my own self-importance. Just as there are correct, and effective, ways to approach people, there are correct, and effective, ways to approach God. And there are ways that effectively connect to God, and allow him to impact the physical on our behalf.

Two of the simpler to understand "rules" are: repetition, and agreement. I have written recently about insistent prayer. Jesus encourages us to keep asking. God has perfect love, and perfect patience. His heart is for us, so he urges us to consistently bring issues to him, again and again.

And God works with issues, where a number of people agree about it, and pray together about it.

Another "rule" is abiding. Jesus urged his disciple to abide in him, as a requisite to bearing fruit.

Abiding is, in part, a yielding to Jesus. There is a one-time yielding, where we choose to follow Jesus, when we give him our allegiance. There is also a daily yielding. The one-time yielding affects our salvation, our inclusion into God's family, and our eternal destiny. Our daily yielding affects our ongoing fellowship with the Father … and, therefore, our prayer.

Because we are human, we are inconsistent. We drift. We are forgiven, but we are still affected by sin. So, we introduce "pollution" into our fellowship with the Father. The daily yielding clears out any pollution, re-aligns, and re-focuses, our connection, and creates a proper atmosphere for effective prayer. Worship, and confession of known sin, can be proper yielding activities.

Prayer is a vital part of establishing God's kingdom in the world. Prayer is as much a part of completing God's mission as proclaiming the gospel, and serving in love.

Invoking the Kingdom

We read in Scripture that God designed, and created, the world and people. And people were designed to live a life of completeness, fullness, and wholeness.

We have discussed the spiritual fuels that man needs to live in wholeness. A relationship with the Father being the main one. Love, community, beauty, and purpose are others.

Because God designed man to need purpose, he embedded the means for man to achieve purpose within creation. Scripture says, whe God created man, he told man to exercise dominion over the earth. The words in the original language indicate that God was giving man authority to form the world for good.

First, the world was designed so men would make significant, meaningful choices, that would produce real effects in the world.

Second, God intended that man would produce, not only, farms, cities, and, even, factories to provide for man's material needs, but also parks, museums, and natural preserves, to provide for man's spiritual needs. (Not to mention, that the farms, cities, and factories should enhance, not detract from, man's physical, spiritual, health, and wholeness.)

Of course, man chose to walk away from God; and while living in separation, man chose greed, pride, and selfishness. He chose to bring destruction, and death to the world.

Moreover, it resulted in man losing his authority over creation. The world became part of the kingdom of the enemy. And he acted to maximize death, destruction, and human misery.

So, man chose separation. And God began a plan of restoration. God made a plan to restore:

• fellowship between God and man;
• fellowship between people;
• man's authority over the earth … practiced in the right way.

And God defeated the enemy, on the cross, and restored the world back to his kingdom.

I have heard the present situation compared to Iwo Jima, during World War II. The Allies had two objectives concerning Iwo Jima. One, to successfully invade, land soldiers on the island, and capture the beach to use as an easy way to supply future operations. Two, to capture the airfield, preventing its use by the enemy, and facilitating its us by the Allies.

The Allies successfully invaded, capturing both the beach, and the airfield. The objectives were complete, and the battle won. And if the enemy had ceased hostilities, that would have been the end of it. But they didn't. They continued to fight, resulting in some of the fiercest action of the war.

Our enemy has been defeated, but he hasn't surrendered. He continues to work to produce as much death, destruction, and misery as he can.

And God's family, like the marines on Iwo Jima, are charged with rooting out the enemy, and installing God's kingdom.

Insistent Prayer

Scripture says that each person, who gives his allegiance to Jesus, God has granted that person the authority to live as his children. Authority is delegated power. We are not born with it. We cannot earn it. It is granted. Jesus earned it for us on the cross. And it is given to us based on our faith response to him.

There are several places where being God's child overflows into our daily living.

How often have you been in a store, and saw a mother and child, and the child is going:

            "Mommy, can I … ?"

            "Mommy, can I … ?"

            "Mommy, can I … ?"

I suppose a lot of us wonder why that mother doesn't keep the child quiet? Or why isn't that child better behaved?

Often, the parents will have a talk with the child, and say something like: "I heard you the first time. You don't need to keep asking. You only need to ask once."

The child keeps asking, because:

            (1) he hasn't received answer;

            (2) he is secure in his relationship with the parent.

He is confident of his parent's love, and in his parent's desire to bless. What does the above parental lecture say to the child? Maybe it says the child is not as secure in the parent's love as he thought.

Jesus assures us that our Father is different. He says to keep asking, to keep seeking, and to keep knocking. He says, be like that child.

It is the good, and loving, nature of the Father that assures he will listen, and that he will answer. Human parents do love their children. (Although, their love is not perfect. Hence, the impatience with being asked, and asked, and asked.) Even with imperfect love, they will not give their children something that is bad for them. God's love is perfect. He has perfect patience. He will only give what is good.

And not only is he willing, he is more than able. Too see the Father, one needs only to look at Jesus:

• Who raised the dead; (Even someone dead for four days.)
• Who fed 15,000 people with one person's lunch;
• Who reconstructed human bodies beyond what human science can do. 

To see the Father, one needs only to look at his works:

• The human eye — which can detect over 7,000,000 colors;
• The sun — although, it is approximately 93,000,000 miles away, it has enough power to keep all things functioning, and all things growing.
• The earth — which is situated perfectly, the correct distance from the sun, the correct composition, the correct processes and functions, to be the perfect home for mankind;
• DNA — which not only contains all the "recipes" for creating all the structures and processes in the human body, but also each process to complete the recipe, and instructions for getting the building blocks, and instructions for what to do and where to send the completed product, when it is finished.

Our Father is motivated to respond to our prayer. He encourages us to "bother" him. And he is fully, and completely, able, and ready, to respond. He invites us to approach, to seek him, and to open our hearts.