On Earth as it is in Heaven

Messages for February 2018: Our Month of Refreshing

Message for Sunday 4^th February, 2018

Theme: Refreshing from the Effects of Heat

Topic: On Earth as it is in Heaven

Introduction: Once again, I welcome you to the Month of February: Our Month of Refreshing. Like I said in the word of the month, this word for the month reveals the heart of God to us. God is really gracious and kind and abounding in loving kindness and mercy. Having experienced a time of spiritual warfare like we did last month, the Lord is calling us to a place of refreshing this month. When I checked the meaning of that scripture, one of the translation refers to those words as recovery from the effects of heat. In other words, this month, God wants us to recover from the side effects of battle and become the best He would have us be.

To recover from the effects of heat therefore, it would be wise to see what the will of God for us is like in heaven so that we can have faith to claim it here on earth thus bringing down heaven on earth as God intends for us to do. This is why we are looking at this topic today which is drawn from the Lord’s pattern of prayer in Matthew 6:9-15.

God’s will: God’s will refers to what God desires or wants done or not done. God is so gracious that He has not left us to guessing what His will is at all; as a matter of fact, He has it documented and made available to all and sundry. The document containing His will is called: The Holy Bible! The bible has been shown to be the bestselling book worldwide and it is the book that has been translated into the most number of languages on earth. In light of this, men are without excuse as to access to the will of God.

Just last month, God gave us his word as the word of the month. We saw the nature of the word and majored on the creative word and saw how we can engage the word to create since man has been given the sole right to create on earth since God gave man dominion on earth. This is why spirits cannot enter the earth without the cooperation of man. This explains why God has to use men and why we had to separate twenty one days last month to pray for divine intervention on earth. Man has to invite God before He can come on earth to do anything. Praying is really a great privilege especially when you are interceding for others. It gives you an opportunity to go out of yourself and be a blessing to others.   

Bringing Heaven on earth: One day, the disciples of Jesus Christ asked him to teach them how to pray. In answer to that request, Jesus taught them the pattern they needed to use in praying effectively. From that teaching comes our topic today. You will find this account in Matthew 6: 9-15. We are particularly interested in verse 10 where He said: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. In this text of scripture is encapsulated any kind of desire we can have here that translates to bringing heaven on earth. There are many needs on earth and they are all covered in the will or word of God also known as the Bible.

How to bring Heaven on earth: To bring heaven on earth therefore, we must do these three letters A. S. K. These letters are; Ask, Seek and Knock. In Matthew 7:7-8 we read:

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 

For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” 

The principle of prayer is clearly stated here and it has always been like that. When you need what is in heaven to be brought to you on earth, approach God in faith and the way you demonstrate your faith is by making the effort through prayer and when we pray, we ought to follow the pattern laid out for us by the Lord in our text scripture here. See Mt.6:9-15; Heb.11:1-2, 6, 32-37.

The attitude we approach God with is one of boldness because Heb.4:16 tells us to approach the throne of grace boldly to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Trust me there would always be a time of need in this earth even though there are various kinds of it. 

We will always need something from God every day so we must learn to be bold to go to him in prayer daily. When we do this consistently, we can transform our lives to become heaven on earth and then influence others around us and then our Church and community and then we can go global with it.

Heaven on earth: I want to describe heaven here as what apostle Peter calls the experience of His divine nature which we get from the exceeding great and precious promises of God with the capacity to enable us fulfil our purpose because they would help us to escape the corruption that is in the world through lust and we can therefore, bear the fruit of the spirit. All these promises of God are packaged in the bible and the means through which we bring them to manifest in our lives and then reflect on earth is communion with God and the first step to that communion is prayer. This was Paul’s greatest benediction to the Church each time he wrote them an epistle. See 2Cor.13:14; 1Thess.5:28 and 1Cor.16:23. How does this work?

Ø We pray to get saved - Eph.2:8-10; Rm.10:8-11.

Ø Then we pray to know God – Phil.3:10-11, Ex.33:12-15; Ex.34:5-9 & Ps.103:7.

Ø Then we take action to read our bibles and then we discover God’s promises that he has blessed us with but are still located in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. See Eph.1:3;  

Ø Then we pray them down to earth by taking His promises back to him in our words in prayer and He would answer and make it happen on earth. If no one asks, those promises would remain hanging. I have found that the best way to do this which I call God’s short cut is to put his own ahead of ours by praying for His kingdom to expand on earth while the kingdom of darkness shrinks. When this is so, God can do more on earth in a shorter time than now and we would be the star beneficiaries of this goodness. See Mt.6:33; Prov.11:30; Dan.12:3; Jn.5:19 & 30; Isa.43:26; Mt.16:19 and 1kings 17:8-16.

Ø Every time we pray Matthew 6:10, we are telling God to bring to pass what He has promised us which are with him in heaven in Christ Jesus [Eph.1:3]. In other words, when you pray this way, even when you do not know what those things in heaven are as most of us do not know all that is in heaven; you can power you prayer by praying in the spirit thereafter and the faith of God will take over and cause those perfect plan of God to be unfolded and released to you on earth. Halleluiah!  

Some examples of God’s will in heaven that must be brought down to earth by our partnership with God through prayer:

1.     Divine health – The word tells us we were healed by His stripes but you feel sick, you can appropriate your healing by faith in the word through your prayer. See 1Pet.2:24; 3Jn.1:2 and Isa.53:1-5.

2.     Prosperity of our souls: We are not saved in our souls at new birth; only our spirits are saved. We labour to save the soul by hearing and doing the word of God. See Jas.1:21-25; Rm.12:2; Jos.1:8; 1Tim.4:13-15 and Mt.7:24-27.

3.     Eternal life: The weight of your eternal life is quantified by the quality of your relationship with God. This truth can be gleaned from how Jesus defines eternal life in Jn.17:3. The entire purpose of His coming was to bring us abundant life. It is abundant life that shrinks the kingdom of darkness and enlarges God’s kingdom to which we belong. So when you pray for the growth of God’s kingdom, you are doing his will. All the blessings many pursue are meant to be mere additions. See Jn.10:10 and Mt.10:1.

4.     Wealth: When we talk about wealth, restricting it to the possession of money alone would be doing injustice to that word. It is a way of thinking that makes all good things possible for you. This explains why the bible personifies wisdom and caused her to tell us that her treasures are more than money. This is not out of place because wisdom has the capacity to generate money as well. What God does is to give us the power to get wealth by planting His wisdom in our hearts as we feed on His word daily. Thus on a daily basis, as you read the word, ask the Holy Spirit to give you divine revelations that would change your status in life. This will activate your possession of your heavenly wealth on earth here. See Deu.8:18; 3Jn.1:2; Prov.8:10-17 and Ps.1:1-3.

5.     Great family and home: People who follow God’s ways regarding relationships and family life always enjoy great homes with lasting happiness. They walk in love and reap the fruit of very productive living and never have any regret going God’s way. This is prosperity; being whole in your soul; taking care to give more than get. This is the most emotionally healthy lifestyle. This is the life God has called us to live. This can be your portion through praying Mt.6:10 for your home and spouse and children. You can say “Lord let your will be done in the life of my family here on earth as it is in heaven in Jesus’ name”. Then you power your prayer by praying the rest in tongues. See Eph.5:21-31; Eph.6:1-4; Eph.6: 5-6 and 1Cor.13:4-8 [TAB].

6.     Godly friends: You can ask and God will give you godly friends. Every time you pray for God’s will to be done in your life on earth as it is in heaven regarding the friends He wants you to have, just like you are to pray for any other thing for His will to be done in your life as it is in heaven, He will bless you with people with great hearts who would love you in spite of your faults and together you can help to build each other up. See Jn.15:12-13 and 17:20-23. Just like the Lord was praying in this second text, you can pray that way to be blessed with real friends.

In summation here, an in depth study of this message when you review your notes would reveal to you that God wants us to grow in our prayer life. We should not lose the fire thinking that we are done with fasting. On the contrary, this fasting is meant to empower us to live a more consistent prayer life especially our private devotion. God wants us to do it daily so that we can enjoy a more intimate relationship with him. It is not how long it takes you to pray and read your bible that matters to God; it is how consistent you are at it. He wants you to do it at least one hour daily. You can even take advantage of the hours of prayer to help you build up. [Pastor tell them what the hour of prayer is].

More could be listed here but for time and space. A close look at this list would disclose to us the fact that they can be summarized in praying for the expansion of the kingdom of God and shrinking of the kingdom of darkness. If more people were genuinely saved and walking in love, we would enjoy more health, wealth and eternal life would be evident to all and God would always be glorified in our lives.

Someone is reading this blog right now and is wondering if these truths are real and desiring that if they are, they would like to be part of it. I want to take this opportunity to congratulate you in advance and make you understand that this is possible and God desires for you to have it immediately. If you will take Him at His word, please say the following prayer out loud in faith and you will be born again and begin to enjoy this new life right away:

Heavenly Father,

Have mercy on me a sinner. Today, I believe that Jesus died for me and you raised Him from the dead for my Justification. I therefore declare that Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Lord and from today, I renounce the fatherhood of Satan and embrace Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Lord. Thank you for this father in Jesus’ name! Amen.

Congratulations! For more information and resources that would help you grow in this new life, please visit our website at www.kingdomheirsministries.org and our blogs at www.flourishinggirl.blogspot.com and follow us on twitter at alero_nanna and on face book on www.facebook.com/flourishinggirl www.facebook.com/khmii2015; www.facebook.com/thewellbeingcenter. Or www.facebook.com/kingdomjointheirsfamily email:  jointheirsfamily@gmail.com.