God’s Love for Cities

Civilization is God’s idea. Cities are vital to God’s plan for the world. Jesus taught us to pray that His Kingdom would come (Matthew 6:10). Why? How does God want us to love cities and His Kingdom as much as He does?

God loves, loves, loves Jerusalem! There is no doubt that the place on this earth most sacred to God is Jerusalem. Jerusalem is still the center of the nation of Israel to this day, though it was hundreds of years after the Israelites went into the Promised Land before they captured this city.

What was Chris Tomlin thinking about when he wrote these lyrics?

You're the God of this City
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation
You are …

For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater thing have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d61LamkXfwk&noredirect=1

Was he connecting to the heart of God for the city? Was he getting what Jesus meant when He threw in this line to pray that God’s kingdom would come? How would we even know to pray like that if Jesus hadn't told us to? How would we know how important the city, the kingdom of God, is?

I would be ignorant of the importance of the city had God not pointed this out for me. It’s like a wake-up call to my soul every time I pray it. I start wanting something that I never dreamed possible. It makes me want something only God could show me that I want. I want a kingdom. I want a city. I want a civilization that is centered on God and what He wants. As I pray this phrase of the prayer Jesus taught us to pray, Thy kingdom come, I begin to imagine what could be. I stop being restricted by what I know of civilization. The best civilization that man can come up with is so far from what I really want. Where all human governments and civilizations fail me, there is one that I long for. I want God’s Kingdom to come. I want to be a part of God’s City.

I love it that David was the man who conquered Jerusalem. It was one of the easiest cities for David to conquer. Despite its seemingly strong defense, it had a simple flaw that no one before David could figure out. There was a way to walk right into the city by use of the water shaft. David did what the others had attempted but could not accomplish. David conquered the city of Jerusalem through totally giving His heart to God. The civilization we long for begins in our heats. We need to long for God’s kingdom.

Greater things are yet to come, and greater things are yet to be done. We are reminded of this each time we plead with God that His Kingdom come. We want what we have never had and can never get from human civilizations, we want God’s Kingdom! It’s a prayer that breeds hope, purpose and desire for what we need but do not have.

A Pilgrimage that Started with Tears

Who would think I would shed tears deciding to set out on a wonderful journey that I have longed to take for many years? Before I was ready to fully accept God’s invitation for a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, I had to journey to a place of agreement between what my soul wanted and what the Lord wanted for me. For years I have been declining opportunities to travel to Israel—not because I didn’t want to go but because I wanted to go with my husband by my side. I know that God could have arranged that for me, but instead He asked me to accept that He wanted me to be willing to go and leave everything behind. When I was asked to make a decision about going on a Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, God gave me this verse in answer to my prayer -- Debi, observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are cr...

The Effects of the Holy Spirit

The Effects of the Holy Spirit Can you imagine that the very Spirit of God is given to humans who believe in God’s gift of salvation through Jesus Christ’s death, burial and resurrection? Just thinking about the Holy Spirit makes me realize that I can do better. I am not left to my own resources when it comes to praying, having faith, obeying God, doing what He asks me to do. No one understands the depth of sin’s effect on a soul better than God. Every action He takes has been to reduce the effect of evil that was unleashed into our world when sin was merged into His perfect universe. We never saw it coming. Even Adam and Eve did not see what hit them. God has counteracted with the effect of faith after sin by enabling sinners to be affected by His ho...

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One week, one month, and now one year has passed since my world was turned up-side-down. At first time felt like an eternity, each day the reality that my beloved husband was no longer with me here on earth drug on and felt like it would never resolve. Now that a significant amount of time has passed, it doesn’t seem possible that we have lived through one whole year without him. How did we get here? Where have we been? How did the earth revolve completely around the sun? We are surviving. We are grateful. We have had a lot of help from heaven and from earth. I have discovered more intimately how death is a major spiritual formation in our lives. Whether we are deeply spiritual or not, facing death forces us to consider spiritual realities. Our souIs are opened to a deeper u...

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