Lent Bible Reading Series Week 3

Lent Bible Reading Series  5 March 2014 to 20th April 2014 Week 3/7: by Major Kath Jones, Asst. Spiritual Life Development Secretary

Welcome to the Lent Bible Reading Series
by Major Kath Jones - Asst. Spiritual Life Development Secretary

Week Three

 Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as in heaven

Monday 17^th

Bible Reading – Mark 1: 14 – 15, Matthew 25: 31 - 46

The Kingdom of God was the constant theme of Jesus’ teaching. He spoke of the Kingdom of God being here and now and also as a future event when Jesus would return to bring his glorious Kingdom in. Tim Chester in ‘The Message of Prayer’ says, ‘everything about the Lord’s prayer resonates with Jesus announcement that Gods Kingdom is breaking into the story of Israel and opening up Gods promised new world and summoning people to share in it.’

Consider: The Kingdom of God exists wherever people live by and model its principles of justice, love and peace.

Pray: Father how we love you; we lift your name in all the earth. May your kingdom be established in our praises, as your people declare your mighty works. Blessèd be the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come; who reigns forever more.

Tuesday 18^th

Bible Reading – Isaiah 40, Luke 16: 1 -17

‘They all were looking for a king to slay their foes and lift them high; Thou cam’st a little baby thing that made a woman cry.’(George Macdonald). The expectation was that God’s kingdom would be established by a mighty warrior King who would bring judgement upon those who oppressed the people of God. However Jesus, when he spoke about the Kingdom of God did so in terms of the kingdom coming not by force or might, but by his spirit.

Consider: Do you see evidence of God’s Kingdom on earth?

Wednesday 19^th

Bible Reading – Matthew 13 1: 23, Psalm 78, 1-8

When Jesus described the Kingdom of God he often spoke in parables to help his listeners in their understanding. Parables are descriptive illustrations, usually from everyday life; a teaching tool which preachers use in sermons to emphasise a particular truth. On one occasion Jesus spoke about the coming Kingdom of God as a tiny mustard seed and on another occasion as yeast in dough. By this he meant that it was a gracious and sometimes hidden coming, thus giving opportunity for personal realisation and commitment, ‘now being the accepted time’.  But he also spoke about the fact that one day there would be a harvest, at the appointed time, when the King will come in power and glory.

Consider: Contemplate Maranatha “Our Lord come” and your response.

Pray: Help us Lord to proclaim the good news of your Kingdom.

Thursday 20^th

Bible Reading – Luke 6: 20 – 42, Matthew 6:23 - 34

Today’s reading from Luke is known as the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus here describes the qualities or attitude of those who belong to the Kingdom of God. Love being the most important value, quickly followed by not judging others. In considering membership of the kingdom of God Joanna Collins in ‘When you Pray’, says, ‘sometimes we have become so comfortable in our world that we struggle to adopt a heavenly perspective, or we feel that we can never be good enough therefore not entitled to receive the Kingdom’.

Consider: What does it mean to be a citizen of the Kingdom of God?

Friday 21^st

Bible Reading-Revelations 21: 1 – 5,

To pray ‘thy will be done on earth as it is heaven’ is illustrated well for us in today’s reading. This will be a time when heaven will come down to earth and God will dwell with his people. Tom Wright in ‘The Lord and His Prayer’ remarks ‘pray not merely that certain things might occur within the earthly realm that would coincide with plans that God had made in the heavenly realm, but that a fresh integration of heaven and earth would take place.”

Consider: Heaven and earth cry out your name, nations rise up and see your face; and your Kingdom is established as I live to know you more. Is this your experience?

Saturday 22^nd

Bible Reading – Matthew 28: 16 – 20, Matthew 16: 21 – 28

Today’s reading from Matthew contains the mission statement Jesus gave to the first disciples ‘to go and make disciples’; and primarily this is our mission too. Many corps and centres have compiled mission statements that are relevant to the community in which they serve. Such statements are usually displayed as a reminder of intent. Do you have a personal mission statement? Today may be a good day to think about this as you read through the great commission.

Consider: Uniformed Salvationists wear an ‘S’ on their lapels, this is to indicate that they are saved to save! Catherine Booth said ‘Every man saved, every man at work to save others, this is the quintessence of Salvationism. If the Salvation Army should decline it will be because self-denying love for souls has dwindled in the heart of Salvationists’. There is mission in my living; there is meaning in my word.

Pray: Lord may your Kingdom come, may your will be done, in and through me.

Sunday 23^rd

Bible Reading – Mark 14: 32 – 42, John 3: 10 - 21

‘Abba father’, Jesus said, ‘everything is possible for you; take this cup from me, yet not what I will, but what you will’. These are the anguished words of Jesus as he prayed knowing he was to suffer a horrific death. Scripture tell us that Jesus fell to the ground as he prayed, as he earnestly sought to obey his father’s will. John 3 makes clear what his Father’s will was; ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him’. There was no other way, ‘there was no other good enough to pay the price of sin, He only could unlock the gate of heaven and let us in’.

Pray:

He was wounded for my transgressions, acquainted with sorrow was he,

 In the garden he prayed, and sweats great drops of blood,

To save a poor sinner like me.  (John Lawley SASB 137)