“It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

It was a day which began with disarray and disorder! The morning followed an exhausting day which had ended in the early hours with disappointment after trying without success to meet an important deadline.  I had awoken from a deep sleep to a home in disarray (very untidy) and a mind disordered by the thought of getting through this and  the additional demands of the day ahead.  When available time and usable energy are an inch short of duties, obligations and appointments it is bad enough – but when they are a mile short!  How thankful I was then  for the grace of God to help me resist the pull of ‘stuff to do’ and obey the desire within to commit the day to the mercies of God and ‘feed’ a little in His word.  Are you not also often amazed at however little or however much of the word of God truly fed upon, it is always enough.  This brings to mind the word of God concerning the manna which His people, the children of Israel, were given to eat in the wilderness.  Exodus 16:16-18 says this:

This is the thing which the Lord has commanded: ‘Let every man gather it according to each one’s need, one omer for each person, according to the number of persons; let every man take for those who are in his tent.’ Then the children of Israel did so and gathered, some more, some less.  So when they measured it by omers, he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack. Every man had gathered according to each one’s need.

How much more so for us, Spirit-born believers in the Son of God, Yeshua, the true Bread from heaven (see John 6:28-33) in feeding upon Him through faith in Yeshua, in His sacrifice, His righteousness, His word and obedience to Him, according to the will of God our Father in Heaven.

Is it not also amazing how often that it is only when we turn to Him in a spirit of faith that we then realised just how much we needed that which only God our heavenly Father can give us, by His grace and Spirit, through His word?  After my Gospel reading that morning, which was the Gospel according to Luke, chapter 12, how nourished and helped within by the words of Lord Yeshua, as recorded there.  Yes, counselled, instructed, comforted and assured and filled with grateful thankfulness for the Holy Spirit, God who knows what we have need of, even before we ask.

There were six particularly rich ‘feedings’ from Luke 12, but it is the last on the list below which was the richest of all to my soul. In these I found:

• Instruction: Luke 12:4-5 – the way to be straight within, i.e. not crooked, in every situation and all circumstances;
• Comfort: Luke 12:6-7 – we can always have confidence in God’s care for us;
• Counsel: Luke 12:11-12 – rely absolutely upon the Holy Spirit of God when called to account for our faith in Lord Yeshua the Messiah, Son of God and our obedience to the one true God our heavenly Father;
• Instruction: Luke 12:13-31; 22-30 – don’t be anxious and stressed out about the necessities of life such as food, clothes etc. Trust in God to make provision for you and bring it or lead you to it as you pray and bring your petitions with thanksgiving to Him;
• Counsel: Luke 12:29-31 – put your heart, mind, soul and strength into making God’s kingdom (His rule & reign) the seeking of it, the priority of your life, trusting in God to supply your needs.
• Assurance: Luke 12:32 ‘Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Rest assured that it is the will of God to give you the kingdom, His Kingdom and the things of it.

Lord Yeshua spoke thus to His disciples, who were all Jewish at the time and for whom the promise of the kingdom would have a specific meaning as part of Israel, the chosen people of God.  However, Lord Yeshua speaks this promise to all who would become His disciples, His flock.  He says, for example, at John 10:14-16:

I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.  As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.  And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

He is the Good Shepherd who cares for all His sheep for whom He has prepared an everlasting kingdom that now is and is to come.

It also says in Romans 14:17 that ‘the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.’

May God’s kingdom come and His will be done in your life today.

Amen.