KING OF HEARTS

Mark 4:30, "And he said, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it?"

MARK 4:30-34

The word "kingdom" means "the realm over which a king rules." 

When applied to God, it could refer to all creation, since "his kingdom ruleth over all" (Ps. 103:19), but the kingdom more often applies to His rule in and through those who are submitted to Him. "The Kingdom of God" more specifically refers to Christ living and ruling in our hearts. 

So praying "thy kingdom come" is praying for the expansion and influence of God's rule in the hearts of men everywhere and, ultimately, the establishment of His physical Kingdom here on earth at His second coming (Rev. 11:15; 20:4).

Throughout Jesus' earthly ministry, the Jews kept looking for Jesus to establish a physical kingdom here on the earth and deliver them from the oppression of the Romans. 

My God, My God

Written by Barbara Alpert

What is your idol?

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.” (Deuteronomy 5:6-8)

When you become a believer, you are no longer alienated from God or a slave to sin. Through faith in Christ, you are brought out of the dominion of darkness and adopted into the kingdom of light. As a chosen child of God you are to honor, praise, and worship Him above all else. God is a jealous God and it’s wise not to allow anything to come between you and Him. As soon as it does, it becomes an idol, a mini god.  

You might have brought your former mini gods with you when you started your relationship with God. You may not have even realized it. However, as you mature in your relationship with God, out of love and discipline, He will reveal what is neither fitting nor right in your life. His life changing Word says, “Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son (daughter), so the Lord your God disciplines you.” (Deuteronomy 8:5)

Q : Why can someone who is a true Christian die this painfully ?

Answer: 

Christians get the same diseases that non-Christians get. It has to do with the fact that we don't live in the Kingdom. 

We live in a disordered, broken existence, and this brokenness includes our bodies. No exemptions have been granted -- not even for Christ, who had to suffer and die. 

The only difference and comfort for a Christian is that death doesn't have the final word.

No one knows why anyone, Christian or non-Christian, has to go through that much pain, why the brokenness has to express itself in ways as terrible as terminal cancer or AIDS. 

Don't believe anyone who says they know, because they're liars. I'm not being evasive by saying it's a mystery, I'm just saying that humankind has such limited knowledge that the only thing we really know is that our deepest parts scream that it's not right. 

That's a good indicator that God agrees with you, and is working on it, in tears.

gotquestions  http://www.spirithome.com/suffering.html

Healing In the Bible

"I am the LORD who heals you" -- Exodus 15:26 (NRSV)

Anyone who's paying any attention while reading the Gospel accounts of Jesus has a hard time avoiding the impression that Jesus healed people of physical illnesses. Not only did Jesus do it early and often (so often that during His life, His healings were seen as a trademark of His work), but He is reported in Scripture to have given his followers the ability to do the same, and more. As to the church actually following through on that promise, see Acts 3:1-16.

From the point of view of the Bible as a whole, healing happens whenever harm or damage is made whole. This broader view of healing needs to be kept in mind when you think Christianly about politics, society, interchurch relations, decision-making methods, and questions of racism, sexism, or classism. Yet, the Bible usually means something more specific and earthy than that when it speaks of healing. It tells the story of specific people being healed of their specific physical illnesses. If we over-emphasize the broader vision, we can quickly lose sight of the specific usage. Thus, in this chapter I'll stick to the primary meaning of healing, that of physical restoration of health, and leave inner healing to another chapter.

Jesus did his healings in the context of Isaiah 53:5 (according to Matt 8:17). That's an atonement passage. It's tempting to simplistically link all healing with the Lord's Supper, and treat healing as a fait accomplice, as if it's already there for the asking. But the Eucharist is about Jesus' presence, which is not only an 'already', but a 'not-yet'. The body and blood 'already' were shed to save us, and believers in Christ are 'already' a part of the Kingdom of God, but we await his 'not-yet' return ( 1 Corinthians 11:26). That's why there isn't perfect healing in this life, any more than there is perfect living. The Christian faith does not deny brokenness. It denies that brokenness has the last word. Healing is a foretaste of a Kingdom that has not yet come in its fullness.

"God heals the sicknesses and the griefs by making the sicknesses and the griefs his suffering and his grief. In the image of the crucified God the sick and dying can see themselves, because in them the crucified God recognizes himself." ----- Jürgen Moltmann, *The Spirit of Life*, p.191. Emphasis is in the original.

The early church understood this, and not just in the era of the Apostles. Throughout the first two centuries, wherever Christian witness went, physical healing went too. It would perhaps be helpful to mention a saint or two who healed, but the fact is, faith healings may well be the most common miracle ascribed to those the Roman Catholic Church honors as saints, famed and forgotten saints alike. While it became much less common after the time of Constantine, it did not nearly vanish like most other miraculous acts and signs. Instead, nearly every era has some Christians who touched and healed people, right through to our own times. It goes hand-in-hand with a deep spirituality and an even deeper love of God and other people -- when the Spirit is there, healing happens !

Healing is a sign of the day when all illness and unease is healed. It is one of the acts of that kingdom asserting itself, the beginning of the healing process for all of creation. (Only a beginning. It is no substitute for the completed Kingdom. The healed will eventually die, just as the raised Lazarus died again. So getting part of that wholeness reminds us of what it is to have the whole thing someday.) In healing prayer and work, we can all be a part of God's holistic overall work of healing. Christians don't worship health. We don't call on God to remove all suffering from life. What we do is ask God to fulfill the divine purposes, and trust God to give us health where it helps and suffering where that is needed. This goes well beyond just 'spiritual' healing.

Our Intercessor in Time of Need

by: Alan Bullock

When you consider the weakness and failing of modern man, is it any wonder that God sent Christ to die for our sins?  He saw to it that a Mediator bridged the great divide between the holy and unholy, thus securing our access to Him so that we might come with assurance to the throne of grace (1 Timothy 2:5).While still living behind the Iron Curtain, my wife Anoosh was attending a large secular University studying linguistics.  Many of her professors were Communists and disliked the fact that Anoosh was an outspoken Christian.  Before her graduation and final exam, they planned to find a way to cause her to fail by asking her questions on her philosophy exam that she couldn’t possibly answer. Our Cornerstone
Unmarred and multi-hued Cornerstone,
Holy One of Israel sits upon His throne.
The spotless Lamb, slain for humanity,
Intercedes for us in His glorious Divinity.
In Him, no stained soul of imperfection,
Our Father of lights of infinite perfection,
Shining bright upon His opulent throne,
The Rose of Sharon calls us His very own.
Oh Great God of peace and Holy love!
The Messiah Incarnate, Sacrificial Dove;
Wondrous Redeemer, ransomed Son,
Because of Calvary, our victory won.In addition to studying, Anoosh prayed and asked God to deliver to her the answers to the questions they would ask.  That night in a dream God did exactly that.  During the exam the next day she was able to answer every question correctly because the Lord had given her the answers. The professors were amazed and two of them ultimately became Christians because of Anoosh’s faithful witness and outspoken faith in Christ.

While Christ isn’t there as our Santa Claus, ready to shower us with presents or provide a solution to every small issue that may arise, He is always there to intercede during times of adversity.  He is most certainly there when He knows the outcome will touch lost souls, leading them into the Kingdom and bringing glory to the Father.

Take heart, dear friends.  To this day Christ continues to insure our blessedness as He stands in the gap on our behalf.  He is able to do far more abundantly than we can ask or think (Eph 3:20-21).  What strength, what love and what hope!

Who is he that condemns?  Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us (Romans 8:34).

Hope in Christ gives us a spiritual confidence and conviction that there is a better tomorrow.

http://www.daystar.com/devotions/our-intercessor-in-time-of-need/