Thanksgiving for the Kingdom of God
Getting into God’s Kingdom – Part II

Key Verse: Matthew 7:21
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

Let’s finish up the study of the Key Verse that we began looking at yesterday. Let’s focus on the last phrase: “…but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven”.

We looked yesterday at the amount of Bible information that most people get who attend evangelical churches in America. This information is only a good thing if we apply it to our daily behaviors. Are we following the will of the Father in heaven?

The first thing to understand is that all of us have more information than we can live up to. Jesus is not talking about living everything that we might have learned or heard.

For example, I might study all the ways that Tiger Woods hits a golf ball and know in my mind exactly what I need to do. However, that does not mean that I will be able to golf like he does.

God knows that we can put a lot of information in our minds about Him, but it takes a lifetime to live out everything we have learned. God is patient with us, and He has the right plan to help us grow in our walk with Him.

Also understand that God guides us in what we should be working on at each season of our life and journey with Him. He asks less of a new believer than He does of someone who has walked with Him for many years. We often put new believers in classes that teach them all the basics that they need, but we must be patient with them as they slowly apply these truths to their daily lives.

We must be patient with ourselves in our journey with God. It can be easy to see all that we should be living out, but it takes time to put all we know into practice. Pay attention to what God is saying to us in the moment.

Philippians 2:13 helps us understand how God best communicates with us:

“For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him”.

The Holy Spirit living in you focuses your desire on what God wants you to work on at each season of your life. He helps you do what pleases Him, and He does that by putting that desire in you. The Bible often refers to this knowledge as “light”.

First John1:7 reminds us:

But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

Here is the only question to concern yourself with: “Am I walking in the light that God has given me at this moment?”

Father, thank You for putting in me the desires that help me please You. Help me walk in Your light. In Jesus’s Name I pray, amen.