Matthew 6:10
Three weeks ago we defined the kingdom of God within the children of God as the baptism of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus told the apostles and disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the “Promise of the Father”, He was preparing them to be “endued with power” to become witnesses, to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire so that they could fulfill His promise to do greater works than they had even seen in and through Him. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is essential, if it was not Jesus would not have put the first church on hold until the baptism came. If it was not essential the first Gentile believers at Cornelius’ house would not have been baptized in the Holy Spirit at their salvation, the first Samaritan believers would not have been baptized in the Holy Spirit when the apostles arrived and Paul would not have asked the first Ephesian believers he met if they had received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It is essential because the baptism of the Holy Spirit is how the kingdom of God lives within us and how the kingdom of God is expanded through us. The baptism of the Holy Spirit cannot be defined by the gifts that come with it, it must be defined by the purpose Jesus ascribed to it, to be witnesses to Him in all the earth. The power is not to be gifted, the power is to be witnesses and every gift that comes with this baptism is only a tool for greater witness. We must not allow ourselves to define the purpose of the baptism of the Holy Spirit by anything other than that which Jesus ascribed to it, at the same time we cannot despise any gift that Jesus chooses to pour out in this baptism but see them all as His tools to a greater witness of His glory.
“Your kingdom come. Your will be done” are not two separate requests, the kingdom comes in the baptism of the Holy Spirit to be a witness of Jesus, the will of God is that none would perish but that all would come to repentance through Jesus; so these two things, the kingdom and will of God are joined to each other, equal and even, in many ways the same. I believe that the kingdom of God and the will of God are married to each other. So, if the kingdom of God is manifest within the children of God in the baptism of the Holy Spirit how is the will of God manifest within His children? The will of God is sustained and made manifest in the children of God through the Word of God. There is a marriage between the Spirit and the Word that we have to see clearly. In fact, I believe that the imagery of the marriage of Jesus the Bridegroom and the church his Bride is a revelation of the marriage of the Spirit and the Word, two powerful forces that have been inseparably joined that only function in man rightly when man acknowledges, yields to and fully walks in the power of both. “What God has joined together let man not separate.” This morning we will pray for God’s will to be done on earth as in heaven by acknowledging and yielding to the role the Word of God must play in our lives.