Thursday, May 1, 2025

LIVING IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD MAY 1, 2025

 LIVING IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD MAY 1, 2025

 

May Day greetings to all those seeking to follow the example of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,

 

One third of 2025 is now gone! Many things have transpired since January 1, among which is the fact that God has called “home” many of his creation. If we have any belief/faith in God at all, we know He has a plan for all his creation and that there is a time to be born and a time to die. We have no control over either event as it is God who determines the time of our birth and death. As someone has said, the part of our life that we have some choice about is the dash between the date of our birth and the date of our death. For some it is a short dash, while for others it is a long dash, or somewhere in between. Again, God is the determining factor, but he has given us agency to make choices as to the significance of the dash.

 

It is something we might not want to think about very much and yet may be the most vital aspect of our agency. As we approach this Sunday, we have another opportunity to cleanse ourselves of all unrighteousness and come before the Lord in humble repentance seeking His Divine forgiveness. Our relationship with God and our relationships with all others is determined by our obedience to God’s commandments. We know the great commandment, we know the Lord’s Prayer as found in Matthew 6, we know the counsel given in Matthew 5:25-26, yet just having the knowledge won’t do us any good unless and until we live what we know.

 

As we are now through one fourth of this year, we might ask ourselves, not someone else, but ourselves, am I living in the kingdom of God or am I living in a kingdom of the world, or my own kingdom. The kingdom we are living in is determined by who is the KING. All down through time, on numerous occasions, mankind has “built” his own little kingdom, most of the time in direct opposition to God’s Kingdom. Read early chapters of Genesis about Satan, Adam, Cain, and later about Abraham, Saul, David, Laman and Lemuel, all the “Ites”in the early and later breakaways from the 1830 Church Restored.

 

As early as 1828, in Doctrine and Covenants 2 Joseph Smith Jr. was rebuked by these words:

2:1a The works, and the designs, and the purposes of God cannot be frustrated; neither can they come to naught, for God doth not walk in crooked paths; 2:1b neither doth he turn to the right hand nor to the left; 2:1c neither doth he vary from that which he hath said; therefore, his paths are straight, and his course is one eternal round. 2:2a Remember, remember, that it is not the work of God that is frustrated, but the work of men; 2:2b for although a man may have many revelations and have power to do many mighty works, yet, if he boast in his own strength, and sets at naught the counsels of God, and follows after the dictates of his own will and carnal desires, he must fall and incur the vengeance of a just God upon him.”

 

This speaks to us today, corporately and individually, as does Doctrine Covenants 4:

1a Now behold, a marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men; 1b therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind, and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day; 1c therefore, if ye have desires to serve God, ye are called to the work; for behold, the field is white, already to harvest; 1d and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perish not but bringeth salvation to his soul; 1e and faith, hope, charity, and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualifies him for the work. 4:2a Remember: faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence. 2b Ask and ye shall receive; knock and it shall be opened unto you. Amen.”

We might ask ourselves and any group we associate with the questions: Do we want to stand blameless before God at the last day? Do we/are we qualified for the work? Since none of us controls the end of our dash, we must each live to glorify God in all things, in the process of “Building up His Kingdom and Establishing His righteousness.”

 

May 1, 2025 is a National Day of Prayer in the USA. May we all be in consistent, earnest prayer for the coming of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom.

 

Also, a Daily Devotional for May 1-August 31, 2025 is now available. If you want a copy, check with your pastor and if that doesn’t work contact me in a separate email.

 

God bless

Paul Gage

 

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