The Kingdom of God

The Kingdom of God is a present reality. In reading Mark Palmer's blog, (Lord have mercy, for he and his family!) I am awed, and fairly struck by how deeply he seems to understand and practice the presence of God, and likewise see the best picture of the Kingdom of God coming. I have taught this in Mark's Gospel and Bible studies. I sing it in various praise and worship. I pray it whole-heartedly in the Lord's prayer....and yet there is a personal and present understanding--an intimate knowledge that Mark P. and his community seem to have about the Kingdom invading our world in all the ways Jesus meant it as He inagurated it. Do you only gain this kind of perspective via painful experiences in life, or the struggles that wage war against kingdom values, when it is so apparent that it cannot be missed? Or are there other avenues to begin seeing and living as truest subjects belonging to an otherworldly Kingdom, that is in fact advancing forcefully upon this world which has veiled or twisted its reality? I am humbled, awed...struck that this too feeds into some of my own recent questions and studies about the Holy Spirit because He too is an agent of the Kingdom. This grips me today in ways that require engaging with the wrestle. "The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the good news." Hmmm...Remarkable. Would that we would live with such a clear vision in the "everyday" and not just on the clear "days of battle." And P.S., E, I second Brad's encouragement, and add a level. You've already in your life seen the presence of the Kingdom at hand, the fervency of the community of faith at prayer and in coming around to bastion the shaking fortress, and the strength of Almighty God reach to the core of your heart and secure His position and power there for the sustaining days. Though may it not ever be, should similar strength or faith be necessary, there too the Father will not fail to provide what He knows you need. You are His, and He is yours. And He doesn't miss a thing. Mighty and merciful, our Trinity.