Kingdom of God Within You

Really, the Kingdom of God is Within You?

Yes.  

Luke 17:21

The Kingdom of God is among you.

God’s grace is at work in the midst of our daily lives.  God is inviting and inspiring and knocking at the doors of people’s hearts from within.

When we pray “Your kingdom come” in the Our Father, we might also pray for our hearts to be cooperative to the working of God’s grace from within.  We need with God’s grace to learn to trust in the Lord at all times, and not to doubt that God is God and we are not.  God is infinite goodness and love.

Not knowing our path, or even wanting to do God’s will and not knowing what it is at a given point in time are hard.

Suffering the loss of a loved one, or a battle with a disease and not being able to find meaning in that suffering, or loving comfort from the God we believe to be loving and "Our Father" is harder.

In future posts I will share some of what I am learning about this the harder of the two – suffering and not feeling the comfort from God when we need it most.

Here are some more verses to know that you don’t need to look any further for your God than the tabernacle of your own soul:

John 14:23
Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our home with him."

Ephesians 3:17
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love . . .

2 Corinthians 6:16b
As God hath said, "I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."

If you are reading this and wondering how to find this Kingdom within, there are multiple answers depending on your faith tradition.   My faith teaches Baptism of water and the Holy Spirit.  

Evangelicals teach that there is a prayer by which one is Saved.

I don’t doubt the prayer formula of Evangelicals.  I think it is similar to the Baptism by Desire mentioned in the Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph 1260.

If a friend asked me how to become a believer, and to experience this Kingdom of God within, the very presence of God in your soul, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, then I would recommend finding a Catholic Priest that would find a way for you to get on the fast track to water Baptism followed by Confirmation (sealing with the Holy Spirit).  

If you read the book of Acts you will see this is how people became part of the community of believers known as the Church.