Here I Am! Work in God’s Kingdom

By Mike Henry Sr.

Do you have all of Jesus you want? I’m reading a book titled Eternity Is Now In Session by John Ortberg. Our eternal life is available to us right now. The good news (gospel) of Jesus is that the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matthew 3:2, Mark 1:5). This is the way Jesus announced himself. Jesus brought the eternal down to us.

Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Matthew 6:10 NASB
Eternity Is Now In Session By John Ortberg at Amazon.com

Ortberg points out, further quoting Dallas Willard, “Your kingdom is that little sphere in which what you say goes. Your kingdom is the ‘range of [y]our effective rule.’”[1] You have a kingdom and so do I. It’s just not very big. God’s kingdom is the place over which God has effective rule.

Two Lives

Because we live a life that is time-bound, we always live our temporal life. The term “temporal” means limited by time. One of our lives is limited by time.

But our other life isn’t bound by time. In fact, we can enter the kingdom of God today. When we’re in God’s kingdom, we live our eternal life.

I want my non-time-bound, eternal life to be with God. A non-time-bound life without God is death (Genesis 2:17, Ephesians 2:1) because God is life. God has given me the opportunity to join him in a new (John 3:16), non-time-bound life. He calls and I can join. After all, he paid the way (Romans 5:8). My “Here I am!” puts me in my eternal life with Jesus (See 1 Samuel 3, Isaiah 6:8). Therefore, I join his kingdom, doing his will.

When God called to Adam, Adam and Eve hid (Genesis 3:9-10). But when God called Abraham, Jacob, Samuel, Isaiah, and Ananias, they each said “Here I am!” Each was ready to do the will of God. Furthermore, the Hebrew word translated “Here I am!” could also be translated “At your service!” In other words, what would you like me to do, God?

Here I Am

When we say “Here I am,” we acknowledge God’s kingdom and make ourselves available to do whatever God wants. Does that sound like we present our bodies as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:2)?

“Here I am!” is a powerful idea. We present ourselves to God to do his will with our time, resources, strengths, money and energy.

First of all, as marketplace ministers, we must present ourselves to God. The simple prayer, “Here I am!” joins us to God for his will in his kingdom. We “punch in” to our eternal job of taking part in God’s work. John Ortberg quoted his friend Dallas Willard later in the chapter. Dallas said, “Our destiny is to be part of a tremendously creative team effort, under unimaginably splendid leadership, on an inconceivably vast scale, with ever-increasing cycles of productivity and fulfillment.”[2]

When we say “Here am I!” to God each day on our way to work, we begin to be a part of this vast team effort with splendid leadership. Haven’t you always wanted an exciting, important job on a huge project with a wonderful leader doing important work?

Start Today

Begin your marketplace mission trip. Pray right now and tell God, “Here I am! I’m at your service. Please use me in the lives of people today.” That’s step 1 of any marketplace mission.

Will you join us on the next Marketplace Mission Trip? How would a missionary do your job? We go to work each day praying for our coworkers, customers, vendors and friends and we let God direct how we serve others. Check it out and learn more at www.marketplacemissiontrip.com.

[1] Ortberg, Eternity is Now in Session, p. 19, quoting Willard, The Divine Conspiracy 21.
[2] Ortberg, Eternity Is Now In Session, p. 25 quoting Dallas Willard in personal communication. See also The Divine Conspiracy p. 399

Photo by Mindaugas Vitkus on Unsplash

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