Dale is teaching us about the Millennial Kingdom this week. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this, it is the 1,000-year period in which Jesus will rule the earth in righteousness. He will literally be King of the entire earth and will rule from a throne in Jerusalem. And, we will rule and reign with Him! (Revelation 5:10 and 20:4, 6) According to Mike Bickle's notes, "At this time the Kingdom of God will be openly manifest worldwide affecting every sphere of life (political, social, agricultural, economic, spiritual, educational, law enforcement, family, media, arts, technology, athletics, environment, social institutions, etc." During this 1,000-year period, we are going to partner with Jesus to restore the earth so that God can come and dwell with people on earth once more. Resurrected saints will serve in all of these spheres to bring Jesus' leadership and restoration to the entire earth.
I'm still studying all of the Scriptures that accompany these notes, but the Millennium and ruling and reigning with Jesus sounds pretty great to me. I have already been praying a lot more about what it looks like to partner with Him in my work as a counselor. I am just a few weeks away from going back to work. One of the things that I have learned that I really, really want to hold on to is that God loves me and I love Him. This is my primary life calling. I really enjoy the work of counseling, but I know that helping people is my secondary calling. I can only do it well out of the overflow of my primary calling: being a lover of God. And, I have been asking God to anoint me to partner with Him even more in His work of restoration. I want to be able to work with those who have been the most broken and crushed and see them encounter Jesus and be restored to wholeness. I believe that this kind of healing can only come through Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and I am asking Him to let me partner with Him and to teach me how to do this kind of work. I know that will not be possible outside of a lifestyle of prayer and fasting.
But today, we listened to a teaching about eternal rewards. Mike said that there will probably be a few billion believers in God's eternal family. It will be impossible for Jesus to be in close proximity to everyone. We will all have the Holy Spirit, so we will always have access to God. But, we will not always have access to Jesus. I felt slightly shocked at this realization! When I imagine Heaven, my favorite part is seeing Jesus face to face, hearing His voice and actually doing things with Him. I never thought about the fact that I would have to share Him with a few billion other people. I want to have as much proximity to Jesus as I can possibly have in Heaven. How can I start pursuing this now?
But Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." Matt 20:25-28
If I want to be near to Jesus forever, then I need to be great in His kingdom. I need to become like Jesus, as a servant, to become great in His kingdom. I want to cultivate intimacy with God this side of Heaven so that I can enjoy more face time with Jesus in Heaven. So, I commit myself to loving and obeying Him daily. I want to learn how to submit to Jesus' leadership in the small details of my life now so that He can entrust me with greater responsibilities during the Millennium. I want to agree to God's discipleship plan for me, even when it involves difficult circumstances and confronting the ugliness of my heart, because I want to be great in the kingdom of God. I would love to be given a position in the Millennium that would allow me to work with orphans or people rescued from human trafficking during Jesus' 2nd coming. I think that it would be incredible if my life and training now was preparing me for a much greater ministry later. Plus, I know how God feels about widows and orphans. I'm hoping that this kind of work will also give me more face time with Jesus in the Millennium. I just want to be as close to Him as I can possibly be forever and I am realizing that how I live now impacts how I will live then.
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