The Kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force

 

In Matthew 11:24 Jesus says "From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.".

This might seem like something strange that He would say at initial glance. Is He asking us to be violent? No, but instead what Jesus was saying, was that when John the Baptist began preaching and baptising people, there were many many who began to earnestly repent of their sin and turn to God. But then he was imprisoned for his faith. Those crowds and multitudes of people then began following Jesus earnestly and in force. They were using positive aggressiveness to take ahold of the kingdom of God that John was preaching about and now to Jesus' message. 

Jesus' was saying in like manner, it's the ones who are use positive assertiveness, who take ahold of everything that the kingdom of God entails for them. 

In other words, we must not be complacent in our walk with God but as we eagerly and earnestly pursue God, we will take ahold of all that God has for us. God has so much in store for each and every single one of us. This applies to our health, our finances, our relationships, our jobs, our careers and most of all He has so much that He wants to do in us and through us in order to be a blessing to others and advance His kingdom. 

Let's be earnestly and eagerly be pursuing God in prayer as a church this month, for all that God has in store for us individually and as a church. 

Picture copyright Edwin Andrade (unsplash)