Lord, drain the swamp!

A friend of mine posted this quote on Facebook:

"A good heart will change a man's actions, but a man's actions cannot change his heart." -Andrew Wommack

If this is true, and if I want to be a tool in the hands of God and his kingdom, I need to be praying for my heart. As I've been thinking lately about the first beatitude, I've been doing so in connection with Jesus' simple prayer that God would reign here on earth exactly like he does in heaven. [Matt 6:10]

When we pray for the kingdom of heaven to come, we are imagining that "actions" down here among us masterful sinners might be radically changed because, as a prior fact, our hearts have been changed by God. If I, as an ambassador for Christ, want to be an agent of such Kingdom change, I will have to pray that God's kingdom would "come" (in other words, that God would reign) in my own heart first.

So here's Jesus saying, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Poverty of spirit is a heart condition that leads to the kind of prayer I'm talking about. If I'm praying and preaching for change in the world, even while I accept the status quo of my own heart's rank condition, am I not simply another arrogant ranter? But if I say, "Lord, my heart is really a muddy swamp, who knows what nasty things are living there, but I want it to be a place where you reign. Please, make your kingdom come here in my heart even as it will be some day when I'm with you in heaven. Yes, even that perfect!" Isn't it then that that I can say that the kingdom of heaven has come near, has in fact become mine ("theirs is the kingdom of heaven"), as God answers that prayer?

So, the kingdom of heaven does not belong to those who are satisfied with their own spiritual condition!

[Cross-posted at Mt. Jesus]