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God’s kingdom, within reach

“Your kingdom come,” Jesus prayed. Those three words point to a spiritual reality with powerful, healing relevance.

  • By Mark Swinney

Christian Science Perspective audio edition
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One of the lines in the Lord’s Prayer, which Christ Jesus gave to humanity, says of God, “Your kingdom come” (Matthew 6:10, New King James Version).

Those three words contain deep meaning. For instance, let’s reason forward in this way: If God is divine Spirit, which is one of the Bible-based synonyms for God emphasized in the teachings of Christian Science, then God’s kingdom is spiritual. In fact, divine Spirit – including the goodness of its kingdom – is not even combined with anything material. God is Spirit, through and through.

The Bible also explains that we are God’s offspring. So it follows that we are permanently included in Spirit’s divine kingdom. So is everyone else. It’s not that we hold some kind of chit for a future spirituality in another stage of existence. Our spiritual nature is actually our present, God-given status.

These ideas were very encouraging during a period when I had a persistent pain in my ankle that made it hard to walk normally. Simply thinking about how God is always present brought me hope. Through prayer I began to realize that because divine Spirit is perfect and utterly whole, there just isn’t any injury or deterioration in Spirit’s kingdom. The ankle injury wasn’t somehow an element of God’s kingdom that needed to be repaired. It wasn’t ever a part of God’s kingdom in the first place! God’s kingdom is pure – purely good.

And, best of all, it is our present reality. Here and now. The Christian Science Monitor’s founder, Mary Baker Eddy, says in her book “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” “This kingdom of God ‘is within you,’ – is within reach of man’s consciousness here, and the spiritual idea reveals it” (p. 576).

I continued to base my prayers on the spiritual fact that I actually had been a flawless child of God all along. God, perfect Spirit, expresses divine purity and goodness throughout creation. Our identity as God’s children, dwelling in Spirit’s kingdom, is always intact.

I saw that it was not in physicality, but my thoughts, where change was needed. As I realized that nothing could make me believe that injury was somehow an element of Spirit’s kingdom, I felt God’s presence and assurance even more clearly. And as quickly as my thought changed, I was free – permanently healed.

Now, when praying, I often like to step back and examine the foundation on which I am basing everything. God’s kingdom, where Spirit constantly reigns supreme, is already here, actively within us all. This forever fact is a very firm foundation for prayer. God’s kingdom of spiritual perfection is what’s real, here and now.

When the truth of God and of us as God’s spiritual offspring gently and deeply permeates thought, it destroys the belief that illness or discord is part of that spiritual reality. Then we are practicing Christian healing. Doing this is such a joyful thing. It’s worth it to take some time to be glad for the spiritual fact that, truly, God’s kingdom is come. God is expressing healing goodness and love right there within you.

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