The Inward-Kingdom

The Thoughts of John Wesley: My Thoughts for Today!

The inward kingdom of heaven, which is set up in the heart of all that repent and believe the gospel, is no other than “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.” Every babe in Christ knows we are made partakers of these, the very hour that we believe in Jesus. But these are only the first-fruits of his Spirit; the harvest is not yet. Although these blessings are inconceivably great, yet we trust to see greater than these. We trust to love the Lord our God, not only as we do now, with a weak though sincere affection, but “with all our heart, with all our mind, with all our soul, and with all our strength.” We look for power to “rejoice evermore, to pray without ceasing, and in everything to give thanks;” knowing, “this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning us.” -John Wesley

-exerpt taken from his sermon on the Devices of Satan


Coach Sam's Personal Notes:

I need to work on my 'inward Kingdom'...

John Wesley on Prayer

Out of what I can only describe as a 'Holy Spirit prompting' I did an Internet search for John Wesley yesterday because there was a quote by him on the Christian resource website studylight.org. To my delight, I found a staggering wealth of information on numerous websites regarding this great Christian who lived in the 1700's and founded the Methodist Denomination.

Wesley was a man of deep conviction and love for God. He felt he was living during a time of intense corruption in world full of sin. He took a bold stand for Christ in an evangelical effort to rescue the souls of the lost around him. Oh how tame his world looks to me as compared to the era that You and I currently live in. Indeed, what would Wesley think about today's society? Well, his words from the 1700's are just as relevant today as they were two hundred years ago. Perhaps they are even more relevant today. I will be spending a good deal of time in the near future studying the works of John Wesley and will no doubt have more commentary and thoughts regarding my findings.

Here is a link to many great sermons by John Wesley. I could probably spend a year or more just studying the sermons on that resource link alone and that's not even a complete listing of all of Wesley's works...!

Here is what The founder of the Methodist Denomination had to say about prayer.

Wow...! This great man of God from the 1700's lived a life totally abandoned to our Heavenly Father...! What an inspiration...!

Dear Heavenly Father,

Lord I need Your Grace to subsist like my body needs air to survive. I need it all the time. I mean, how long can I go without air...? -Not very long. Father God help me to stay connected to you all the time through prayer. Help me to 'pray without ceasing...'.

Lord I pray that everything I do in my daily life is pleasing to you. I believe that when I function as You designed me, then I am praising and worshiping you. Therefore I praise You when I eat regularly and healthily, and I praise you when I get enough sleep. I praise You when I love and care for my family. I praise you when I give the best tennis lesson I can. I praise You when I am totally in the moment giving my 'best' to the occasion. Lord when I desire to please you constantly then everything I do to the best of my ability is to Your praise and glory.

Oh Lord PLEASE fill my soul with love and the desire to continually please You. Father God my heart cries out to You this morning.

I love You Lord. Help me to love all men with Your love. Help me to especially love those who who are against me or would do me wrong or offend me. Let them see the transforming power of Your Grace and love and mercy in me, Father.

Oh Lord I am so weak. I need You to hold me up and lift me up. I give You all the praise and credit and glory for anything I have accomplished or will accomplish. It's all about You, Jesus...!

Father Praise You. I am a new creation in You...! In Jesus' Name I pray, Amen.