Manifest Destiny

In 1839 a gentleman by the name of John O'Sullivan, an editor with the Democratic Review, coined the phrase, Manifest Destiny, to descibe the vision of the United States stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific. He felt it was our right and desire to expand, our destiny to become great, and claim what should be ours. While thinking about that today, I thought, how true that is for Christians. We have a divine destiny concerning the things of God. It is our manifest destiny to move forward in the things of God and take what belongs to us. Jesus said in Matt 11:12 "And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." That is what John O'Sullivan had in mind with manifest destiny, it was our right to expand as a nation, our destiny to do so. God's purpose is the same, it is our destiny to spiritually expand, to move forward and take what is provided for us. Jesus didn't have in mind the thought of being militant when He said to take the kingdom by force. He simply meant that the saints must press into the things of God, because there are forces that are attempting to keep us from that objective, from achieving all He has for us. As we enter into the season of His return it will become increasingly more difficult to stay the course. Not impossible, just more difficult as the enemy pulls out all the stops to keep God's people from inheriting the promise, that is why we must walk in manifest destiny, knowing we are destined for greater things, and moving forward, pressing in, to receive it! That my friends is the reality of it.