Luke 11:2 and Luke 17:20 The Kingdom

LUKE 11:2 "He said to them, 'When you pray, say: Father, hallowed by your name. Your kingdom come."
 
LUKE 17:20 "Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered 'The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say 'Look, here it is!' or 'There it is!' For, in fact, the kingdom of God is within you."

Question:

I still need help to understand the kingdom. What is it? Where is it? Is there a need to continue asking for it?

Comment:

The idea of “the kingdom” is absolutely central to Jesus' ministry and message; and yet it continues to be misunderstood 2,000 years later. It's clear from all four Gospels—including Luke 17:20 quoted above—that Jesus' kingdom had nothing to do with the belief that there's a place called heaven where we go after we die, if we've led acceptable lives. The kingdom is at hand, Jesus said. And the kingdom is within us (or, in some translations, “among” us). It is a new dimension of spiritual consciousness—awareness of our eternal spiritual selves and of our eternal Oneness with the creative power we call God. We don't have to find it. We don't have to run around looking for it. We have to call it forth from within ourselves. We have to have faith that the kingdom is, indeed, within us, and that we can call it forth into expression through every choice we make. The kingdom is the next dimension of the eternal process of creation; and we are the spiritual beings who are charged with bringing it into expression.

  So, no, there's not a need to “ask” for it. But there is an urgent need to claim it—to believe that it is, in truth, within us, and to bring it forth as the basis for every choice. Every choice we make from kingdom consciousness brings more of its great potential into expression.   Blessings!

Rev. Ed