Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10, CSB)
Observations
Jesus taught His disciples to pray, “Your kingdom come.” The Kingdom of God can be described as the rule and reign of God on the earth. When Jesus began His public ministry, He declared, “The time is fulfilled, the Kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe the gospel.” (Mark 1:15) Jesus saw the Kingdom of God as a present reality, not just some future place. So it shouldn’t surprise us that He taught His disciples to pray for the kingdom to come.
When we pray, “Your kingdom come,” we desire the rule and reign of King Jesus on the earth. We desire that His authority be over our lives, our families, our church, our city, our state, our nation and all of the nations of the earth.
Every decision in life should be answered with the kingdom question: “Will this decision best impact the kingdom?” I think you will agree that this question is often the last question on our minds and if we think to ask it, it is at times difficult to answer.
[bctt tweet=”Every decision in life should be answered with the kingdom question: “Will this decision best impact the kingdom?”” via=”no”]
The next phrase is “your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus drills down deeper and teaches His disciples that prayer must be aligned with the will of God. John said it well in his epistle: This is the confidence we have before him: If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked of him. (1 John 5:14-15, CSB)
The prayer of the believer should be that God’s rule and reign be manifested on the earth. We pray not for our will to get into heaven, but for heaven’s will to get into us. Here are just a few examples of what Kingdom prayers look like.
- That we would develop the character qualities of Christ’s Kingdom people. (Matthew 5:3-12)
- That we would seek His Kingdom above all things. (Matthew 6:33)
- That we would proclaim His Kingdom to all people. (Matthew 24:14)
- That we would preserve, worship and serve Christ in light of His unshakable Kingdom given to believers. (Hebrews 12:28-29)
- That we would long for the day when we reign forever with Christ in His Kingdom.(Revelation 20:4-6)
Application
Pray that we submit to the rule and reign of King Jesus; that His will be done in our lives, in our churches, and our world. With these things in mind, here is how I would pray through this section of the disciple’s model prayer.- Pray for yourself, and your family members.
- Pray for your Pastor, his family, his protection, and his work.
- Pray for your church staff, their families, and for Godly leadership.
- Pray for your lay leaders, as well as their families.
- Pray that the Lord of the Harvest would send laborers into the harvest.
- Pray for men and women everywhere to be disciples of Jesus.
- Pray for our nation and our political leaders.
- Pray that each member see themselves as a gospel co-worker; impacting your city, your county, your state, the nation and the world. (Acts 1:8)
