… your kingdom come … (Matthew 6:10)
Start your praying by focusing on "God," Jesus models for us in the Lord's Prayer. Begin with the honoring of His Name; but then move on to pray for the coming of His kingdom.
The trouble with the word "kingdom," at least in English, is that it makes us think of a place (like the United Kingdom) – and then we start to wonder where that place is! But the words in Hebrew and Greek (the language of the Bible) for "kingdom" carry the sense, not of a place, but of "rule" or "government." This kingdom of God, this "rule" of God, was the heart of Jesus’ message. It’s how He started His ministry as He went out preaching, "The time has come … the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!’ (Mark 1:15), and this remained the core of his message.
In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus tells us to pray for more of this kingdom, this "kingly rule" Why? Because when there is more of the kingdom, things change for the better! Isaiah, prophesying over 700 years earlier, had looked forward to Messiah’s coming and spoken of "the increase of his government and peace" (Isaiah 9:7). In other words, what he was seeing was that the more we let God’s kingly rule (his government) come, the more peace there will be around. So, pray for that, Jesus says!
Whenever Mike uses this model of the Lord’s prayer and comes to today’s phrase, he imagines this prayer going outwards, like ripples from a stone dropped into a pond. So, we can start by praying for more of God’s kingly rule in our own life and needs; and then pray the same for our family and friends, our church and leaders, our work and workplace, our society and nation, our world and events. But there’s absolutely no point praying about the latter if we aren’t prepared to start with our own lives first!
Pray for more of God’s kingdom to come in your life today, Jesus says. It’s a prayer God loves to answer!
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our "God is a consuming fire." (Hebrews 12:28-29)
Copyright © 2017 Martin Manser and Mike Beaumont
