How to Pray the Lord’s Way: ‘Your Kingdom Come …’
(Second blog post in a series on the Lord’s Prayer)
By Jeff Cranston
We all know that we all need prayer and that we all should and must pray. We know that prayer heals, prayer manifests, prayer strengthens, prayer unifies, prayer conquers, and prayer changes everything. And Jesus knows that too. That’s why He gave us a model prayer: the Lord’s Prayer. In the first blog post of this series on the Lord’s Prayer, we took a look at the first part of the prayer: “‘Our Father, who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name” (Matthew 6:9). In this blog post, we will look at this part of the prayer: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10, NASB).
Your kingdom come
About this part of the Lord’s Prayer, we could simply say: May up there come down here. There are two separate aspects to this request: one in the present and one in the future. In the future, there will be a time when the Kingdom of God is finally established in full form, and Jesus will rule over the world as the King of all kings. This prayer is a longing for Christ to return and establish his Kingdom.
But there is also a present aspect—a sense in which the Kingdom of God has already come. That is what Jesus announced. God’s Kingdom is at work in each person who has accepted Jesus as their King. And this prayer is a longing to see many other people also accept God’s sovereignty and submit to His rule over their lives.
When we pray “your kingdom come,” we pray along these lines:
1. Pray for those without Christ.
This prayer is a heart-cry for the Lord to extend His mighty hand to save. We are commanded to pray for the salvation of others, even of those across the globe, by the implications in this prayer. Do you pray for those without Christ? Do you pray specifically for people throughout the world to come to the knowledge of Christ? “Your kingdom come” calls for our praying to extend to the people of the world without Christ.
2. Pray for yourself.
“Your kingdom come” is a call to give attention to our own submission to Christ's authority over us, whether for personal or family life, work or social life, church or relationships. We are to pray about our obedience to the will of the Lord. Do you pray about your own obedience? Do you ask the Holy Spirit to expose hidden sins or deceitful motives that are latent in your own soul? Do you plead with the Lord for strength and grace to obey? Christ exhorts us to be conscious every day, and every time we pray, of living like Kingdom citizens.
3. Pray with anticipation.
We are to have such a love for Christ and a desire to see His Kingdom extended to the ends of the earth, and such a desire to see sin finally conquered and extinguished with every enemy under the feet of Christ, that we pray for Christ's return. It is living with and praying for the blessed hope of Christ's return (Titus 2:12). It is agreeing with Revelation 22:20, when Jesus said, “I am coming quickly.” The apostle John then prayed, “Amen. Come quickly, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20).
Your will be done
When we pray, “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” we are confessing that the way we live here on earth is often different than how we would live if we were in heaven with God right now.
God’s holy angels don’t pray about doing His will, they just do it. In heaven, God’s plans are followed instantly and perfectly, not later, when it is more convenient or fits into one’s schedule.
This is a risky prayer for us personally. It’s saying to the Lord: I have my will. You have your will. Sometimes those two line up, but when they don’t, overrule my will.
There are three things this prayer implies: submission, study and satisfaction.
1. Be willing to submit your will to His will.
To pray this prayer, and really mean it, means a willingness to submit our wills to His will. It’s acknowledging that the One who best knows how to run my life is God. And this is a prayer that we must pray, not once in a while, but daily, because we have hearts prone to wander.
2. Be willing to study to know God’s will.
If we are to pray this prayer, that means we’re committing not only to obeying it, but knowing God’s will so we can obey it. As we walk with God, studying His Word, He works on our hearts, our affections and our desires. We begin to think like He thinks and love what He loves and hate what he hates.
3. Be willing to completely surrender to God’s will.
It’s the satisfaction of knowing that God’s will is best. Despite our doubts concerning God’s will, in the end, we can trust Him. This is where we find our deepest joy. To follow God often means deep pain and sacrifice. But, it also means intimacy, dependence on your Father for provision and protection. It means that in your life and in the life of the Church, you are showing a glimpse of the world to come, of another king and another kingdom.
Do you pray in child-like simplicity, “Father, Your will be done?” Or do you pray with a demanding mentality, “You need to listen to me, God. I have a few things to say here, and You’re going to hear them!”?
On earth as it is in heaven
Jesus taught us to pray that just as God’s will is done in heaven—perfectly and completely and without resistance—His will should be carried out here on earth.
And how do we determine what God’s will is? By studying His Word and asking Him for insight and understanding. When we do that, we see that He has called us to heal the sick, to set the captives free, to bring good news to the lost. We learn that He has anointed us to bring hope to the hopeless, joy to the downtrodden, victory to the defeated.
God’s will is glorious and wonderful and liberating. His will reflects His heart and His character. His will brings life and deliverance and freedom. And we look forward to the day when His will and His desires will be carried out perfectly and in full here on earth.
To pray for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven acknowledges two things: that there is a better way for this world to run than the way that it does, and that God cares about this world.
I believe that praying that prayer emboldens us to preach and teach and baptize in Jesus' name. I believe that praying that prayer helps drive back the powers of darkness in the here and now, along with paving the way for the final manifestation of God's Kingdom. And I believe that in the end, the order and atmosphere and will of heaven will be the only thing we experience—forever.
This is the prayer of someone who believes the world is not as it should be, that there is a better world coming. This prayer means we should be brokenhearted for what breaks the heart of God: the evil that prevails, the racism, the poverty, the violence, the sin, the death, the corruption, the injustice. It means we can’t just shut our eyes to the world’s deep suffering and pretend it isn’t happening.
Ultimately this is a prayer for the consummation of Christ’s Kingdom. We pray Christ will return as King and for heaven to finally come down to earth as promised. We pray to see the Kingdom arrive in its fullest. But it also means that right now while we await that day, we pray for God’s will to reign in this sinful world.
This is a revolutionary prayer. It is the act of praying against the prevailing, sinful, world system. It’s a longing for the sin curse to be reversed, for Satan to be bound and destroyed, for heaven’s healing and hope to prevail upon the brokenness of our families, our communities and our world.
To pray “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven” is to not be satisfied with the way things are, to be part of the renewal God is bringing to bear on the world. It an earnest, broken, heart-rending plea to God to align heaven and earth.
Jeff Cranston is the lead pastor of LowCountry Community Church in Bluffton, South Carolina.
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