Your kingdom come

Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven (from the Lord’s Prayer – Luke 11:2-4 and Matt. 6:9-13) .

How often have I prayed these words without reflecting on their true meaning? Come to think of it, what do they mean?

Let’s take the first phrase, “your kingdom come”. The word kingdom refers to the kingly rule of God. This kingly rule is both a present and a future reality. At present, God’s kingly rule has been established in every believer. Those that believe and follow Christ have God ruling in their hearts.  In this sense, then, much of the world does not belong to the kingdom of God.

One day, however, "the kingdom of the world [will] become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever” (Rev. 11:15). This will happen when Christ comes for the second time. Bring it on, I say!

 Therefore, when we pray “your kingdom come” we pray that God’s kingdom will spread one heart at a time until its full and final consummation at the return of Christ. This is not to say that every person will believe before Christ returns but rather that the harvest will have been completed.

The prayer “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” is very similar to “your kingdom come”. In heaven, the heavenly beings carry out the will of God with complete obedience. We want the same thing to be true on earth. We want people on earth to follow the will of God in the same way as the heavenly beings do: with complete obedience.

It is significant that the Lord’s Prayer begins with an upward focus - “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name” – followed by an outward focus: “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. The inward focus of provision, forgiveness and protection comes last. Focusing upwards to God and then outward to a dying world brings my personal needs into perspective.

So lately, I have been spending more time than I used to praying for the lost amongst my family and friends. I pray that God’s rule would be established in their hearts through conversion. I pray that they would start following God with complete obedience. And I pray for organisations like Alpha Zimbabwe, Foundations for Farming and Harvest church, for they are building the kingdom of God. Lastly, just as Jesus taught us, I try to make these prayers near to the beginning of my prayer time, before I get too bogged down with my own needs.

Cheers for now - Ian