How did you respond to the first blog entry about the Lord’s Prayer? How did you get on thinking and praying through those opening words about God being our Father?
In the second part of the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus tells his disciples to pray like this:
‘Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.’
These words are a vital foundation for all Christian prayer – everything we pray for needs to be built on the ideas behind these words. That’s why, having set our focus on our Father, the first thing to ask for is the coming of God’s kingdom.
What does Jesus mean, though – ‘your kingdom come’? A kingdom is wherever a king reigns – it is wherever a kings’ commands are obeyed; it is wherever the people do whatever the king desires. Of course, in the Lord’s Prayer we’re not talking so much about God our Father reigning over a physical territory, as thinking about how far God’s will reaches into our lives and shapes the world. It is obvious, if we look around us or follow the news, that not everything that happens is as God would want.
Every aspect of our lives, every aspect of our family life, our school life, every aspect of the world needs to follow God’s will. His will is perfect, because his powerful love can change everything for the better. That means there should an increase in his kingdom reign, and that means our prayers need to seek out and to be in line with what he wants.
Prayer should never sound like some kind of shopping list of what we fancy. God gives us the privilege of prayer because he wants us to be his co-workers in the world – that’s why Jesus teaches us that our prayers will make a difference. That implies that whatever we ask for is a part of God’s will.
Think about the way you pray for a moment. Is what you pray for built on that ‘kingdom come’ foundation, that you want to see more of God’s will happen through what you ask for?
The next time you pray, think about yourself and your friends, about your family, about school, about any issues that concern you – and ask that God’s will is done.
