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There are not a lot of examples in the gospels of people asking Jesus to teach them something. But in Luke 11, Jesus’ disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray. Perhaps more amazingly is that Jesus teaches them to pray in just fifty-odd words (about 290 characters by my count – just a little more than a tweet!)

In the next 8 blogs, we’ll look at the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6 and Luke 11. We’ll do this slowly and allow the truths of Jesus’ teaching to shape and encourage our prayer lives.

Your kingdom come

10th May 2021

The second request in the Lord’s prayer, again, is focussed on God and not us. In praying ‘your kingdom come’, we first of all acknowledge that God is King. We recognise the sovereign, kingly rule of God. And this is not just a rule over those who declare themselves to belong to Him but that God is king over everything. He is King over all creation and all humanity. He is King over the visible and invisible. He is King over every power and every authority. This may seem to some to be very exclusive and domineering but I find it a great comfort.

Our world has been home to power-struggles and power-plays for millennia. Whether it was the might of one empire struggling against another or, in our day, the geo-political power-plays that go on between nations and within nations. But such behaviour isn’t restricted to rulers and kings.

The battle to show who’s in charge wages in workplaces and communities. It even wages in homes. And even in churches.

And in the midst of it all, I find it greatly comforting to know that God is in charge. God is King.

Praying for the advance of the Kingdom

In Jesus’ incarnation, death and resurrection, Jesus has inaugurated his kingdom. At the very heart of God’s kingdom is a relationship with the King. When Jesus preached that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, he was saying that it was now possible to have a relationship with the King. How is it possible? Jesus said, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repentance is the door-way through which we enter into a relationship with the King – a relationship that has been secured by the saving work of Christ.

And so, when we pray, ‘your kingdom come’, we are praying for the advancement of God’s kingdom through repentance. We are praying for more and more people to enter into a relationship with the King. We are praying for more and more people to swear allegiance, to humbly bow the knee, to surrender themselves, and follow King Jesus.

And so every prayer for an unbelieving spouse, child, parent, neighbour, or friend is a prayer for God’s kingdom to come. Every prayer for a nation to return to Jesus is a prayer for God’s kingdom to come. Every prayer for our community to hear and accept the gospel is a prayer for God’s kingdom to come.

And every prayer of repentance that we make individually, every time we commit to following Jesus as our King, every time we acknowledge Jesus as King, is a prayer for God’s kingdom to come.

Praying for the victory of the kingdom

Of course, the Bible speaks of two kingdoms, doesn’t it? The kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. When we pray for God’s kingdom to come, we pray that the light of the kingdom of God might shine into the kingdom of darkness. The Bible assures us that this present age is passing away but God’s kingdom will never end. It assures us that God’s kingdom will be victorious and when we pray for God’s kingdom to come, we pray for that victory to happen as God brings people to repentance through His Son.

Erik Raymond wrote this prayer,

“Lord, your kingdom come! Conquer hearts by your Holy Spirit to set up the administration of grace in their hearts! Let them see the beauty and worth of your glory! Like Narnia melt the ice of winter and give way to the buds of grace and the dawning day of the kingdom of glory! We know you can do this and delight to do it because you’ve done it to us!”

How does this affect us as we pray this week?

Praise

Praise God and acknowledge Him as King. Praise Him for establishing His kingdom through the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise Him for bringing us into His kingdom.

Repent

Pray that God would enable us, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to enthrone Jesus as King over every aspect of our lives. That we might pray and live in a way that seeks the advancement of God’s kingdom.

Ask

Ask that God’s kingdom would advance – pray for particular people that you would love to see God drawing to themselves.

Yield

Submit yourself to the work of advancing God’s kingdom. Pray that God would help us, day by day, to play our part in growing God’s kingdom.

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Next - 'Your will be done'

Previous - 'Hallowed be your name

Glenys
Hello and welcome to our church. If you are a new visitor, we have a page for you to get to know us and learn more about planning a visit.
Click here to see more.

Planning your Visit

A Warm Hello 

Thank you for visiting our website. At the very heart of Calderwood Baptist Church is our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that Jesus Christ shows us what God is like and how we can have a relationship with God. And we believe that the only way to have this relationship with God is through Jesus' death and resurrection, which provides forgiveness and life to all who believe. It is our desire to share this life transforming news with people throughout East Kilbride and further afield.

Whether you're looking for a church or are interested in exploring Christianity, we hope you'll connect with us and begin to explore the good news about Jesus Christ. We are a church where you can connect with us and find a welcoming and loving community with a desire to serve you. We are a place where you can explore Christianity and find out who Jesus is and what it means to follow him. We are a church where you are invited to belong to our family who are united by our faith in Jesus and our trust in his saving death.

We are also a church that loves our community here in East Kilbride so we have a variety of ministries that seek to serve our community - information about these is included in our website. If there are other ways that we can serve you, please do reach out to us.

We look forward to welcoming you soon.
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Connect

Our Sunday services are a great way to connect with us and to begin your journey of getting to know us as a church and getting to know who Jesus is. You'll also get the chance to meet different people, some who have been Christians for a long time, some who are quite new to faith, and others who are still exploring. We really do our best to make everyone welcome!

You can also connect with us through a number of mid-week ministries that we run for our community and through our coffee shop, Hunter House Coffee Shop.

New to church?
Find out more about our Sunday Services

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Explore

At Calderwood, our desire is to know Jesus Christ and to make him known. Everything that we need to know about our Lord Jesus Christ is found in his living word, the Bible. So we take the Bible seriously, we read it and listen to it so we can hear what God is saying to us. If you would like to explore who Jesus is and how he came into the world to rescue us, we'd encourage you to read a bit of the Bible with a Christian friend.

We would be happy to give you a Bible and direct you to some good places to start. We'd also be happy to connect you with a Christian who would be happy to read some of the Bible with you. This is a great way to explore the Bible, discuss it, and hear how it has changed someone else's life.

Who is Jesus?
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Belong

When we belong to Jesus Christ, we also belong to his family, the church. The church is a global family who are united by their belief in Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord. As a local church, we seek to live as family at Calderwood Baptist Church. Entrance into this family comes through faith in our Lord Jesus and our desire to live with Jesus, for Jesus, and according to his word. As a church, we extend an invitation to belong to Christ's family as we make him known and invite people to respond to the significance of Jesus in their lives. We practice baptism as a sign of our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and we take membership of Christ's church seriously as we seek to live together as a community of grace.

Get in touch with us to plan your visit
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