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.
Next - 'Your will be done'