Praying His Kingdom Come
"In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven." - Matthew 6:6-7
We have been given such an amazing privilege to pray in any place at any time since the glorious gospel of Christ has given us bold access to God's throne of grace. Jesus therefore taught His disciples that we "should always pray and not lose heart" (Luke 18:1). Prayer is one of the most powerful and life altering ways that we can partner with God on this earth.
It is important that we understand that prayer is a two way form of communication. The Lord desires intimate fellowship with us and is ready to speak to us and direct us in our prayers as we commune with Him. Therefore, the condition of our hearts can deepen or damage this connection with God or even be the reason that our prayers are not being heard or answered (Isa. 59:1-2). May we understand that God hears our hearts before He hears our words.
Thus, we should be reverent and willing to repent when we draw near to Him and be sincere in our willingness to hear and follow Him if we are to have a unified communion with God. Unrepentant sin or a complete rejection of Jesus or the hearing of His truth can cause our prayers to be hindered or even despised (Prov. 28:9).
Jesus points out the hypocrisy of those who use prayer to appear to be more spiritual than they really are. The Lord sees when the motive of the heart is to seek to gain respect and admiration from others. Instead, we ought to pray in a manner that begins in the secret place and that seeks to KNOW HIM more intimately that we might SHOW HIM more openly!
This is why Jesus gives us a patterned prayer to reveal the right purpose and priorities we ought to have in our lives, since "where our treasure is there are heart will be also" (Matt. 6:21). We need to learn that prayer is FIRST about aligning our hearts and the will with God who is carrying out His eternal kingdom purpose on this earth.
Ever since men began praying, they were calling upon the LORD for God to fulfill His promise of reversing the curse (Gen. 3:16, 4:26). Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise and therefore teaches us the right way of praying which should begin with hallowing God and praying "for His kingdom come and will to be done on earth as it is in heaven."
AB Simpson once said, "Prayer is the mighty engine that is to move the missionary work.”
This is precisely what Jesus said when He shared His main prayer request with His disciples, saying, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest" (Matt. 9:36-37).
As CH Spurgeon once said, "Prayer moves the hand that moves the world". Prayer can truly open up doors of opportunity, help open hardened hearts, and will change situations around us. Here are three things that prayer will always do:
Prayer changes our hearts.
Prayer exchanges our will for God’s will.
Prayer rearranges our priorities for His Kingdom.
James 5:16-18 puts it this way, “…The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much."
HEART WORK - Do you truly see WHO IT IS that you are praying to when you pray? If so, how can you begin to "hallow His Name" and give Him the true worship that is due to Him?
- How can you start investing more time in prayer that advances the kingdom of God?
Pray that God would deepen your intimacy with Him and enlarge your heart to expand His kingdom in these days. Remember, your INTIMACY leads to your INFLUENCE.