“Thy Kingdom Come”
By Paul Eaton
How kind and considerate of the Lord to teach us how to pray with a short, simple prayer of incredible depth and new revelation every time we meditate on it.
“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.”
Our father in heaven
The word ‘our’ is a powerful one here. ‘Our Father’ reminds us that Jesus taught us to pray as a community. Many of us have put on individualistic lenses when it comes to faith, prayer and Church. We use well intentioned phrases like ‘My Church’, ‘We’re not like them’ and ‘My relationship with God’. We quickly forget that we are the body of Christ, knitted together as one whether we like it or not! We have one Father, Jesus has broken down every dividing wall of hostility between us, our minds are catching up with the reality of our oneness with one another. We are the household of God, the Bride of Christ and his family in heaven and earth.
Hallowed be your name
As we’ve prayed, our oneness with the Father and one another, we’re taught to hallow his name. Before any activity, initiative or mission we can do together, we’re taught to hallow, in other words, make his name holy. As we pray ‘hallowed be your name’, I believe we’re actively worshipping him but we are also praying that his name would be made holy in every place amongst every people group. The first thing we are invited to pray for is for God’s name to be great in the world. I’m reminded of David’s original inspiration upon establishing unceasing worship around the ark. David saw that the tabernacle wasn’t just a space for him to offer his personal worship, it was also a space for him to cry out that all the earth would hallow Father God. “Sing to the lord all the earth; Proclaim the good news of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his wonders among all peoples.” I believe Jesus offers us the same invitation - to hallow God and pray he’d be hallowed everywhere.
Your kingdom come, your will be done
Jesus mainly speaks about the kingdom in parables, he assures us that it’s our father’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom (Luke 12:32). One of my favourite verses defining the kingdom is Romans 14:17: “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Do we know righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit right now? This isn’t just for us! What would it look like for righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit to be present in every community on the planet? He desires for our world to be transformed by this kingdom that the Father’s will would be done. As the early Church were sent out to proclaim and embody this kingdom, so are we as God’s conduits to invite and extend a hand to all people to enjoy his kingdom and his will here on earth. As we pray this prayer of intercession, your kingdom come, your will be done, may God remind us that he sends us to share his kingdom and discover his will that the world might believe in Jesus!
On earth as it is in heaven
Jesus teaches us to pray for earth to be like heaven. So what is it like in heaven? As we go about this month let us consider what’s going on in heaven and how that informs our prayers upon the earth…