DAY 35: THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND PRAYER

DAY 35: THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND PRAYER

SCRIPTURE:

Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Matthew 6:10

OBSERVATION:

In the Lord’s prayer, the first and foremost thing that our Lord Jesus asks us to pray is for God’s kingdom to come, and for His will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven. What does it mean to pray “Your kingdom come”? Firstly, it means to acknowledge God as king of our lives, and having God as king means entrusting ourselves to Him as His servants and to be subject to Him. Secondly, it means to look forward to His physical kingdom and rule. Jesus is coming back again, and will rule on earth for 1,000 years. Thereafter, God will make a new heaven and a new earth, and the New Jerusalem will come down from Heaven and God’s dwelling place will be with us. How wonderful to look forward to this! Thirdly, it means to look for the extension of God’s kingdom, looking for opportunities to help lead others towards God, so that they too may be added to the kingdom. Not all of us may be privileged to lead many souls to Christ, but we can pray for them, show them a good testimony, and plant seeds of the gospel where we can.

How about “Your will be done?” In Heaven, God’s will is done perfectly to the letter, as all the angels obey him totally and immediately all the time, and everything is perfect according to His will. On earth currently, it is quite the opposite. We have ruined His perfect world when we were supposed to take care of it. In Genesis, it is written how God’s heart was filled with pain when He looked upon the earth and saw that every inclination of man’s heart was evil and the earth was filled with violence. God regretted that He had made men and sent a great flood that wiped out the human race except for one family – Noah, his sons and his son’s wives for Noah was found righteous in that generation.

In today’s world, we see evil rife everywhere, and violence filling the earth not so unlike the days before the flood. Nevertheless, God has raised up sons and daughters all over the world who honor His name and believe in His Son unto salvation. It is thus for us who follow God to follow His ways, so that His will is done on earth as we obey Him. We are saved not for ourselves but for a special purpose – to serve God and to follow His will. How well we do that will determine our position in His service in the age to come.

It is not easy to follow God’s will when so many things pull at our heart, but every Christian needs to have that supreme objective hidden deep in our hearts. We must desire to shift from doing things our way to doing things God’s way. God wants all of us, every area, every pocket, every part. It is thus for us to work with God to allow Him to mould us and shape us into the creation He wants us to be.

APPLICATION:

Let us remember our primary calling, which is God’s kingdom, God’s will. When we walk in line with that calling, we are at peace with God.  It is an everyday struggle, as we are tempted to do our own things, pursue our own entertainments and pleasures in the limited time that we have. Day by day, moment by moment, we need to learn to submit our will to God. In time, we will begin to understand that it is in submitting to God’s will that we really begin to find true meaning and purpose in life.

PRAYER:

We praise thee Heavenly Father, for Your great patience and love in dealing with us. So move within our hearts, precious Lord, that You create in us a fervent desire to want to please You in everything that we do. Let this desire sink deep within us, that we will want to spend every waking moment only doing what pleases You. Help us to even come to the point Lord that we find we can do nothing until we see what You are doing. We praise You and worship You, Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.