(Part Two)
We continue our meditative journey through “The Lord’s Prayer”, praying:
Thy (Your) Kingdom come
Thy (Your) will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
As we said last week, the intention of prayer is to give our full attention to God, to provide a time and place in which we can speak the deepest realities of our lives to God and pay attention to that which God is speaking to us. Praying “The Lord’s Prayer” provides a structure by which we can both speak to God and listen to God.
Thy (Your) Kingdom come….
In speaking the word “thy” or “your” our attention is clearly focused on God. We are not yet speaking our own needs or describing our own realities. We are first giving our full attention to God.
Regardless of your posture; sitting, standing, kneeling, walking, or working, take a moment to be fully aware that you are in God’s presence. With or perhaps without, words say, “I know that You are here and I am giving my attention to You just as I know that You are paying attention to me.”
Spend some time aware that you are in God’s presence.
Thy (your) Kingdom come:
Consider the word, kingdom: king – dom = the king’s domain.
The kingdom is the king’s domain or where the king dominates or where the king rules or reigns. God’s kingdom is where God dominates or rules or reigns.
Where do you see God’s reign or rule most clearly?
What does it look like?
If God rules or reigns in your life, how does it look and feel?
How does the presence of God in your life, the rule of God, in your life alter the shape of:
Your thoughts?
Your emotions?
Your relationships?
Your behavior?
What might you see in the life of another person that would cause you to believe that God rules in his or her life?
What would it look like if God ruled in our:
City?
Nation?
World?
Spend some time, asking God to become the ruler in your life.
Thy (your) Kingdom come:
In praying for God’s Kingdom to come, it appears that Jesus believes that God does not yet rule over all, that God’s Kingdom, in some way, has not yet come!
What is the evidence that God does not yet fully rule:
In your own life?
In our community?
In our nation?
In our world?
The acknowledgment that God does not yet fully rule reveals some of the broken and sinful places with which we live. What are some of the specifics?
Injuries and Illness?
Broken Relationships?
Tyranny and Oppression?
Conflicts:
Within ourselves?
Within families, neighborhoods and churches?
In our world?
Spend some time quietly in God’s presence. As you pray, “thy (your) Kingdom come”, ask “What might God want to change within me in order to advance the coming of God’s Kingdom?”
Your will be done:
What are some of the things that you know about God’s will?
The Great Commandments:
Love God with all of your being
Love your neighbor as yourself
The Ten Commandments:
(Exodus 20:1-17)
God wants the whole world to be saved
(John 3: 16-17)
What else do you know about God and what God “wills”?
Do the phrases “thy kingdom come” and “thy will be done” say the same thing?
When we pray for God to reveal God’s will to us, we are often praying for guidance in the decisions that must be made in the course of life:
Where to live?
What job to take?
Who to marry?
What action to take in a particular set of circumstances.
Where are you praying for God to reveal God’s will?
Consider that God’s will has as much to do with the formation of our character as with the specific decisions that must be made: It is God’s will that we be:
Loving
Kind
Forgiving
Merciful
Generous
Honest
Reverent
What would you add?
Spend some time quietly in God’s presence and pray, “thy (your) will be done.” Ask God to shape your character as well as guide your daily decisions.
Thy (your) will be done
Knowing God’s will and doing God’s will is not always the same thing. The Bible (book of James) says that “Faith without works is dead.” To paraphrase, “to believe without doing is useless!”
Where do you see the will of God being done?
At home?
In our community?
In the world?
The word “Kingdom” implies citizenship. What does it mean to be a citizen of God’s Kingdom?
Many scholars belief that wherever God’s will is done, then and there, God’s Kingdom has come. Does that seem true to you?
Spend some time quietly in God’s presence praying, “Grant me the guidance, wisdom and courage to become the person you created me to be and to be faithful to you in all that I do.”
On earth as in heaven
Is this a prayer that the whole world will become the Kingdom of God and become obedient to God’s will?
If so, what are the implications for evangelism and mission?
What are the implications:
For you?
For our church?
Spend some time with God, praying that God’s “will be done in me as in heaven.”
Amen.