Matthew 6:9-13 (2)

Jesus teaches us to begin praying by putting God in His rightful place: Hallowed be Your name.  There is a popular acronym often used in reference to prayer: ACTS, which stands for adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication.  Whether the exact order fits the Lord’s prayer it does seem clear:

·        Adoration precedes confession; I must acknowledge His place so I might know my place.  (Study Nehemiah’s prayer, Neh. 1:5-11; 9:5-6)

·        Adoration precedes thanksgiving; I acknowledge Who God is before recognizing what He has done.  (Study Psalm 100)

·        Adoration precedes supplication; I acknowledge His worth and glory before my needs.  (Study Jehoshaphat’s prayer, 2 Chron. 20:5-12).

Further, if we do not begin by putting God in His rightful place the rest of the prayer will be meaningless.  We will not truly care about His kingdom or will; we will not really expect Him to provide our daily needs; we will not honestly seek His forgiveness.  And we must agree with the church father Horatius Bonar (in Night of Weeping, Ch. 4) that if we do not begin here we will always despise the chastening of the Lord.  We will never see His love or wisdom or faithfulness or power in our difficulties.

Your kingdom come

A kingdom is a place where a king rules.  What is interesting here is what Jesus did not teach us to pray.

·        Not “my” kingdom.  Prayer is not about my rule.  My rule is naturally selfish and sinful.  This would not put God in His place of honor. 

·        Not “earth’s” kingdom.  God has established governing authorities (Rom. 13:1-5); He is the Sovereign over them (Isa. 40:21-24); and He will someday judge them (Rev. 11:15-19).  We are not praying that these governments will be extended.

·        Not Jesus’ kingdom.  This is interesting in light of the fact that Jesus will someday rule an earthly kingdom (Isa. 9:6-7).  But that is not the prayer we are praying.

Instead we pray for the Kingdom to come wherein God rules.  As Christ will teach later in the chapter, we are seeking first the Kingdom of God (6:33).  We are praying that God’s rule over the earth will become real.  Christ’s earthly Kingdom will be evidence of God’s rule on earth.  But how does that rule of God come today?  When we turn to the Lord in faith and are born again the Bible says we are rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought into the kingdom of the Son he loves (Col. 1:13).  That is the kingdom where God rules.  As we daily yield ourselves to God as living sacrifices (Rom. 12:1) God in fact is ruling in and through our lives because He controls us.  Who is your Sovereign?