Skip to main content

The Lord's Prayer--Thy Will


Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

            Once again this prayer teaches us how to orient our souls by thinking about heaven.  As we move forward in our reflection of these amazing words from the most famous prayer, we find ourselves considering heaven.  The world is so intoxicating—the good and bad aspects of it—that we often overly focus on and dismiss the unseen reality of heaven.  Jesus left heaven so that He could bring heaven to us.

            Praying for God’s Kingdom to come and His will to be done is in fact, praying for heaven to intersect with our lives beginning in our hearts.  When we ask for the Kingdom to be in our midst, we are inviting the virtues and justice of heaven to govern our hearts and lives.  The best way to make sure that you receive everything you really need for each day on earth is to keep your focus on heaven.  Matthew 6:33 says:  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

            So what does seeking first his kingdom entail?  It is about looking at this world’s daily encounters in the context of God’s will and rule.  It is about living out the kingdom of God in the midst of a broken and unruly world.  It is about thinking of how each decision we make, each conversation we have, each path we take is undertaken with the notion of God’s will and God’s Kingdom in mind.  It is living out God’s wisdom about everything you do.  It is living each day with awareness that heaven is real and that everything I do and say is being noticed in the heavenlies.

            Asking for God’s kingdom to come and God’s will to be done on earth is the same request as asking for a heart that is ready for heaven.  There is one main reason we are not in heaven.  That reason is that we are not ready.  Heaven is the place that God most wants us.  He wants us to be with Him.  We were created to live in a kingdom of love, justice and peace.  Our sin separates us from that kingdom, but God has overcome our sin through the blood of Jesus Christ. 

            Jesus preached about the Kingdom of God.  He went on to demonstrate how to live in God’s Kingdom by every step He took on this earth.  It did not make Him immune from the horrors of sin that has so corrupted the world.  He faced death, interacted with people who were controlled by evil, touched lepers and took the brunt of the corruption in the church. Still He never lowered Himself to human ways of dealing with these realities; rather He yielded Himself to the Kingdom of God, making decisions after prayer, being led by His Father, receiving strength from angels, opening His mouth to proclaim God’s truth. 

            Do you want to live as a citizen of the heavenly kingdom where all injustice is righted, where all needs are met, where peace fills the atmosphere?  You begin by yielding to the will of God and living out His kingdom—battling the devil and the world and reigning with Him in a peace that passes understanding on earth.

            The kingdom starts now.

Copyright © 2013.  Deborah R. Newman  www.teatimeforyoursoul.com  All Rights Reserved.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Moving Forward

It’s been half a decade since my husband of 27.5 years died suddenly of a brain bleed.  My life turned upside down that weekend, and nothing will ever be the same.  Someone commented to me that I had moved-on.  It was meant to be a compliment, and I totally get the affirmation that was intended.  The truth is I have not moved-on, nor do I ever expect that I will.  I love this quote sent to me in a sympathy card and have shared it over and over with others.  St Bernard of Clairvaux wrote: I can never lose one whom I have loved unto the end; one to whom my soul cleaves so firmly that it can never be separated does not go away but only goes before.               Grief should have a beginning, middle and end; that is true.  That first year or two I would have done anything to diminish my pain.  I was in so much pain that I wasn’t even a person.  It’s hard to believe that we humans will naturally grow more comfortable existing in our pit of despair of grief than to let it go…
Post a Comment
Read more

Thank You Dad

Recently I have been contemplating why it is ingrained in me that I must be quiet and respectful and look at the flag when the national anthem is played.  It’s as natural for me as standing for the Hallelujah Chorus during Handel’s Messiah or for the Bride when she walks through the back door.  Like a Pavlov dog, my instincts go into action, and I do not even think about my somewhat conditioned response. Why?  It was definitely my own father who had the most influence over me regarding the national anthem.  I am not a sports enthusiast.  However, from a young age I found myself at sports games because my older brother played every sport offered.  Our family faithfully attended those games, which normally started with the national anthem.  I found a way to enjoy the otherwise agonizing experience of being held prisoner to my brother’s sporting events by gravitating to my friends who were there under duress as well.  We made up games of our own; we would laugh and talk throughout the q…
Post a Comment
Read more

Traveling Through

I am writing this week’s Tea Time devotion from the airport in Houston, Texas.  When I set out my travel plans months earlier, I never expected to use the Houston International airport at all.  I’ve been here two times in the last three days, and the last time it was for about six hours due to weather at my destination!  In fact, for the last four days I have been traveling back and forth from two different Central American countries, and only one of my four days of flying proceeded as planned.  I’ve had a lot of time to ponder airline practices; and I can come up with a multitude of suggestions for what they could do better, but that is not my job.  The long, strenuous, and unexpected travel has driven home the instructions Peter gives to Christians in his two letters:But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;for it is written: Be holy, because I am holy. (1 Peter 1:15-16) So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every ef…
Post a Comment
Read more