It has been suggested that some people are so heavenly minded that they are of no earthly good. But to pray “your kingdom come” corrects any of that. We are God’s special creation, formed in the very image of God and entrusted by Him with delegated authority to act as stewards of the earth (Genesis 1:26-28; Psalm 8:5-8). The psalmist speaks of the earth as humanity’s realm of responsibility: “The heavens are the LORD’S heavens, but the earth he has given to human beings” (Psalm 115:16). Thus, it is with urgency that we pray for God’s kingdom to come to earth. Pastor John Ortberg picks up on the down-to-earth importance of this petition: “Jesus never told anybody – neither his disciples nor us – to pray, ‘Get me out of here so I can go up there.’ His prayer was, ‘Make up there come down here.’” (John Ortberg, God Is Closer Than You Think)

We pray “your kingdom come” longing for the further advance of the Gospel and the establishment of God’s reign and rule on this earth. We recognize that the Father’s kingdom “is in reality the transcendent order beyond time and space that has broken into history…but it was so very near that its power could already be felt – as the dawn precedes sunrise.” (Eldon Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament)

We now gladly proclaim Jesus as King and prepare for the day when He manifests His kingship to the nations: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 11:15). The kingdom of God is the kingdom of the world to come. We would not grow lax in our praying for His kingdom to come, but as those “waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God” (2 Peter 3:12). We pray as God’s kingdom is now, but still coming!

I once heard Lloyd Ogilvie, then Chaplain of the United States Senate, say it so well: “Without God, we can’t; without us, He won’t.” So, having been empowered by the Son to pray, we boldly and expectantly ask: “Your kingdom come!”

PRAY THE LORD’S PRAYER (MORNING-NOON-NIGHT)