Dear Redeemer Friends,
Every night before bed I either go into Elizabeth’s, my daughter’s room or she finds me somewhere- brushing my teeth or having crashed in bed if I forgot- to pray for her. I pray the same prayer every night.
“Father, may Elizabeth not have any bad thoughts or bad dreams as she goes to bed and sleeps, but only thoughts and dreams of your Kingdom to come and her place in that Kingdom. Let your voice be the loudest. Amen”.
As we walk, study, and read slowly through the Lord’s prayer this lenten season, I realized again that this should be the cry of our heart. And even more than thoughts or dreams of His Kingdom to come, our prayers should be for it to really come!! When we wake up, when we eat our breakfast, go to work or school, or drop kids off or turn on our computer. His Kingdom come. This is our prayer.
Pastor Giorgio would say that there is something fundamentally supernatural and also concrete to this reality. And as we pray for HIs Kingdom to come, we can look for it around us. We should have our eyes peeled. His Kingdom is coming. Now for me I would love a dramatic rendering of His Kingdom coming. In my favorite book movie the ground fell away. All that was evil tumbled with it. The ring of power being destroyed ushered in a new kingdom. But even in this favorite book/movie of mine there were painfully long days, travels, and battles to get to this end. These are our days.
Yet in these long days of ours we can pray- Your Kingdom come. If we pray this- He’s Kingdom is going to come! We are primary receivers of this Kingdom. This Kingdom transformation is happening in us and through us, and it occurs today- not just at the end of days.
So what does this mean for our to do list or google calendar or the fact that we may not want to get out of bed some days. This means to block out some time to ask and watch for His Kingdom to come. It means you can throw off the covers and put your feet on the floor because His Kingdom is coming. This Kingdom comes in the middle of all of our painful, long, beautiful, or busy days.
It also means that wherever we are and whatever our days look like we ultimately come together to our Father and ask, “your will be done”. This is the priority. Top of the “to do” list”. This can be hard! How do we do this? Our King Jesus- the King of the Kingdom has modeled this for us. The night before His crucifixion, as he faced the agony of betrayal, torture, death, and seperation from the Father, He spoke,”Not my will but yours be done.” We can echo this, because we abide in Him. The worst consequence or torture in life is separation from our Lord. Whatever may come we cannot be separated from His love. We can even more fully pray, “Your will be done.” Jesus said all the commands can be summed in this, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul, and to love your neighbor as yourself. His will looks like these commands being fleshed out in and through us-receiving His Kingdom and love, and sharing it with others.
Let’s “practice” this together as we worship Sunday- as we sing and love and receive His truth and love together we ask, “ Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
Warmly,
Jen Sanders
Director of Care and Connection
Matthew 6:10
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.