Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
Matthew 6:10 “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” This statement was of interest to those that were listening. The Jews were waiting for the Messiah, who they believed to be the mighty Warrior and King that would free them from the Roman Empire and restore the land of their inheritance to them. Roman rule was oppressive, there was poverty, and slavery, and immorality, and the Jews looked forward to the Redeemer that would free them from all of that just like the prophets had promised He would. A good example of this is found in Jer. 33:14-17. Because of prophecies like this the Jews believed that the Messiah would come in great power to restore the nation of Israel, and they had certain expectations of what the kingdom of God would look like. You and I know that Jesus had to come as the suffering servant first. Yes, the Lord Jesus will return to fulfill all of the other prophecies about Him, but what He speaks about here is different than what most of them were expecting.
The Greek word for kingdom here is ‘basileia’, and it does not necessarily mean a geographical realm. It does signify the Lord’s spiritual and eternal reign in our lives. Luke 17:21 makes it clear that the kingdom of God is within us. It is our confession that we have chosen to allow Him to rule our hearts. The Father wants us to let Him lead. Just like the Jews in Jesus’ day, we have ideas when we come before Him, beliefs about what we want Him to do in and through us. Here God expresses His expectation of being first in our lives, becoming the starting place of our desires, our motivations, and every step that we take. This is why Jesus says in Matt. 6:33 “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Our primary pursuit should be His will and His character because then everything else falls into place. Do not forget that God takes full responsibility for our needs as we obey Him.
To put the Lord first in everything requires a transformation in our lives, and that does not happen overnight. The Father takes each one of us through the process of sanctification in which He molds us into the image of Christ and conforms our will to His will (Rom. 8:29). This happens through our lives until we go to heaven but we start out by praying “Your kingdom come. Your will be done,” so our spirits can start learning this principle. We cannot pray it sincerely and continue living rebelliously. The Lord wants to be first in our lives and He wants to lead us. How does praying, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” minister to our souls and help us in having a conversation with the Lord?
First Jesus tells us to pray this way because He knows how important it is for us to belong to something greater than ourselves. Each one of us is a vital and integral part of the kingdom of God, the Body of Christ needs us to do our parts. It is important for us to actively seek His will. Second, the father has a wonderful plan for each of us. Eph.2:10 says “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” As we discover and accept the Lord’s purposes for us we find significance and great satisfaction. In Ecclesiastes 3:11 we learn that “God has planted eternity in the hearts of men.” It is important for us to know that we are accomplishing goals that will last, that will have an effect both on earth and in heaven. When we obey the Father’s will, we know that we are impacting eternity (1 Cor. 3:11-15).
Tomorrow we will start with “Give us this day our daily bread”.
Dale
0 Comments