God’s Prayer Pattern - Lesson 5

God’s Prayer Pattern

Lesson 5 (Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven)

In the Lord’s prayer the greatest teacher teaches us to pray for the coming of the kingdom of God. To the modern man it may be very difficult to understand the concept of a kingdom since we are used to the idea of democratic republics or democratic constitutional monarchs. In order for us to understand what the kingdom of God entails, it is necessary that we comprehend the magnitude of the need for God’s kingdom to come. I also am of the opinion that it may be necessary to distinguish the differences between a kingdom as alluded to in the bible and a republic or a democratic constitutional monarch as is practiced today. A kingdom as denoted in the bible refers to a dominion with a single figurehead, known as a king, wielding supreme executive power whereas a republic or democratic constitutional monarch has delegates and representatives with collective or delegated authority.

Kingdom rule was a form of government which prevailed during biblical and pre-biblical times. Utmost or supreme authority resided in an individual commonly known as the king. The king, in this kind of domination, exercised absolute power over the governance of the kingdom and often held the title for life or until abdication to an heir who always was from the same family. The king was wholly set apart from all other members of the state and he made all the laws and legislative or judicial decisions. He owned all land in his territory and could even banish offenders from his land.

Modern day kingdoms, however, do not have unlimited political power since this type of governance has evolved to a more citizen-friendly government. They have evolved in to constitutional monarchies whose powers are limited by constitutions. Most of the kings or queens are mere figure heads as real political power now resides in the constitution which delates real political

Democracy is the rule of the people by the people and is claimed to be based on the principle of equality and freedom. The equality being defined in terms where all citizens are all equal before the law which law is made by the people through their representatives. This follows that the representatives are also governed by the same laws that govern the ordinary people hence both the governed and the governors are subject to the same sanctions under the law.

In contrast, in a kingdom the king makes and gives the law hence he is the law whilst in democracy, all people are equal before the law including the governors. In a kingdom, supreme power resides in the king and no one can question his decisions. This is the type of kingdom Christ was making reference to where God is the supreme ruler. Unlike a republic or a constitutional monarch were the laws and the leadership is voted in to power by the governed, the laws in the kingdom alluded to in Matthew 6 is led by a king who is the supreme leader and exercises absolute and supreme power. He is the law giver and exercises both executive and judiciary powers. He is not and cannot be controlled by his own laws.

Because of the supreme authority alluded to above God says. “I will not yield my glory to another.” When God’s kingdom comes His own will as king will prevail. He is not elected in to office hence does not have to seek the will of the electorate. As king he is called king of kings because he appoints junior kings to execute his rule according to his own will and that is why scriptures say we shall reign with Christ. Concerning the kingdom of God Isiah write, “Now it will come about that in the last days The mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills; And all the nations will stream to it and many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; That He may teach us concerning His ways and that we may walk in His paths." For the law will go forth from Zion and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.” The prophet Daniel in verse 44 of his 2^nd chapter describes the kingdom of God in the following fashion. “"In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.” In chapter 7 verses 13,14 and 27 he writes, “And behold, one like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed. Then the kingdom and dominion, And the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him.” John in Revelation 11: 15 reaffirms this by saying, “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.”

You see whenever you pray, “Thy kingdom come,” that is the type of kingdom you will be praying for. You will be praying for a kingdom where the Lord God omnipotent reigns. Rev 19:6. This kingdom must start within you and not outside. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21). In other words, before the great and dreadful day comes, God must establish his kingdom within us. We must subject ourselves to his reign. His desires must reign in us and must dilute our own desires. That is the reason why the bible says we must cease to live and allow Christ to live in us.

From this background you can now understand why soon after praying for the coming of the kingdom we then pray, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” This is an acknowledgement that God deserves all honour and majesty. It expresses appreciation that God continuously has the right direction to follow, no matter the circumstances in which we as human beings find ourselves. In Proverbs 3:5-6 the wise man wrote, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” What an excellent guideline for us to follow.

Since God is all-powerful and “does whatever He pleases” as is depicted in Psalm 115:3, is there any need to pray for His will to be done when His will is going to occur anyway? You see this teaches to align our thinking and actions with God’s purpose and plan for us. We must learn his desires so that thy will be our own desires. Remember that in the book of Luke it is reported that Jesus knelt down and prayed, “Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours be done.”

James 4:3 says, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” That is the result of prayers that are said outside the will of God. When we fail to align our desires to the will of God we will pray amiss. Paul corroborate this when he says, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words.  And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Knowing the will of God is therefore key to answered prayers.