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DAY 1
Matthew 5:10: “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.”
As we enter week 3 of our series on prayer, remember to use the Lord’s Prayer card or the screen saver to help you reflect on and pray through the prayer several times each day. Jesus chose each word carefully in order to teach us how prayer helps our relationship with God grow deeper and become more intimate. He gave us a prayer that is short, easy to memorize yet packed with the essence of the gospel. This week, we’ll explore Matt. 5:10 “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”
Imagine that you are a Jewish man or woman sitting on the hill listening to these words for the first time. You would have studied the writings of what we now call the Old Testament and the words of the prophets. You would know the history of Israel and the law as God spoke it to Moses on Mt. Sinai. You would have been told that there have been no prophets speaking God’s words in Israel for over 400 years. Now Jesus is in front of you claiming to speak for God. In your culture, the name of God is so holy that you are not allowed to speak it lest you offend Him. But Jesus said to pray this way. “Our Father”! In heaven, hallowed be Your name. Then He spoke words that stirred something in you. “Your Kingdom come”. You learned about the great kingdom of Israel that David built as king. God promised the throne of David would go on forever. But that great kingdom was; divided into two kingdoms, both kingdoms were defeated by pagan kings and Israel had been ruled for almost 1,000 years by one conquering king after another. Yet there was the promise of a Messiah who would sit on the throne of David. Could this finally be the time for freedom?
When you think of “kingdom” today, what comes to mind? The Greek word, basileia, used here means kingdom, sovereignty, royal power. So those who were listening to Jesus would have had reason to think of a conquering Messiah who would free them from oppression. But Jesus spent much of His time in the next 3 years teaching what God’s Kingdom was to look like and it did not involve ending Roman rule. If you have a concordance in the back of your Bible, look up the word kingdom and notice how many references there are in Jesus words from Matthew, Mark and Luke. We’ll unpack this more tomorrow but know that an understanding of God’s Kingdom was something Jesus desperately wanted us to grasp. If you’d like to do further study check out this site.
As Jesus modeled prayer for us, He also said we should pray “Your will be done”. The word for “will” in Greek, thelema, means “a determination, choice, purpose, decree, or inclination - desire, pleasure, will”. At first glance, we would say, of course we want God’s will to be done. But as Jesus showed us through His life, doing God’s will involves surrender. This surrender to God’s will being done, starts with our own lives. It becomes a personal choice we need to make, surrendering every area of our lives to Him and it often isn’t easy.
Read through Matthew 6:10 again but as you read think of it in light of your own life, your knowledge of Jesus’ teaching and your spiritual experience. Over the next few days, we’ll explore what Jesus is asking us to do by choosing these words.
REFLECTION:
What does praying for God’s Kingdom to come and His will to be done require of you as His follower?
As you begin to think of the implications of submitting to God’s Kingship and God’s will in your own life, what brings you comfort? What causes you to hesitate? Record your thoughts in your journal.