February 14 2025

Friday February 14

“Thy Kingdom Come…”

Luke 11:1-4

1 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples." 2 So He said to them, "When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. 3 Give us day by day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one."

These first verses in Luke 11 should remind us of the importance and necessity of prayer in our lives! What we normally call “The Lord’s Prayer” is actually “The Pattern for Prayer” that the Lord gave to His disciples in answer to their question, “Lord, teach us to pray…”. As we have already noted the first thing we learn from it is that our prayers are very much connected to our relationship with God. He is not “our Heavenly Father” until we receive His Son, Jesus Christ, as our Lord and Savior.

Jesus Himself makes this very clear in John 14:6 in His great statement, “I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life! No man comes to the Father except through Me”. The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 2:5-6, “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time”. That is why we usually end our prayers with, “In Jesus name, I pray, Amen”. We are acknowledging the only access and right we have to pray and make our request to the Father, is because of Jesus and His work of redemption on the cross and His resurrection!

Our prayers begin with recognizing and honoring God’s position in heaven as Sovereign Ruler over all things, and His holiness that is reflected and manifest by His name! After we worship God for Who He is, we are ready to make our petitions to Him. But we should always remember that we can only come into His presence by faith according to Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

Psalm 9:10 is a good reminder of this truth also: “And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.”  We must believe that we have a Heavenly Father Who keeps His promises!

The first petition involves praying “Your kingdom come”. When we pray this, we are recognizing that God is the ruler of our lives and that He owns everything. When God created Adam and Eve, He gave them “dominion over everything that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:26-28). This means that God gave them the authority to be His ruler under Him over everything on earth. But when Adam disobeyed God and sinned, in a sense, he handed the scepter of this rulership over to Satan. And the battle began between the kingdom of darkness and the Kingdom of Light, which is also called the “Kingdom of His dear Son” (Colossians 1:13-18).

John the Baptist came “preaching the kingdom of heaven is at hand” as he announced that Jesus had arrived. Jesus first recorded message in Matthew 4:17 was, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”. Jesus the King, had arrived on planet Earth to take back His rightful authority through the cross and His resurrection. Jesus sent His disciples out preaching about His kingdom. In the 40 days after His resurrection, in Acts 1:3, Jesus spoke to His disciples of the “things pertaining to the Kingdom of God”. The book of Acts ends with the Apostle Paul in Rome “preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ…” (Acts 28:31).

My friend, it really is all about the “Kingdom”! We are involved in “Kingdom Work” with the authority of Jesus Christ behind us! (Matthew 28:18-20). When we pray “Thy kingdom come,” we are recognizing that God is the ruler of our lives that we have submitted and yielded to His authority and ownership over our lives. We have given up the only right we have, and that is the right to give up the right to ourselves as we surrender our all to the Lord!

When we pray “Thy kingdom come” we are playing a vital role in advancing God’s kingdom into this present world of darkness! I can’t think of anything more exciting to be a part of on planet Earth today!

Will you join thousands of others today in this great task and pray this prayer and petition with us?

God bless!