Your Kingdom Come

Watching the news or reading a newspaper these days can be quite disturbing. We live in a world that seems to be plunging further and further from God’s laws and His ways. There is horrendous violence taking place in the Middle East and other parts of the world; sexual behaviour that is far removed from God’s plan for mankind; abortion even on the grounds of gender, minor disability or social inconvenience; increasing clamour for the legalisation of euthanasia; a rise in anti-Semitism and the persecution of Christians; and I could go on. 1 John 5:19 tells us that “The whole world is under the control of the evil one”, and it certainly seems that way.

As Christians we look forward to the day when this will all change, at the second coming of Jesus Christ, when His Kingdom will be established on earth: “The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever’”(Revelation 11:15). How we long for that day! But does that mean that we just have to sit and wait for it to come, or can we do anything in the meantime to establish God’s Kingdom here on earth?

The first thing that Jesus taught His disciples to pray was “Your kingdom come”, and much of Jesus’ teaching was about the Kingdom of God. Many of His parables began with the words: “The kingdom of heaven is like …”, so there is obviously something important here that we need to understand. When He sent the disciples out, Jesus told them “to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick” (Luke 9:2). Many were expecting that the Messiah would come and establish an earthly kingdom, freeing them from Roman oppression, but Jesus told the people then that “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). How does this happen?

A kingdom needs a king! Whenever we surrender our will to God’s and allow the Lord to rule and reign in our lives, it enables His Kingdom to come within us. It means living God’s way and not ours, laying down our lives and sacrificing our fleshly desires for self-gratification, worldly pleasures and comforts. As we do this, it brings worship to God and puts Him on the throne of our lives, enabling His Kingdom to come. Let’s not just pray: “Your kingdom come”, but let’s make Jesus Lord of every area of our lives so that this can happen!

Prayer: Lord, please forgive me for all the ways in which I have not allowed You to rule and reign in my life. I invite You now to be the Lord of every area of my life. May Your Kingdom come more in my life, and in that of my family, my church and my community. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.