Read Matthew 6:10

“Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.”

Paul Tripp has a line from his book on marriage “What Did You Expect” that says something like this:

 Are you more interested in building your kingdom, or God’s Kingdom?

 In other words, is your life, all that you’re pursuing, spending time on, fighting for and praying for, building up your kingdom or is it for God’s kingdom?

If I’m honest, a lot of what I do is about my Kingdom. My career, my house, my family, my preferences, my comfort, and my desires. Not that all of my desires are opposed to God and His kingdom, but at the forefront of my mind I pray more often for my kingdom than I do His.

When I pray for that new job, is it to further God’s plan for my life or is it to make a little more money so I can buy a little more stuff?

When I pray for God to remove my difficult circumstance, is it to further His kingdom and His work in my life, or is it because I’d rather be comfortable in my own little Kingdom?

When I pray for escrow to close on my dream home, is that really about God’s kingdom or my own?

I could make a list 1,000 miles long. I so often put myself and my desires at the top of my prayer list rather than “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

But I take heart, because we get a little glimpse into Jesus’s prayer life in the Garden of Gethsemane: “And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and began to pray, saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.” (Luke 22:41-42)

Even Jesus asked God to remove His suffering. But, above that request, was “not my will, but Yours be done.”

So while I may ask for things that build up my Kingdom, ultimately I ask but not my will, but Yours be done.

We get to be a part of actively building into “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” I don’t know about you but getting to be a part of building God’s kingdom on earth and into eternity puts building into my own kingdom to shame. I’d much rather be a part of “Your Kingdom come” than building up my own.

 

1.  What are some differences between your kingdom and God’s kingdom?

2.  Is it a struggle to pray for God’s will to be done?  Why or why not?

3.  Take some time today to pray these verses above, with specific things you may need to lay down at the foot of the Cross.