Be About It
There is a big difference in talking about it and being about it! Have you ever been to a roller coaster park with someone who, on the whole ride there, brags about how they “don’t get scared” and how they will “ride any ride in the park, even the scary bungee thing that shoots you up into the air for an extra twenty dollars”? Inevitably, this person waits in an unbelievably long line, only to see the potential drop and decides to spend the rest of the day in the water park or kiddie land.
Jesus continues his teachings on prayer in Matthew 6, praying, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” While many are willing to talk about God’s Kingdom being manifest here on earth, I’m afraid few are willing to be about it.
Our prayer life should be a place where we ask for God to reveal his will in us and empower us to make an impactful difference in the world around us. Sometimes when we pray this, we miss out on the personal nature of this request. We pray that theoretically God’s kingdom is advancing on the earth somewhere… out there…. We pray that God’s general will be done, “….like most of the time…”
This request is personal. We should pray that God’s kingdom be made evident in our life! That God’s will be done in our story! This is specific. We need to not just talk about it but to be about it. So how do we live this out practically?
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Roman Church and told them to live as a sacrifice. (Romans 12:1) Now, this doesn’t make a lot of sense as most sacrifices begin with slitting the throat and draining the blood of the sacrifice-e. Paul wasn’t saying to take our own lives but to live in the physical world as people who have surrendered their lives to the will of God.
Our prayer that God’s Kingdom come means we should pray that the Holy Spirit would ever more invade our lives and take over our hearts. If we want to be about the kingdom work, we have to pray prayers of surrender. In Matthew 16, Jesus said the way to follow him wasn’t to perform miracles or preach good sermons, but it is to die to oneself.
To see the kingdom of God come to earth, we need to pray that we give up our hopes, dreams, ideals, and plans for the sake of God’s will being done. Are we willing to sacrifice everything we have to see Heaven invade our city? What are we willing to give up to see our lost family members saved? Paul told the Church at Corinth, “I die daily”. (1 Corinthians 15:31) Obviously, Paul wasn’t in some torturous version of Groundhog Day, but he was saying that his flesh, his earthly desires, were constantly being put to death as he pursued the work God had cut out for him.
Surrender in our prayer life will lead to prayers for transformation. God has chosen to invite us into the work he is doing on the earth. Are we growing into the people that God has called us to be in order to be a part of that? 1 Peter 2:9 says that we have been set apart for his purposes. Are we living transformed lives or are we being conformed to the pattern of this age? (Romans 12:2)
Do we pray prayers for self-transformation, “God help me to look, love, and live more like Jesus today”? Do we pray that we would have a noticeable joy? Do we pray for a hope that stands out in a hopeless world? We should pray that our lives are different.
This is why surrender is such an important first step. If you think about a dam or levee, these structures are not surrendered to the water that they hold back. If they were to surrender and break, floodwaters could completely transform the area that they are meant to protect.
So many Christians might think they desire God’s will to be done and his kingdom to come, but do we pray that God would break down the levees of our hearts? Do we pray that a flood of the Holy Spirit would completely and utterly transform us into the image of Christ?
Let this be our prayer! Your kingdom come, in my house, work, school, neighborhood. Let your will be done in my life, dreams, family, plans. Let it be in me, on earth as it is in heaven.
