Matthew 6:10, “Your kingdom come, your will be done…”
I read this morning in Jeremiah 46:18 where the Lord says,
“As I live declares the King, whose name is YHWH of hosts…”
And it struck me….He doesn’t say what He is king of. He just says, “the King.” Of course, the reason is because He is THE King…the King over all kings, the King over all of existence…over billions of angels, over pulsars and planets and nebula and galaxies, over star-sets behind mile-high mountains that we’ll never–in this life–see, over star-rises that light up ammonia clouds with colors we’ve never imagined here on earth…over every ruler and nation on this planet, over every animal and virus and bacteria and cellular process, over every atom and subatomic particle, over the symphony of the strings, and whatever is beneath them….over all things, He is the sovereign KING….
And we know Him….we’ve seen Him…we know what His heart is like…we know who He is because we meet Him in Jesus Christ and at the cross…..And–staggeringly–He loves us….if we know Him in Christ, then we’ve known Him as love. This is the King. so, my prayer this morning was a refreshed desire for His kingdom to come–yes, on earth, but also in me.
I am the only province over which I have some degree of control and I want it to be wholly conquered by this King. I want every pocket of rebellion against His rule to be put down….every public-ad campaign designed to make the citizens of this province doubt the goodness of their King to be silenced…every band of militia fighters to be hunted down and destroyed….I want the fields of my mind and heart cleared of insurgence and the banner of the crucified and risen Lord raised on every hilltop.
That is really the test of our sincerity when we pray “your kingdom come” isn’t it? Is His kingdom coming in our thought life? In our desire life? In our handling of fears and doubts and worries and disappointments and dreams and inconveniences and decisions….is the reign of the Crucified King evident there? May He help it to be so in me and in us all more and more…
