YOUR KINGDOM COME...

My church just went through a 21-day fast (January 2016) using the Lord's Prayer as devotionals throughout. The following was written on Matthew 6:10a by one of our members, Mike Sisson. It really blessed me and I would like to share it with you . . .

When we think of Kingdom, what images immediately pop into our heads? Perhaps because I have two princess-crazed daughters, my first thought was the castle at Disney, turrets soaring into the sky and pennants snapping in the breeze. Kingdom has to be more than an imaginary castle and crown though. Reducing the Kingdom to plywood pageantry makes it a facade, devoid of power. When Jesus says that we should pray that the Lord's Kingdom come, there are two different thoughts entwined in those three words. The first thought is of ownership. As God's Kingdom is realized in us, then He is the Owner of us. 
Our plans become subject to His plans, our goals are sublimated to His goals. Our desires submerged in His.

As we pray "Your Kingdom Come," we ask for God to be not just Savior but Lord, ruling the new territory that is our heart and mind. While this may sound like we fade to nothing in the Kingdom of God, nothing could be further than the truth. God's Kingdom provides local autonomy and personal agency to its subjects, guiding the overall path but allowing us great personal freedom, even to the point of abdicating our citizenship and leaving if we so choose.

The second thought within the phrase is that of citizenship, for that is exactly what we are within the Kingdom. In fact, we are not just citizens of God's Kingdom but adopted sons and daughters, heirs to the Kingdom with full rights. As citizens, we willingly hand over Lordship of our personal Kingdom, only to receive it back in freedom, this time with instructions on how best to extend that Kingdom and with plans tailored to our specific abilities, talents, and gifts received from our Sovereign Lord.

By praying "Your Kingdom Come," we hand over a ravaged war-torn ruin and are given back the fullness of God's Kingdom, along with purpose and a loving Lord. Instead of a petty sovereign ruling an ash-heap, we become the trusted steward of a piece of God's grand design.