The Lord's prayer was introduced when the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. It is a format on how to pray. This section will focus on the first request, "Thy Kingdom Come!"
Matthew 6:9-13
9 After this manner, therefore, pray ye:
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil: For thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
After acknowledging to whom the prayer is addressed, the first order of request is about the Kingdom.
The Father who art in heaven has a kingdom.
Before asking for daily bread and all the wants and need, the kingdom matters come first.
Matthew 6:35 But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
1. Seek ye First.
I want to highlight the order of priority, The Kingdom First.
Seeking means searching, pursuing, and endeavoring to gain or acquire—the Kingdom.
For our pursuit to be fruitful, we must understand the value of what we are pursuing.
2. What is the Kingdom about?
Romans 14:17
For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
It is not a matter of what perishes and is no more. It is more.
Righteousness.
God's Approval, having a right standing with God. Justified, forgiven.
Our heavenly Father is holy; the living creatures, twenty-four elders and cherubim, seraphim, and all the hosts of heaven, from eternity to eternity, call Him Holy.
Peace:
One definition of peace I love says, and I quote,
"Peace is a stress-free state of security and calmness that comes when there's no fighting or war, everything coexisting in perfect harmony and freedom."
(Vocabulary.com. (n.d.). Peace. In Vocabulary.com Dictionary. Retrieved June 30, 2023, from https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/peace)
Joy:
Joy is the emotion of pleasure and happiness, a fruit of the Holy Spirit.
In the Holy Spirit.
It is essential to highlight that where the kingdom is concerned, all the righteousness, peace, and joy privilege we receive is In the Holy Spirit. Not outside or elsewhere.
In the Holy Spirit:
Allow the Holy Spirit to lead, teach and be your guide.
Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Back to praying Thy Kingdom to come, we can only pray this led by the Holy spirit He knows the mind of the Father.
1 Corinthians 2:6-12
However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God [c]ordained before the ages for our glory, 8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9 But as it is written:
"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him."
10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of a man except the Spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 We have received, not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
