How to Pray, Jesus’ Way # 2: “Thy Kingdom—Thy Will”

When I was a kid, I was confused about the meaning of the expression, kingdom come.  It’s a spiritual term, but I always associated it with things being blown up.  When I’d watch movies and hear people say, “I’m going to blow you to kingdom come,” I’d imagine (in cartoon-fashion) an explosion where someone is projected all the way to some other country.  I thought I knew the other name for this place called Kingdom Come.  I figured it was called Timbuktu, because in my child’s mind, that’s where people flew off to once a cartoon-prize-fighter rolled up his sleeves and walloped them one.  So when it came time to say the Lord’s prayer, “Thy kingdom come” sounded odd to me.

What comes to mind when you pray those words?  If you’re like many Christians, nothing at all comes to mind—because so many believers rattle off the Lord’s Prayer without even thinking about its meaning. But maybe that phrase conjures images of Christ coming in the clouds to claim an earthly throne.  Those who believe in a literal second coming long for the day when evil is defeated and God’s victory is complete.  And I think that this is partially what we’re praying for when we use that phrase, “Thy kingdom come.”  After all, Revelation 22:17 says, “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’”  And the book ends with “Come, Lord Jesus (22:20)!”  But perhaps there’s more to it than simply an expectation of physical kingdom.

Theologian and poet François Fénelon said, “The kingdom of God which is within us consists in our willing whatever God wills, always, in everything, and without reservation; and thus His kingdom comes; for His will is then done as it is in heaven, since we will nothing but what is dictated by His sovereign pleasure.”  This means that in the Lord’s Prayer, the phrase, “Thy kingdom come” is inextricably linked to “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

To pray for God’s kingdom is to pray for God’s will to be accomplished as perfectly here on earth as it is in heaven.  Do I believe God’s will is always done on earth?  Certainly not!  I don’t believe genocide and child abuse and marital unfaithfulness and climate change are God’s will—but God gives us free will as a free gift, and humanity has paid dearly for it.  So we recognize that for God’s kingdom to come, Jesus’ followers must be able to discern God’s will.  Then, we have to be willing to put our own desires aside and embrace God’s will instead.  Alan Redpath said, “Before we can pray, ‘Lord, Thy Kingdom come,’ we must be willing to pray, “My Kingdom go.”

There was man who desperately wanted a pet snake.  He also wanted a divorce, but he didn’t want to be the one to leave his wife.  But he knew she hated snakes.  Time and time again he’d heard her say, “If you get a snake, I’m out of here!”  So he got a snake—and she left.  Later he told a friend at church, “You know, I really wanted to stay married, but I guess God had other plans.”  Folks—this is what people do with God’s will.  They shape their lives any way they please, and then when they finally get what they forced to happen, they say it was God’s will.  And what does God not want?  Anything that displeases them.  No—for us to pray God’s kingdom come, we must pray, “My kingdom go.”  And then give up control.

What does this look like—this giving up of control?  When my kids were younger and I took them to the beach, we had fun facing the waves down and karate chopping them when they crashed on them.  We’d shout taunts and kick them as they washed over us. “Is that all you got?”  We’d ask—just before they bowled us over.  A lot of us end up doing that with God.  The psalmist writes, “all your waves and breakers have swept over me (Psalm 42:7).”  But instead of fighting against God, giving up control means you turn the opposite direction, hop up on your surf board, and ride the wave.  In these two situations, the wave never changed—but how you respond to the waves makes all the difference.  To ride the wave means you let your kingdom go, and you seek God’s kingdom and God’s will instead.

But how can you know God’s will, when it seems those breakers and waves are making so much noise?  It can be really hard (but very important) to know what another person wants, especially if there are barriers to understanding.  For example, if you speak another language.  Once when I was working as a hospital chaplain, I was called in to help translate for a Spanish-speaking patient.  My Spanish is a little rusty now, but it was pretty proficient in those days.  Still, nothing will make you second-guess whether you’ve understood something simple like the difference between “left” and “right” than when your translation will determine which side of the body an appendage is to be removed.  Other times there are barriers like bad sound systems at drive-thru windows.  If we’re honest with ourselves, sometimes trying to understand God’s will is like trying to discern the garble that comes out of those speakers.  We know someone is talking on the other end, but just can’t make English out of it.  But if you sit still and listen with a discerning heart, you can hear clearly.

In prayer, listening becomes all important.  Perhaps there should be a pause written in the text of the Lord’s Prayer.  “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven (pause).”  Because this is the phrase where you stop and focus not on your own will, but on discerning and doing God’s will.  Ever tried putting your head all the way under the water when the waves crash?  When you’re immersed in the ocean, beneath the waves, the crashing becomes quiet.  How can you understand God’s will and surrender your kingdom to God?  Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”  Today I challenge you—not in public but in private, when you pray this phrase of the Lord’s Prayer, take several minutes to pause, reflect, and listen to the voice of God in the waves.  Feel the press and surge and current and flow—then align your body with it and not against it.  This is how you ride the wave.

1 Scripture quotations taken from the NIV.

2  Quotes reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895).  Pg. 269.  https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_F%C3%A9nelon.  January 4, 2018.

3 http://www.azquotes.com/quote/545361.  January 4, 2018.

©2018 Gregory T. Smith.
Reprinted with permission
revgregsmith.blogspot.com