Kingdom

The Lord's Prayer, as it turns out, is more than just a non-chalante prayer. It wasn't a random prayer Jesus told us to pray - this is a deep and powerful prayer.

Matthew 6:9-13, ESV

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

The prayer - sanctioned and placed before us by Jesus himself - begins by praising God. We simply say to God, "You are holy." By that knowledge, we say the rest of the prayer, knowing that he is God.

Jesus then instructs us to pray for the kingdom of God to come and become a reality on the earth. In order for that to happen, do we ask for Jesus to literally come down and rule as King? Or, are we to, by order of our King, live as our King would live? In this Kingdom, God's Kingdom, we are his people, saved from evil and commissioned for victory. Therefore, we go everywhere representing our King, on his mission of making the good news known world-wide.

Supplementary Scripture:
Matthew 28:18-20
Matthew 1:18-25
The Bible

The next three things prayed are requests to God, us asking for things to become reality in our lives. First, for our daily bread. God has made us humans who need things to survive. So, we ask that God would provide those things. Pretty simple. Next, we pray for forgivness and that we, too, would be able to forgive others. We have his grace made real by the resurrection and sacrifice of Jesus to fulfill so many prophecies and prayers. Finally, we ask that God will not give us over to Satan or his doings, but that the evil one and evil itself will not control us.

This next part recently hit me: if we truly want his Kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth as in heaven, what must we do? Well, have you been given your daily bread? Have you been given grace? Has Satan been  allowed to defeat you or your King?

Then go and provide. Live at peace with one another, letting the forgiveness of Jesus be real in every part of your life. Did Jesus defeat Satan? Proclaim his victory.

Supplementary Scripture:
Matthew 6:25-34
Matthew 25:31-46, emphasis 35-40
Matthew 18:21-35
Matthew 4
1 Corinthians 15
Ephesians
Revelation
The Bible

This is what we are teaching the preteens at Central.

Let's make the Kingdom of God a reality. Live like our King - a King who died for his people. People need provision, grace, and the victory of Jesus Christ over evil. So go, provide, be grace, live victoriously.