Come, Thy Kingdom!

 The torch has been handed to you.  "I have given you authority" (Luke 11:19)  God established His kingdom with the designation that you have His authority to declare with your mouth "life and death" (Proverbs 18:21), and tells you to "Choose life" (Deut. 30:19).  Both the phrase They kingdom come and Thy will be done are actually imperatives, translated in common English to read "Come, Thy kingdom" and "Be done,Thy will."  These are declarations that we as believers are instructed to make so God's power can be released on the earth.  God confirms His Word that we speak. (Mark 16:20)

Jesus declared repeatedly in His ministry that the kingdom of God "is here" and "has come."  It refers to God establishing a whole new order of life where Jesus is Lord and all things are transformed to submit to His love and rule.  When Jesus declared, "It is Finished," Satan was defeated and all the consequences of sin were totally paid for.  However, Hebrews 2:8-9 reminds us that even though everything is now in subjection to Jesus and under His feet, we don't see this complete victory manifested yet.  God calls on us to agree with His Word, to cry out "Come, Lord Jesus!", and to "hasten the day of His coming" by our declaring this simple request, Come, Thy Kingdom!  Revelation reveals the day is coming when the kingdoms of the earth will become the kingdoms of our Lord, on earth as it is in heaven.  Every enemy of love will be removed.  Every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.  Amen, let it be so.

Jesus also told us that the kingdom of God is within you. (Luke 17:21)  Paul describes the kingdom in Romans 14:17 as "righteousness, peace, and joy of the Holy Spirit," and in 1 Corinthians 4:20 as "not in word but in power."  Those who receive Jesus Christ, and believe in His name, have been given power  to become the sons of God (John 1:12).  Through salvation we have been made temples of the Holy Spirit and so the very presence of God dwells in us.  We speak and release the power of God to be "king" in us, that His righteousness, peace, and the joy of the Holy Spirit would dominate our lives.

We also call forth that His will be done.  We purpose to obey His Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit.  By praying this phrase, we align our will with His will, and "pick up our cross daily."  The cross is where His will and our will cross.  We choose and declare to walk in the Spirit of holiness and obedience as we will forever in heaven.  

Furthermore, we can extend this prayer petition to others.  May His kingdom (righteousness, peace, and the joy of the Holy Spirit) come upon our spouses and children, on our leaders and pastors, and on those whom the Spirit brings to mind.  It is releasing the power of God to bless and transform those whom we love.  May His will be done in their lives.  3 John 2 encourages us that He desires above all things that we prosper and be in health, even as our soul prospers.  Obviously, Jesus' kingdom extends to those who accept His saving work and leadership (making Him Lord.)  We become the Lord's ambassadors who cry out for all men to be reconciled to God and choose to do His will. 

Pray that His kingdom come on the earth as it is in heaven, and that men everywhere turn from their selfish fleshly desires to choosing to do His will.