Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Thy Kingdom Come

What are the things for which we can pray with full assurance "in the Name of Jesus?"  That is, the things we know Jesus would pray for in us and with us?

Thy kingdom come---the things that belong to the kingdom of God:  joy, peace, contentment, fulfillment of all God-given desires, food for our bodies, clothes for our nakedness, freedom from all fear and anxiety (Be not afraid); deliverance from evil; beauty and safety; "none of the diseases you knew in Egypt" (Deuteronomy); a good place/ land in which to dwell in safety (Deuteronomy); family (Your children shall be like olive plants around your table); unity and experiential knowledge/ relationship with the Father.

We should never hesitate to pray for the concrete realization of the kingdom of God.  Moses died on the mountain as his people entered the Promised Land; Jesus died in agony that we might also enter the concrete/ actual kingdom of God and live in peace and safety.

The second letter of Peter says that God's divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness.  We can with confidence pray that others, too, will receive what God has promised---that all barriers to their receiving be removed, that all evil be destroyed from the face of the earth, that healing will take place "as it is in heaven," where "He will wipe away every tear." 

If we read Deuteronomy, we will know the will of God for us; let us not hesitate to ask for those things in the Name of Jesus, who has inherited as elder Son the kingdom of His Father.

1 comment:

  1. Just as Peter denied Jesus out of a need to feel protected by the crowd in power, so too do the spiritual descendants of Peter deny God in the individual for fear of losing the sense of power that comes from agreeing with, or belonging to, an exclusive group.

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