Bright Wings

Because the Holy Ghost over the bent World broods with warm breast and with Ah! Bright Wings.

October 05, 2009

Kingdom Centered Prayers

In our time together looking at the Lord’s Prayer I drew attention to a stark contrast in the way we are to approach ‘Kingdom’ requests and ‘personal provision’ requests. Jesus calls us to pray, “hallowed be your name”  and “your kingdom come”. This is the prayer that seeks the vision of Isaiah in the throneroom of God and the consummation of the angelic chorus, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth if full of his glory!”  Praying that the name and character of God would be seen and known as it is - holy. Praying that the holiness, justice, and glory of God would fill the whole earth and be seen and known as it is. Do you pray that people might have a vision of the holiness of God? Do you pray that His glory would be known? These are what we call ‘kingdom centered’ prayers. Praying for salvation, praying that people would in their hearts ‘honor Christ as holy’, praying that nations would come to Christ, that missionaries would be sent, that churches would be built, that pastors would preach the word, that Christians would pursue unity (the list goes on and on)... Jesus sets a pattern in his prayer for us to ask for great things when it comes to the Kingdom.

But then comes the petition for personal provision, “Give us each day our daily bread.” Consider how meager our prayer is for provision! In terms of kingdom prayers we seek nothing less than the majesty and glory of God to be seen and known. In terms of our own personal needs - bread for today. It is hard for us to pray great things for God’s Kingdom, and easy to pray great things for ourselves. How long is our list of personal affliction requests and how short is our list of eternal kingdom wishes!  The call to ask for daily bread is a call to trust God for basic needs and concern yourself with great and wonderful things.

We will look this Sunday at Luke 11:5-13 and the exhortation of Christ to persist in prayer. We are to ask God for things, and we are to do so with ‘shameless persistence’.  As with so much in the Christian life it is a matter of priority. Jesus sets the tone and emphasis of our persistence in vv. 1-4.

So look at your prayer list for today and bring it in line with the kingdom priorities of Jesus. Trust him for tomorrow’s bread and ask him for the salvation of the next generation!

Tags: Sermon Notes

posted by Erik Braun