A Prayer about Praying for the Kingdom to Come
Heavenly Father,
Forgive us for ever mumbling this prayer by rote,
not really thinking about what we are asking for.
The fact is, this is a radical prayer.
It is a prayer you invite us to pray daily.
It is a prayer for when a marriage falls apart,
for when a global pandemic destroys our business,
for when a house is under water after a flood.
When we pray this prayer,
we remember whose kingdom we’re seeking—yours.
You are a God characterized by “holy stubbornness,”
a “refusal to accept ruin.”*
You are the God who repaired broken creation
by becoming man and dying on a cross.
Your kingdom is characterized by shalom,
universal flourishing, “heavenly wholeness.”*
Your kingdom is the kingdom
that opposes the kingdom of darkness.
To pray “your kingdom come”
is to ask Jesus to defeat the destroyer’s efforts today.
To pray “your kingdom come”
is to repent of our tendencies
to create small kingdoms by placing ourselves,
our loved ones, our work, our homes,
or any other thing we see as ours,
on the throne of our lives.
Indeed, Lord, your kingdom come.
In Jesus’ coming name. Amen.
Read Matthew 6:7-15.
*Quotes from Nathan Bierma’s great book, Bringing Heaven down to Earth
![When’s the last time you highlighted your weakness?
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Cor. 12:10
All-Powerful God,
We confess,
we in Western culture
crave power, control, and independence.
The last thing we want
is to seem weak.
And yet, weakness is the way of Christ,
so it must be our way as well.
The apostle Paul understood that,
so in the face of accusations
that he wasn’t an apostle,
he countered the boasting of the “super-apostles”
with some boasting of his own:
“If I must boast,
I will boast of the things
that show my weakness” (2 Cor. 11:30).
And then he mentions how he was lowered in a basket through the window of a wall in Damascus, of all places,
a place he went to persecute Jews only to be knocked down on the road,
struck blind, by his Lord and Savior himself.
Paul shares many other weaknesses in 2 Corinthians,
a book that’s all about weakness as the way
of followers of Christ.
He asked that you would relieve him from a “thorn in the flesh,”
but you did not.
Instead, you said,
“My grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made perfect in your weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9).
Lord, we know we really are weak —
[for each of these areas, name any weaknesses you have]
weak in our bodies,
weak in our work,
weak in our wills,
weak in our faith,
weak in our hope,
weak in our love.
We believe
that you your power is made perfect
in and through our weakness.
Help our unbelief.
In Jesus’s name. Amen.
Read 2 Corinthians 11:30-12:10.
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