Scripture Reading: Matt. 6:10
God is waiting for the prayers of His children to bring His kingdom in. The Lord taught us to pray, "Your kingdom come." This age is important, but the kingdom age is more important. All the privileges and power we now enjoy are only a foretaste and pledge of the age to come. The fullness of God is manifested in the kingdom age. In the light of this we see the importance of "the Lord's prayer." (This prayer was not contested until the last century when it was said to be only a prayer for the tribulation saints.) God has com- manded His people to pray for thousands of years, but He has given no instructions throughout the centuries concerning what we should pray about other than this one prayer. What is prayer? True prayer begins in the heart of God, is made known to the hearts of men, and is prayed back to God; then God answers. This is not merely a definition. We must understand the principle of God's work in the universe. God has a purpose, and He will not accomplish His purpose without the cooperation of the human will. Prayer is the only way we can put the human will on the side of the divine will. Prayer is the exercising of our will in order to declare that God's will will be done. Without our prayers God will do nothing. He makes known His will and puts prayer into our heart, but He waits for a response from our heart. Someone has said, "God's power is like the steam engine, our prayers are the rails." The steam engine is very powerful, but it cannot move without the rails. Our prayers make a way for God to come in. Prayer is always three-sided. It involves someone who is prayed to, someone who is prayed for, and someone who is prayed against.
The great trouble with prayer today is that we only ask, "Is my prayer according to God's will?" The question should not be, "Is it according to God's will?" but, "Is it God's will?" Prayer is for God to notify us of His will, and for us to pray His will back to Him. God's will is the starting-point. He makes His will known, and we will that will in prayer. This is the cycle.
The Lord's prayer is not just a model for us, but a revelation of God's heart. For thousands of years He did not tell anyone what He was working toward, but in this prayer it is made known. This is a great revelation. "Your kingdom come; Your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth." "Your will be done." Yes, but where? "On earth." This is the only place where God's will is not done. Genesis 3 tells us that Satan is bound up with this earth. God's kingdom can be brought in by the created will of man being in union with the uncreated will of God and seeking the displacement of the rebellious will of the devil. The kingdom means the sovereignty of God. Wherever there is the created will linked with the uncreated will, there is God's sovereignty and authority. When human wills express themselves in this way, God can move. He is waiting for this. We do not know how much prayer is needed, but there must be a sufficient spiritual force on earth to bring in the kingdom. Our prayer must not just be, "Your will be done in me." That is the starting-point; it must go on to "Your will be done on earth." Note that the will of God is connected with the kingdom. "Not every one who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but he who does the will of My Father who is in the heavens" (Matt. 7:21). All we are and have must be set for the will of God. Only then can we pray effective prayers to drive a wedge into the power of the enemy. This is overcoming. God must have a few men throughout the nations who will persevere to bring in the next age. He must have a few who will hold the ground for God as to (1) ourselves, (2) our immediate concerns, and (3) the kingdom. If our prayers are ineffective in ourselves and our immediate concerns, they will not be effective in the kingdom. We must not be content to work for this age. We must definitely seek to work for the bringing in of the age to come.
Why do we want deliverance from sin? Why do we want enduement? God's children today are taken up with far too many small things. God is waiting for that importunate cry day and night (Luke 18). It is a widow, that is, a helpless one without resources, who implores the Lord.
