Matthew 6:10

Matthew 6:10
"Our Father in heaven, hallowed by your name,...
So first of all we know that we must come to God with humility and reverence.

The next phrase, "your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" is still focusing on God rather than on ourselves. What, actually is the kingdom of God? The following explanation comes from Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies on the Sermon on the Mount Vol. 2, pp. 63-64  In one sense the kingdom of God came when the Lord Jesus Christ came to earth. "The kingdom of God is also here at this moment in the hearts and lives of all who submit to Him, in all who believe in Him. The kingdom of God is present in the Church, in the hearts of all those who are truly Christian. Christ reigns in such people. But the day is yet to come when His kingdom shall have been established here upon the earth...That day is coming. The whole message of the Bible looks forward to that. Christ came down from heaven to earth to found, to establish, and to bring in this kingdom...He is still engaged upon that task and will be until the end,...So our petition really amounts to this..." We are praying that Christ will come into the hearts of individual people, and at the same time we are praying for Christ's eventual return. We are "anticipating the day when all sin and evil and wrong and everything that is opposed to God shall finally have been routed. It means that we should have longings in our hearts for the time when the Lord will come back again...and the kingdoms of this world shall have become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ."

"Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" really speaks for itself. We know that God's will is perfectly done in heaven. When we are truly putting God first, we have no desire for anything that does not further God's work for now and for eternity. We trust that His answers are always what is for our good and His glory! Sometimes it's God's will to heal someone, sometimes not. I heard a radio preacher today say that whenever Jesus healed someone, He still left many afflicted. We do know that unless Jesus comes back first, we will all die eventually! And so we leave these decisions in God's hands, and we trust Him completely. Our own wills are subject to our sinful nature, but God's will is perfect. It's fine to ask God for whatever we desire, but at the same time we trust Him that His answer is the right one. Also, the closer we grow to the Lord, the more our wills come into line with His!

For our meditation:  "As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him." Psalm 18:30