Bible Text: Luke 11:2 | Preacher: G.F. | Series: Lord Teach us to Pray

“And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come..” – Luke 11:2

What motivates your prayer life? The question I am asking is, do you seek God’s kingdom first, or are your prayers motivated by dire circumstances and needs?

My guess is for 99% of us, we are most fervent in prayer when we feel most troubled and vulnerable. And when we feel most troubled and vulnerable, what do we focus our prays on? Our focus is on God getting us out of that trouble. The temptation is to view God as a means to an end. Jesus is teaching us in this passage that this type of praying is upside down. The main focus of our prayers should be God and His glory.

E. Stanley Jones in his book Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome writes: “Prayer is surrender–surrender to the will of God and cooperation with that will. If I throw out a boat-hook from the boat and catch hold of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore to me, or do I pull myself to the shore? Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God.”

John Bunyon (Pilgrim’s Progress) once said, “When thou prayest, rather let thy heart be without words than thy words without heart”. Anyone can merely say the words of a prayer, but if your heart and soul aren’t in the words, then they are empty words – but when you back your words with a willing desire to see God’s kingdom come, then you are truly approaching the throne of God through prayer.

“We are taught to pray that God’s kingdom may come — ‘Your kingdom come.’ — In so saying, we declare our desire that the usurped power of Satan may speedily be cast down, that all mankind may acknowledge God as their lawful King, and that the kingdoms of this world may become in fact as they are in promise the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ. The final setting up of this kingdom has been long predicted even from the day of Adam’s fall. The whole creation groans in expectation of it. The last prayer of the Bible points to it. The canon of Scripture almost closes with the words, ‘Come, Lord Jesus.” – J.C. Ryle.