The God-focused Prayer, Part Two

In the last post, I wrote about God’s paternity and His position, as evidenced in the Lord’s prayer (the model prayer). When we come to God in prayer, we are to recognize that first of all, God is our Father and He is not of this world – He is totally other.

Yet the model prayer does not stop there. There are three phrases which are based upon verse 10c. The three phrases “hallowed be your name,” “your kingdom come,” and “your will be done” are to be read with the context of the following phrase “on earth as it is in heaven.”

This is a powerful prayer when we read it right. God’s name is hallowed already in heaven. God’s kingdom has come in heaven! God’s will is done in heaven! Now, knowing this, we are to pray that these three things will be accomplished on earth. This is not to say that the Lord’s will is not done on earth, for certainly, God is sovereign and His will is never thwarted. However, as believers in Christ, we are to pray with an earnestness that God’s name be considered holy on earth as it is in heaven; and that God’s kingdom would reign on earth; and that God’s will would be perfectly done on earth!

John Piper said it best: “The coming of God’s kingdom and the doing of his will on earth the way the angels do it in heaven is the victory of God. This is the consummation of the ages. This is what everything is moving toward. And Jesus says, Pray for it. Pray for it! Ask God to hallow his name. Ask him to bring in his kingdom. Ask him to make his will be done.”

Therefore, to have a God focused prayer, we must remember to come to Him knowing that life in this world is not about us. We should not come to the Lord primarily with man focused needs. We should be concerned with who God is, where God is, and what God wants to do.