Sometimes are prayers are too small. We pray for simple, personal needs and desires. There is nothing wrong with that. In fact, later in the Lord’s Prayer those things are covered. However there is also a time for big prayers, prayers that require an Almighty God to do answer. When we come to the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “Your Kingdom come,” it is as if God Himself says, “Ask me for something big, something hard. Ask me to send My Kingdom to the earth!”
Now that’s a big request, that’s serious business. It’s asking Jesus to come back and bring down the curtain on world history. It’s implying that until that happens we want Him to invade our world and transform us, having His Kingdom now reign and rule in our hearts. That’s serious business indeed.
Notice, too, that this is the shortest petition in the Lord’s Prayer – 4 words in Greek, 3 in English. Clearly length does not indicate importance when it comes to praying. There is nothing wrong with long prayers, nothing at all. But they aren’t ‘better’ than shorter prayers just because more words are used. God hears our heart and answers in response to our desire, not the number of our words (Mark 12:40; Luke 20:47).
In addition, this is a command. It’s an imperative in the Greek. It’s not a suggestion or a sentimental statement, but a strong, heart-felt entreaty. And in the Greek the verb is placed first for emphasis. Literally the prayer is “Come now, Kingdom of God!” We aren’t praying for patience to wait until it finally comes, we are requesting it to come right away, in its totality or at least in my life. There is an urgency about this, a dissatisfaction with how things are going and an all-encompassing need for God’s Kingdom to come RIGHT NOW!
Yes, that’s a big prayer. So keep praying your small prayers but don’t neglect to pray the big prayers God wants you to pray as well. Pray now, and mean it, “Lord, I really want your Kingdom to come right here and right now, today!” That’s the very first request Jesus tells us to make when we pray. If you want to pray like Jesus wants you to pray then you’ll start your prayer with this.
(Written by Jerry Schmoyer, 2014. You can find more of his writings at http://www.christiantrainingonline.org/. If you have questions or suggestions feel free to contact him at jerry@schmoyer.net)