Often our answer would be "Who are you & what good have you done for us that we should except Your reign?"
Now God need not reply, yet out of love He does: "I am Your Father, the creator God, who loved the world so much that I gave My one & only Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. His shed blood brought righteousness & sanctification, peace & access into My presence. With the stripes on His back you were healed & made whole.
He redeemed you from the curse of falling short. He sees you your needs ahead of time & makes provision for them. He is your banner who goes into battle before you & breaks open the way. You do not have to fear death or hell because He is the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for His sheep, abolished death & brought life & immortality to light".
Then once more God asks, "May I reign over you?" God reigns over you when you obey Him, accept His rule & authority in your life & become active in Jesus' kingdom movement to defeat evil, redeem sinners & bring mankind the blessings of God's reign. This essentially, is what we are earnestly desiring when we declare, "Thy kingdom come. thy will be done." We are submitting to God & calling upon Him to perform His will on earth.
Consider the verbs in these two statements" Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven". In the Greek, the verbs are placed at the beginning of these two statements for emphasis. The meaning can be translated to say that it is like a man firmly & decisively putting his foot down. "Come, kingdom of God be done, will of God"
In other words I am drawing the line here, this is the way it's going to go, I am putting down my foot." That is the is the idea of these two statements. therefore it is neither arrogant nor presumptuous to declare boldly, "Come kingdom of God. Be done, will of God.
God has a will for each day of your life; therefore put your foot down in prayer. Instead of constantly mouthing weak little prayers such as:
"Oh Jesus please help me," begin boldly declaring God's promise. Stand in the victory that Christ has won for you. refuse to let satan's puny attempts to intimidate you hinder God's mighty purposes. Declare that God's will shall be done, that His kingdom shall come. Paul tells us Rom 14:17
for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
We want God's priorities to become established in our lives, but so often we allow many things that cause anxiety & trouble to crowd out the important things, things that should be given top priorities.
For example have you ever buttoned up your shirt & missed the top button? you glance down & realise that everything is out of line & you have to unbutton it & start over. Life is like that if you don't have God as your top priority, nothing else will line up as it should. Your health, emotions, goals, & relationships get off centre.
As you give time to prayer & seek God's wisdom, the Lord will begin to correct & realign your schedule, revealing solutions to your time management problems.
Ordering your time priorities is important, but next you must establish prayer priorities. As you pray, you must declare that God's kingdom come & His will be done in these four major areas:
1. Yourself 2. Your family. 3. Your church. 4. Your nation.
Begin with yourself James 5:16 says
...The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
Unless you are right before God, your prayers will not be effective. Each day pray that God's kingdom-His righteousness, joy, &peace-be-established in you & that His will for you that day be set in your spirit.
You need divine wisdom & revelation if you are properly to administrate your home, business, resources & so on. When you pray, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done." Invite Jesus to assume His rightful place of the throne of your heart & to rule your spirit, soul, & body. Then pray over the particular concerns in which you will be involved in throughout the day.
Ask the Holy Spirit to empower you ability, efficiency & might. In the words of Jude 20
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,
Stay before the Lord till the course of your day is set & the Holy Spirit is functioning in you. This is vitally important, for if Jesus is not Lord in you, He will not be Lord in your second priority – your family.
If you are married pray for your mate. Pray that righteousness, peace, & joy rule in their life. Making the faith declaration, " Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done," pray over their needs until the Spirit releases you to move on in prayer. This is vitally important because if you loose your own house, your work for the house of God will be greatly hindered.
Our families must come first. some of the most remorseful people are individuals who tried to win the world for God but lost their own families in the process.
If you have children declare, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done," in each of there lives. Make specific petitions. Listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to you regarding your children.
Pray also over the person they will marry & pray that they will not get out of the perfect will of God for their lives.
Ask the Lord to lay other family members on your heart. Allow the circle of your concern & compassion to be enlarged.
At times when you are in prayer there will be times when you can't leave one person. When that happens be sensitive to the Holy Spirit because He know what that person needs that day. Make sure you do not rush through some prayer formula, but pray until the Holy Spirit releases you.
If your prayer time has gone & you have not prayed through all the topics in the Lords Prayer, stop & then pick up the prayer outline where you left off at the first opportunity later that day – driving your car, working around the house, before going to sleep. Let your life become a life of prayer. Learn to "pray the price" for what you need.
Everyday when God Asks, "May I reign in you?," Joyfully say: Yes! Yes! Thy kingdom come, Lord!
Thy will be done. I call upon you to perform your perfect will in me & my children & in my loved ones. I place your will before my own desires."
Your third prayer priority is your church. Prayer for the Pastor(s), the leadership of the church, the faithfulness of the people & the harvest.
As you prayer for your Pastor(S), ask God to anoint him or her, speak to him or her & direct him or her, Petition the Lord to giver your pastor(S) a shepherd's heart to impart wisdom & to make him or her a pure channel through which the gifts & power of the Holy Spirit can flow.
When you pray for the leader's say their name, as you pray for them one by one, the Holy Spirit often will show who you specific needs. Pray for the people in the church who are ministering in ways that touch your own life directly. The Lord will make various groups & organisations in the church. Ask the Lord to show them how to breath in through fellowship & breath out through evangelism.
Pray that the people of the church will be faithful to their families, to the vision God has given your church & to Jesus. Entreat the Holy Spirit to plant
them in the house of the Lord, so they will bring forth fruit as soul winners & intercessors. Pray that they will be faithful to bring their offerings into the storehouse so that they serve God as He deserves to be served.
When praying for the harvest use the passage in Is 43:5-7 which is passage God gave me to pray my children into the kingdom:
Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your descendants from the east, And gather you from the west; I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not keep them back!’ Bring My sons from afar, And My daughters from the ends of the earth— Everyone who is called by My name, Whom I have created for My glory;
I have formed him, yes, I have made him
Therefore as we pray over our church, we speak to the powers & principalities of the air who work in the children of disobedience (Eph 2:2). These powers & principalities hold the reins over certain areas, so we speak to the north of our church as if it were a person & say, "North, you have people of God who wills them to become part of our church. I command you in the name of Jesus to release every person who is supposed to become part of this body."
Then we speak to the south, east & west, & in the spirit we look them right in the face. & command them release to everyone-not every other one-that God has ordained to be saved, planted, strengthened & established in our church. We must tarry there in prayer till we have a release in our spirit that the evil powers are listening & relinquishing what belongs to us.
Through the Holy Spirit we then face those geographical areas & challenge them until they drop the reins of control. Then in Jesus name we ask for the ministering angels to be dispatched to the hearts of salvation. (Heb 1:13-14).
Your fourth prayer priorities is your nation. Pray that the prime minister will have the wisdom of God; that spiritual leaders will walk in wisdom, be people of prayer & be kept by the power of God, pray specifically, naming your city, state, & national leaders. Intercede for your country. Pray for revival.
The Lord also commands us to pray for Jerusalem (PS 122:6) Pray also for the success of Israel.
You may like to ask the Lord to lay another nation on your heart, like communist nations, countries experiencing revolution or famine, & so forth. Allow the Spirit of God to enlarge your boarders of concern & compassion.
You now may realise how simple it is to pray for one hour. you are now learning how to pray for multitudes of things that once caused you to fear, worry, frustration. & now instead of thinking, How could I ever pray for an hour? you may be wondering, How can I ever get through in one hour?
You see our problem has been simple. Not knowing what to say or do when we prayed, we wore ourselves out in about ten minutes. But Jesus said. "After this manner pray ye"& He gave us an outline to follow.
In the context of this prayer are five major themes that have been restored to vitality in the church in our time. They are praise & worship; kingdom authority; prosperity; relationships; & spiritual authority. Each of those themes is there, in perfect balance. In the context of this prayer is everything you need in order to live full & free in spiritual victory.
Being in the will of God requires four things:
1. Fellowship with Jesus through prayer & Reading the Word of God.
2. Fellowship with God's church.
3. Diligent balanced work habits.
4. Obedience in giving.
Fellowship with Jesus. To be in the will of God, daily fellowship with Jesus in the word & prayer is essential. If like the rich young ruler (Mk 10:17-22), you have religion but not a relationship with God, you will not experience God's peace, purpose, or power. (Acts 1:8 Amp)
But you will receive power and ability when the
Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be My witnesses [to tell people about Me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.” Fellowship with one another. Heb 13:17 Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you. It is God's will that we relate to our brothers & sisters in our local church.
We should also be committed & submitted to our pastor. We are commanded not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together; we are to exhort one another (Heb 10:25). Exhort means to admonish, to urge one to pursue some future course of conduct. It is wonderful to fellowship with believers who can impel us morally, encourage & urge us forward & stimulate us to good works. Balanced diligent work habits. The next prerequisite to being in the will of God is to have diligent, balanced work habits. Paul gives instructions regarding work.
1 Thess 4:11,12 that
you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing. Paul warned us not to be neglectful of duty & pass out lives in idleness, being busy with other peoples affairs instead of our own, thus doing no work. 1 Thess 3:11,12 Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you. And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, Paul also said that "If any should not work neither should he eat. 2 Thess3:10 Obedience in giving. The fourth prerequisite to be in the will of God is obedience in giving Mal3:10 God promises if we bring our tithes into the storehouse, He will open the windows of heaven & pour out so many blessings we cannot contain them. Acknowledging God as our source & giving unselfishly back to Him helps destroy the root of evil, the love of money (1Tim 6:9). If we take care of the root of evil, we will not have the fruit of evil in our lives. Mal 3:8,9 says that if you rob God then He promises to curse you. Obedience in giving is essential if we are to receive God's best. We need to realise there is a proper order to giving & receiving. First, we give that there may be meat in God's house; then He blesses our house. First we give; then it is given to us. (Lk 6:38) Matt 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. When we give to God first, rather then hoarding our limited resources, we acknowledge that He is our source. We must also obey God when He asks us to give the unusual or unexpected. Believe that it is God's will to prosper you in all areas of your life Phil 4:19 says And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Our Father is faithful to keep His promise to His children who seek blessings in order that they might be able to stretch out filled hands to the needy. God doesn't bless us so that we can tear down out barns to build bigger ones.
Believers sometimes misunderstand the purpose of God's blessings & drown in there own stew. God knows that money is a necessity, the Scriptures are full with instructions of how to make, save, give, & manage money. God wants His children to be givers, not takers; to be the head, not the tail; to be lenders, not borrowers. Another aspect of praying God's provision is making specific requests. we need to bring specific needs to God everyday & not just expect the answers to come in. Give us this day our daily bread. By this we know that we are to pray daily over our specific needs. Immediately after Jesus gave his disciples the Lords Prayer in Luke 11, He related a parable illustrating the importance of asking specifically. Lk 11:5-6 And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; The man asked specifically for three loves of bread. When you pray Give us this day our daily bread, ask specifically!
First we must pray for the specific needs for the house of God, then we pray for the specific needs for own house. Prayer outline.
1. Be in the will of God A. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you develop a consistent, daily personal prayer life & in time the Word where you fellowship daily with Jesus.
B Pray the Lord will plant you in a local church & make you contributing, functioning, healthy part of that body.
C. Examine your work habits. Are you slothful? A workaholic? Ask the Lord to give you ability, efficiency, might & balance.
D Examine your giving. Are you obeying the Lord in bringing in your offerings to the storehouse? Or are you greedy or a poor manager? Do you pray your bills & have a reputation as a fair honest person who keeps your word? Take time to pray along these lines. II Believe it is God's will to prosper you.
A. Memorise Scriptures such as Luke 6:38 & Philippines 4;19 to use as a faith declarations as you pray in your provision.
B. Meditate upon the Word of God until you truly understand & Believe it. III Be specific A. Bring specific needs daily before God.
B. Decide to pray instead of worry. IV Be tenacious.
A. Repossess lost ground the devil has stolen from you. Discouragement & unbelief have robbed you of answers to prayer. Take up those petitions again & persevere until the answer comes.
B. Praise the Lord because He is Jehovah-jireh: He sees your need beforehand & makes provision.
Acknowledgement Larry Lea.
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