His Kingdom

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

HIS KINGDOM

Luke 11:2-4

2 He said to them, "When you pray, say:

"'Father,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come.  

3 Give us each day our daily bread.

4 Forgive us our sins,

for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.

And lead us not into temptation.

NIV

Now that we have hollowed His name, we look to asking that his kingdom come. Matthew included. “Your kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven” Whenever we think of a kingdom we think of a castle where the king has his throne or rules over the whole of his kingdom. Of course, we know that God rules over heaven. We know that all the angels in heaven serve at his pleasure and that some time ago, there was one of the most beautiful angels that God created, Lucifer, who wanted to be more than simply a created spiritual being meant to serve God and rebelled, even getting some of the other angels taken his side. But God is the king of heaven and cast his angel and his co-conspirators out of heaven and down to earth. What we are asking is that God, the one true king of the one and true kingdom of heaven become our king and rule over our lives, as he rules over all the angels in heaven. What we are praying is that we no longer have rule over our own lives, we are no longer rebellious and only desire to serve at his pleasure. Being the subject of a king also means that He has all the authority over our lives, in fact, He can choose whether we live or die. However, because the Lord God our King is filled with great compassion toward us, and He came to earth in our form and lived a perfect life, so that He could satisfy His own need for justice, and paid His own price thus allowing us to choose Him over ourselves, and because we accept His grace, Jesus, as our Lord, Savior, and King, we have been given eternal life. So, we live in this kingdom of God that has come to earth. We are simply asking God to be the ruling King of our lives. This means that we no longer have a say in how we live, where we live, where we work, what we do in this life, even what church we are to be in, and what part of the body we are supposed to serve as. Nothing in our lives is now our choice but are all under the kingship of God. Of course, all this depends on whether we truly want His kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven, and if we do want His kingdom over us, then we must always be listening to his direction. True, it may come from the mouth of another person, or from a visiting angel, or a vision, or an inspiration of the Spirit, or even His own voice as he whispers in our ears. We just need to pay attention and trust and obey, as we live in His kingdom.