The Lord’s Prayer

Matt 6:9,10 Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

What comes to mind when you hear that scripture? What does that mean to you? How do you think it registers in most people’s minds? I don't think it always gets through. I think it has become a religious concept that most people think is just a nice phrase to hear and speak, but they shouldn't really expect it to become a reality.

Well, it will become a reality; it's just a matter of time, but why do we not understand that God is absolutely serious about this and we should be too? The church's main priority should be for the "Lord’s Prayer" to become a reality. When it does become our priority, evangelization, harvest of souls, healing of bodies, spiritual growth to maturity, and everything else we are trying to accomplish will take care of themselves. We will not need to be overly concerned about it because it will just happen. We are presently majoring in minors and wonder why we don’t see better results.

Our goal should be not just to pray this prayer but to work toward its realization on earth, toward a time when only those things that please God and benefit mankind will happen. What do you suppose that would be? Well, for starters, joy, peace, wisdom, good health, wholeness, signs, wonders, miracles, and all the other good promises we read about in the Bible.

Those things should be freely operating here on this planet in your home, your church, your business, and your school. They should be a constant in your life. Why is that not an actuality in all our lives? Because the enemy hinders it, and we allow it. He doesn’t have the power or authority to stop it, but he has the ability to convince us that it is not a realistic expectation. Therefore, we inhibit it by never working towards it or by never entering into the battle that it takes to bring it into our earth's atmosphere.

The things that are not free to operate in heaven—sin, sickness, disease, spiritual bondage, etc.—should not be free to operate here either. Why, then, do these things freely operate here? According to what Jesus said, it's because the will of God is not done on earth as it is in heaven. If God's will is not predominately the will being done on earth, then whose will is done here?

I think we all know the answer to that. It's presently an incompatible mixture of man's, the devil’s, and the Lords. How could that be? We allow it. We don’t believe it is possible to eliminate the enemy's activities because we think it would have to be done in our own strength, and we know we don't have enough.

Another significant hindrance of recent times is thinking we need not bother because we believe we are going to be snatched out of here soon anyway. This view is unscriptural and was formed and believed only in the modern church era. I believe it is a key deterrent to the Lord’s will being done on earth as it is in heaven.

When we realize that the Lord’s prayer should be our mission and work toward it, it will be an earth-shattering event, and the world will never be the same. The darkness and rule of the enemy will be removed. People will be free of the deceptions placed on their minds by Satan and will find their true purpose and destinies. Talent, money, and energy will be freed up to do good in place of evil. Then the stage is set for the knowledge of the glory of God to cover the earth as water covers the sea. Habakuk 2:14 We, the church, need to realize that it is possible and that Jesus gave us the authority to accomplish it.

Ray Cleghorn is a retired pastor with several books listed on Amazon.com and elsewhere. His books and articles topics range from theological and eschatological to contemporary issues facing Christians today.