Today has the potential to literally change the way we pray if we’ll open our hearts, minds, and spirits to it. This could level us up and take us to a whole other place, if we’ll absorb, listen, and receive what God wants to speak to us. We begin by praying the Lord’s model prayer together –
“Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.” – Matthew 6:9-13 KJV
It only takes twenty-one seconds for the average person to recite the Lord’s Prayer – twenty-one seconds that could change their life. We’ve all gone through seasons of ebb and flow in our prayer lives – some, where it wasn’t as vital and exciting as at other times. As we engage practices in prayer, they need to be sustainable and repeatable. When we run out of words, we might pray in a personal prayer language, or sometimes we might simply pray the Lord’s Prayer.
That can lead us to a place of worshipping God, and praising him in celebration – “Hallowed be Your name! Holy is Your name! Set apart is Your name! Glorious is Your name!” Scripture tells us that if we don’t praise him, that even the rocks will cry out – the Earth itself will rejoice.
Matthew 6:10 NKJV
“Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
As we read that, something rises up inside us, and we go from speaking it as a question or a petition to a decree and a declaration. This is what can change and revolutionize our prayer life. When we come before the Lord, we naturally want to be humble and gracious, and not be coming in puffed up.
But, Hebrews 4:16 tells us that we are to “come boldly to the throne of grace…” (boldness meaning audacity – coming in ready to go). That doesn’t mean we come in crawling on glass to get to the throne of grace – hoping God doesn’t thump us off the planet. No – he invites us to come to him courageously – boldly – confidently. When we know who we are, we’ll know what to do, and we’ll know how to act. We don’t act in self-confidence – we act in Christ– confidence.
Dr. Jack Taylor said that most people read the Lord’s Prayer very gently – with some soft music by Yani playing in the background. We’re so sweet, and we mean well, but the actual prayer is not a question – it’s a command. The Lord Jesus is inviting us, when we pray, to declare decree – speak (not ask). It switches our mentality and focus from a spirit of appeal to a spirit of declaration.
We stand in confidence on who we are in Christ and the fact that he has invited us to stand before him and make this declaration. Dr. Taylor said to do it this way: “Your Kingdom COME! Your Will BE DONE! On EARTH as it Is In HEAVEN!” The power of our words is such that God has anointed us (anointed – to smear or rub on. Hebrew: mâshach – the rubbing on or covering over). They would anoint kings for the task to come. Even today, ministers are anointed with oil when they are ordained.
The oil represents the very presence of God and the approval and empowerment of God upon a person’s life. It’s a powerful thing, that God, in a supernatural way by his Holy Spirit, has anointed us, and invited us into his presence to pray with his conferred authority. So, we step in – in this spirit: “Kingdom COME! Your Will Be DONE! On EARTH as it is In HEAVEN!” The power and the force in which this was given was a mandate. We are to declare into the atmosphere – our words change atmospheres.
We see the example when God spoke above the waters in Genesis chapter one. What did he do? How did he create the world? – with his words – he spoke it. He said – and it was – as he created the firmament – the heavens and the earth. He created every bit – man and woman – “he said… and it was good.” The power of words to effect, we see it replete all through Scripture. When Jesus was sleeping on the boat, having beautiful dreams of Heaven, a storm arose and the disciples lost their minds. When they woke Jesus, he stood up and said, “PEACE! Be STILL!” – and the waters went calm. He spoke – he declared – and when he did, things changed.
This speaks into the tone and the spirit in which we should pray the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus didn’t give us words just to be nice. He gave us words to move things – to impact – create movement in systems that he himself designed – that when we speak, something has to move something has to change. He gave us that authority. He anointed us with that power so that when we speak, something happens. When we begin to pray with that level of faith, intensity, and expectation, things move – things change.
In the past, at times, we prayed in a perfunctory way, not really leaning in, but just checking the box, making sure we got it done. Yes, we got through the prayer, but did we really have faith that what we prayed would actually create measurable movement? God didn’t give us the gift of prayer, or ask us to pray, by inviting us into his presence, for nothing to change. God is challenging us in a very real sense to up our prayer game.
Sometimes situations precipitate us upping our prayer game. When we’re confronted by severe storms in life, we’d better pray like we’re in a war room – intense and unafraid. In the spirit of that verse, “Your Kingdom COME! Your Will BE DONE! On EARTH.” Right here – right now! – just as it is in heaven, in the spirit of Psalm 91. If we’re going to get through a storm, we don’t stop – we punch through to the other side, where the sun is shining. The situation will sometimes precipitate an elevation of our prayer life. It’s a beautiful thing when we know what to do – what to declare – and the authority that we have after God has trained us in our own prayer rooms.
Pastor Jimmy’s devotional from Sunday morning
In The Lord’s Model Prayer, Jesus teaches His followers not only what to ask, but what to decree. What we say matters. As sons and daughters of the King of Kings, our words carry power, influence, and authority. “Your kingdom, come! Your will, be done! On earth as it is in heaven!”
Jesus often used imperatives in His teaching, and these three statements are declarations that convey a sense of urgency and importance. They also emphasize the call for immediate action. In the Luke version of the prayer, Jesus says, “When you pray, say…” In other words, this is not an “ask,” it is a decree.
As you pray the Lord’s Model Prayer, lean into your words as a declaration and notice how authoritative and powerful your words become.
The Greek aorist tense means there is no past, present, or future – there is only now. It’s not a delineation of actual time – it means immediate action. When Jesus said, “When you pray, say… Your Kingdom COME”. he meant now. “Your will be done…” now. “As it is in Heaven…” now. That changes the whole tone of this prayer for us – from one of passivity – just swinging in a hammock on a spring day – to NO – this means WAR. This is exactly the tone that Jesus indicated and implied when he taught his disciples how to pray – that we have to take a posture of war.
We need to understand that when we woke up this morning, there were forces aligned against us. The enemy is assaulting our hearts on a daily basis – in the primal deeper places of who we are. He’s trying to destroy us. He is strategic and he’s an opportunist, and he hates us. He can’t kill us, but he can marginalize us, and that’s why we have to take what Jesus taught us to do.
Sometimes we have to shake off the not-so-good things we were taught in our past and embrace what Jesus is saying right now, and in the way he actually meant it to be done and said – and then step into it. When we’re obedient to what God told us to do, his grace, anointing, and power come upon us – and we come into alignment with the King of Kings, with his heart – doing what he said to do – like he said to do it. He then can’t help but touch it, bless it – and empower it.
He wants us to stand up and fight – get on our knees and fight like a warrior. We need to re-construct our war rooms, but the beauty is that we can turn wherever we are into our war room. He is calling us out and saying that it’s time to fight the good fight of faith. It’s time to call in and declare his Kingdom (literally the King’s domain – dominion – i.e. the right or authority to rule over a kingdom).
Your Kingdom come
We can declare his kingdom over any realm of our life – he invites us into a partnership with him. In Scripture he calls it co-laboring with him – co-operating with him – and we do that through prayer. He has given us the tools – the prayer – he’s told us what to do – that we are to declare the Kingdom of God – the rule and reign of God, right here – right now – complete and total dominion in our life.
Matthew 6:33-34 NKJV
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Wherever we are – where we live, work, and play – we go in with our buckets full and overflowing.
Romans 14:17 NKJV
“ for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
Your will be done.
Romans 12:2 NKJV
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
We learn how to know his will by knowing his Word, and also by knowing his ways – by getting to know him, and he invites us in to have our minds renewed – to change the way we think – by coming into alignment with the way he thinks. Wouldn’t it be fun to do life, thinking what God thinks – seeing what God sees, and saying what God says? He will empower and anoint that.
1John 2:17 NKJV
“And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”
Where life, peace, and joy happen – where we live and abide in the center of his will – not on the edge, but walking centered in him. Do we want to see God – experience him? We need to purify our hearts. That purity will bring us closer than we can ever imagine.
Psalm 40:8 NKJV
“I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart.”
On earth as it is in Heaven
Is there sickness, pain, suffering, or tears in Heaven? He is inviting us to partner with him to bring Heaven to earth. This is radical, but it’s the Bible – and it’s Jesus. He’s inviting us to enter into a partnership of declaration and decree with God that says what we experience in Heaven someday, we should be experiencing now. He is calling us to call Heaven to earth if it’s not legal there, it shouldn’t be legal here – and that means we should stand up and fight against cancer – sickness – all things that are incongruent with the will and Kingdom of God.
If we need healing in a particular area of our lives, we need to bring that area of life into the Kingdom – the King’s domain – mind, body, spirit – all parts. We need to enter into his invitation to war when it comes to people we love and care about – in different situations and circumstances. Today, he’s inviting us to go to war – to fight on behalf of our family, children, friends, and co-workers – to fight the good fight of faith – and we do it by praying the Lord’s Prayer the way he intended. Your Kingdom Come. Your will be done on earth – right here – right now – as it is in Heaven. Until Heaven and earth line up, we keep praying – we keep standing. We keep fighting the good fight of faith.
Prayer
Father, in Jesus’ name, thank You for the gift of prayer – the gift of intercessions – of warfare You have given us in the Lord’s model prayer. Twenty-one seconds may turn into twenty-one minutes – twenty-one hours – twenty-one days – but whatever it is, Lord, we want to enter into this partnership of co-laboring and co-operating with You.
Father, we want to take responsibility for playing our role, and partner with You through prayers, even as the Book of Revelations refers to the prayers of the saints going up into the bowls in Heaven. We want to fill those bowls full with our prayers, intercession, and warfare.
Father, we ask You to bring revelation to us today, that we have been given permission and invitation by You to enter into powerful prayer that is measurable – that changes and moves things – resets systems – changes atmospheres and ethos in the workplace and in our homes as we stand and decree Your Word – aligning our prayers with the heart and intent of Jesus with new authority and confidence – not passive or like a beggar hoping the door opens, but expectantly like the persistent widow. Release Your anointing for intercession in prayer based on Your Word. In Jesus’ name. Amen
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on The Bridge
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