Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10 (ESV)

I think everyone recognizes this verse as part of “The Lord’s Prayer”. Jesus is telling his disciples to pray that the kingdom would come on earth like it is in heaven now. Is this something you pray? The Kingdom of God is a topic we don’t talk about much or perhaps even think about. However, it is to be a priority for us to be concerned about and to pray for. Jesus went on to say in verse 33, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness”. Praying for the kingdom is one way of seeking the kingdom and that should encourage us to pray more for it in our daily prayer time.

But how am I to pray?

My friend, T.M. Moore, has written a very good plan to pray for the Kingdom of God using Psalm 72. Let me give you the condensed version of this prayer guide that I use. It is divided into seven sections so you can use it over seven days or pray each section every day.

Prayer for the Kingdom of God - Psalm 72

Pray for righteousness in leaders and believers. (vv. 1,2)
“Righteousness” describes the character of the Kingdom of God, according to the Apostle Paul (Rom. 14.17, 18). Jesus Christ is the embodiment of God’s righteousness, so when we pray for the righteousness of God to be more in evidence in the leaders of our churches and the people they serve, we’re only asking that we all, together, should be clothed more fully with the Lord Jesus Himself. 

Pray that we are drawn more closely to Jesus and to be a blessing to others. (vv. 3,4)
Pray that the blessings of God will reach His Kingdom people, drawing us daily more deeply into Him and His life-changing power; and pray that we will go forth from His presence, blessed, and ready to be a blessing to the people around us, whatever blessing they may require. 

Pray that we influence others for the peace of God. (vv. 5-7)
Pray that God would use the evidence of holiness and our consistent practice of grace and truth to bear witness to Himself and His eternal power. The world will begin to fear God again, and to know the blessings of His peace, as we pray for our leaders and one another, that, by holiness and love, we might be able to influence those around us for peace.  

Pray for the Holy Spirit to increase the Kingdom. (vv. 8-11)
Prayer for the Kingdom’s increase, in and through us, must be wrapped in an envelope of prayer for the filling and working of God’s Spirit in His people and among the lost of this world. The power by which the Kingdom increases is not the power of politics or the sword. Only the power of God’s Spirit can bring people to their senses, endow them with the gift of faith, and begin the work of transforming grace in every aspect of their lives.  

Pray for the church to be moved to compassion for the least. (vv. 12-14)
Let us pray that the Kingdom of God may increase in the hearts and minds of church leaders and people, such that they are moved to greater compassion for the least of those in our communities, who will most likely only come to know the Lord when they are led to Him by those who show them consistent neighbor love and concern.  

Pray for increasing praise and thanksgiving. (vv. 15-17)
Let us pray that God’s people will see and acknowledge all their daily blessings. That we will set aside all grumbling and complaining and submit to the work of God’s Spirit in transforming us for Kingdom living. Let us learn to give praise and thanks to God as naturally as we breathe His air, see with His photons, hear by His sound waves, and work by the strength of His presence in us. Let us seek the presence and increase of the Kingdom by increasing praise and thanks to our good, wise, and generous King.   

Pray that God’s glory will be increasingly manifested. (vv. 18-20)
 The glory of God is attached to everyday things according to a string of superlatives. Attributes like goodness, beauty, excellence, compassion, kindness, generosity, thoughtfulness, patience, graciousness, and more all portend the working of God’s Spirit bringing the Kingdom of God to light in our lives. We can pray that such attributes might attach to more of our words and deeds. We can learn how to yield to God’s Spirit in everyday situations, so that He can make Christ known in and through us by such means. And we can encourage our fellow believers to let Jesus increase and themselves decrease to such an extent that these attributes, and others like them, might increasingly come to characterize our lives in every detail. 

David Timbie

If you have found this study helpful, take a moment to give thanks to God. Then share what you have learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads. (2 Cor. 4:15)