Fortunately this is not a prayer for the end of the world but rather a prayer for God's Kingdom to continually break into our lives now, even as we await in hope its coming in the fullness of time.
One scripture scholar recently said that the kingdom of God might better be expressed as a verb--the reigning of God. I like that. This helps us to understand that after calling God our Abba (see the last reflection on this blog), we pray that Abba and his values will rule over our life and take priority over any other philosophy or political system.
To pray for the reigning of God to come about is also to pray that injustice be overcome, that life be respected, the war will end and that there will be peace between peoples and an end to hatred. Yes, realistically we know that until the coming of Christ in the fullness of time none of these ideals will be fully realized. At the same time God's Kingdom or reigning breaks in among us whenever these ideals are realized, to whatever limited extent that may be so.
In this world of racially charged trials, kidnappings and acts of terrorism I am so lifted up by the many acts of love, service and kindness that do not get reported. God is indeed reigning in many ways. Let's just continue to open the doors and to open our hearts to let that happen even more.
The Lord is teaching us here that our prayer is not just about ourselves, but about bringing about the good that God desires. May God reign over our hearts and over everything that we do!
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