What is commonly referred to as the Lord’s prayer is actually the disciple’s prayer.  The Lord’s prayer, His intercession for His disciples and for us, is found in John 17.  In Matthew chapter 6 Jesus is instructing His disciples on how to pray as follows:  After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come,

God’s kingdom is His rule in the hearts of men now.  It is also the future rule of Christ during the Millennial Kingdom on earth.  He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly.  Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Revelation 22:20

Kingdom or basileia is primarily an abstract noun denoting sovereignty, royal power, and/or dominion. It is the territory or people over whom a king rules. The Kingdom of God is the sphere of God’s rule, but since this earth is the scene of universal rebellion against God, the Kingdom of God is the sphere in which, at any given time, His rule is acknowledged. It is important to note that God has not, in the face of human and demoniac rebellion, relinquished His sovereignty, but has declared His purpose to establish it.*

The fundamental principle of the Kingdom is declared in the words of the Lord spoken in the midst of a company of Pharisees, “the Kingdom of God is in the midst of you”, Luke 17:21. That is, where the King is, there is the Kingdom. Thus at the present time and so far as this earth is concerned, where the King is and where His rule is acknowledged, is, first, in the heart of the individual believer.* Christ in you, the hope of glory!

God calls upon men everywhere, without distinction of race or nationality, to submit voluntarily to His rule. Entrance into the Kingdom is through the new birth, John 3:3. Nothing that a man may be by nature, or can attain to by any form of self-culture, avails in the spiritual realm.*

Concerning the future, the Lord taught His disciples to pray, “Thy Kingdom come”, where the verb is in the point tense, precluding the notion of a gradual progress and development, and implying a sudden catastrophic event, II Thessalonians 2:8.*

Concerning the present; that a man is of the Kingdom of God is not shown in the punctilious observances of ordinances, which are external and material, but in the deeper matters of the heart, which are spiritual and essential; “righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit”, Romans 14:17.*

Outward trappings do not a kingdom make.

*W.E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words; pg 344 & 345.

…let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…

What is commonly referred to as the Lord’s prayer is actually the disciple’s prayer.  The Lord’s prayer, His intercession for His disciples and for us, is found in John 17.  In Matthew chapter 6 Jesus is instructing His disciples on how to pray when He instructs them as follows: 

But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. After this manner therefore pray ye:  Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed (set apart) be thy name.

When God called Moses to deliver the children of Israel from bondage in Egypt, Moses asked God; Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name?  what shall I say unto them?  And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. Exodus 3:13&14.

We may ask, what’s in a name?  What does the name I AM teach us about God?  I AM is present tense.  With God, there is no past or future.  He sees all things in the present.

God has always been and He always will be.  He is eternal and infinite.  We are not.  Time is just a parenthesis in eternity.  Time is a created thing with a beginning and an end.  God is not confined to time.  He created it.

God lives outside of time and outside of the universe in the third heaven.  The universe is His tent.  He observes and controls everything within time according to His purpose.  We are created beings, confined to time and the physical, but God is a Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.  In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.  And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.  Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.            John 14:1-6

…let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…

What is commonly referred to as the Lord’s prayer is actually the disciple’s prayer.  Jesus is instructing His disciples on how to pray in Matthew 6.  The Lord’s prayer, His intercession for His disciples and for us, is found in John chapter 17.

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. After this manner therefore pray ye:  Our Father which art in heaven….

Who can say God is my father?  God is the father of all those who have been born again.  This is a spiritual birth.  Everyone has been born physically, but those who have repented (changed their minds) and believed in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, by grace through faith, have been born again.  Jesus explained in John chapter 3 that unless one is born again, he or she cannot see the kingdom of God.  I Peter 1:23 states it this way; Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.  Romans 10:17; So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Some believe that God is the father of all mankind and in a sense, as Creator of all, He is. But Jesus made a distinction when He addressed the religious leaders of His day.  Jesus said; Ye are of your father the devil and the lusts (desires) of your father ye will do (John 8:44).  Again, in the same chapter Jesus declares; He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God (John 8:47).  God is not the father, therefore, of those who will not hear His Word.

On the other hand; But as many as received him (Jesus Christ), to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.  John 1:12&13

And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba (papa), Father.  Galatians 4:6

…let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…

It is too easy for believers to take a light view of confessing our sin. It’s true that the confession of sin is taking God’s side against ourselves.  It is true that confession is saying about our own sin the same thing God says about it, but there is a deeper element to confession of sin. The deeper element is searching our own heart.

The difference between confessing sin and searching the heart is kinda like the difference between tilling or plowing the ground. Tilling is dealing with the surface.  Plowing is going deep and turning the ground over.

The surface part of confession is recognizing our sin when it happens.  The turning over of the ground, the plowing part, is recognizing that there is a deeper root problem within that produces the surface sin.

For example, when we get angry about something, what produces that anger?  I’m not talking about righteous anger.  I’m talking about the thing that pulls our trigger.  Are we proud or impatient?  Are we prone to road rage?  Are we judgmental and condescending?  Are we biased toward others?  We should be asking God to show us what produces our anger.

Is it enough to till it under by naming it as sin?  If we are hungering and thirsting after righteousness, we will plow the depths to find the root cause for that particular sin.  What bubbles to the surface should be called what it is, but there should also be a concern about what is producing the bubbles down deep in the heart. 

I am convinced that we take for granted our thought patterns.  Why do we think the way we do?  Is it because for as long as we can remember it has been this way?  What settled that thought pattern?  Was it the culture?  Was it something that grandma or grandpa always said?  Was it an attitude fostered in our community or in our school or church?   Is it the result of family pride?  Is it a biblical thought pattern?

Plowing the depths is indicative of a hunger and thirst for  righteousness.  Judicially Christians stand justified before God dressed in the righteousness of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.  As we experience spiritual growth and practical righteousness, we should find ourselves increasingly concerned about how indwelling sin affects our deepest motives.

Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.  Psalm 139:23&24

…let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…