3 Reasons to Pray for the Kingdom of God

When asked about prayer, Jesus instructed His disciples to pray “Your kingdom come.” Let’s consider some reasons why this prayer is so important.

In His outline of prayer, Jesus teaches us that after addressing our Father in heaven and hallowing His name, we are next to pray “Your kingdom come” (Matthew 6:10). Jesus’ intent wasn’t that we simply repeat these three words over and over again in our prayers, for He also instructed that prayer shouldn’t be a matter of mere repetition (verse 7). So how are we to approach this concept in our prayers?

When we pray for the Kingdom, we should pray it with meaning—and even consider why the Kingdom (God’s government) is so needed today. In fact, as we pray, we can discuss with God the reasons why we are praying for His Kingdom to come.  

A hard prayer

Consider this: If we don’t deeply consider the reasons God’s Kingdom is needed, then we could get in the habit of just mouthing the words during our prayers. If we do that, they have little meaning.

It is even possible to not really want the Kingdom to come because we could think of it as possibly interrupting our plans and goals for the future. Many also know that the Kingdom will be preceded by the worst times recorded in human history (Matthew 24:21-22)—so some may be reticent to pray for something that will be preceded by such suffering. We can also think that our lives are going just fine and that we don’t have a pressing need for the Kingdom.

These reasons are not legitimate reasons to avoid the Kingdom. Let’s consider three reasons we should frequently pray for the Kingdom of God—and these reasons outweigh any reason to not pray for it.

1. The direction of our world.

Though the United States still remains relatively sheltered, a casual glance at world news tells us that this world desperately needs the Kingdom of God. The civil war in Syria, conflicts in Africa, terrorist attacks and shootings across the world, natural disasters and the immigration crisis in Europe are a few of the major hot topics that are pressing on the world today.  

On top of all that, the majority of the world’s population still lives under crushing poverty. Jesus Christ was clear that world conditions will get dramatically worse as His return approaches (Matthew 24:5-7).

2. Worldwide pain and suffering.

We live in a world that is full of pain. Billions of people are hurting and experience pain and discomfort that can be hard for those in the Western world to understand. For some people, death is the only release from their daily suffering.

The Kingdom is the only hope for an end to all of the suffering and pain in our world. Christ’s return to resurrect faithful saints and establish the Kingdom is our hope and our comfort (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). The Kingdom offers not only the hope for a better physical world during the millennial reign of Christ, but also the hope of eternal spirit life.

3. The blessings of the Kingdom are beyond what we can totally comprehend.

It doesn’t matter how good your life on this earth is right now, the Kingdom will be much better. The Kingdom will be so great that we cannot even comprehend how awesome it will be. The Bible tells us that without the Holy Spirit we can’t understand the full glory and magnificence of the Kingdom (1 Corinthians 2:9; 13:12). The death, destruction and darkness of this world will be things of the past (Revelation 21:3-5). There will be a level of peace on earth that humanity has never achieved on its own (Isaiah 11:6-9).

Make it your first priority

The Kingdom of God should be our primary goal (Matthew 6:33). It’s not an accident that it is one of the first things Jesus mentioned in His model prayer (Matthew 6:10). We should earnestly seek and desire God’s Kingdom (Hebrews 11:13-16).   

This world needs God’s Kingdom. We need God’s Kingdom. We should never fail to pray, “Your Kingdom come.”

For more insight into this important part of prayer, read “Thy Kingdom Come.”