Matthew 6:10 “Desires”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁰Your kingdom come; Your desire be done on earth as also in heaven.

As I am studying these lines of the Lord’s Prayer, it strikes me we are uttering far more than simple wishes. In a sense, these words express the most basic difference in a born-again heart. Satan’s words were, “I will ascend my throne above the stars of heaven; I will be like the Most High,” then ever since the Fall, we have all been born “children of disobedience.” Rebellion against the Lord is now the very essence of life in this fallen world. God’s advice to us all is, “Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way” (Ps. 2:12).  That Psalm then goes on to say, “Blessed are all those who take refuge in Him.”

Thus, there are those in this world who refuse to “kiss the Son,” and those who do “kiss” Him and “take refuge in Him.” To kiss the Son and to take refuge in Him are the very essence of salvation itself. Romans 10:9 assures us, “That if you will confess with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.” Confessing “Jesus is Lord” is the same as to “Kiss the Son,” both reflecting submission to His Lordship over us. Believing in our heart that “God raised Him from the dead” is the same as “taking refuge in Him.” It is accepting the salvation He offers.

I would assume anyone reading these thoughts has, in fact, kissed the Son. It is then us who pray, “Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” In light of Daniel’s prophecies, to pray, “Thy kingdom come” would look forward to the end when “the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed” (2:44), and when Jesus is finally crowned King and “His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey Him” (7:27). We all look forward to that day when “every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Phil. 2:10,11). There will be a very real kingdom where Jesus Himself is the King and we believers long for that day to come. We will happily bow the knee to Him – as we already have!

In my own opinion, however, I see no reason to limit our understanding to that coming literal kingdom. As a believer, my heart is His kingdom (or at least should be).  My redeemed self today totally accepts that Jesus is the rightful King over this world and over all Creation. He may be an exiled king, but he is still King. That fact spills into the second line of this verse: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” As a believer, I want God’s will to be done. Even here in this Fallen world of hate and violence, in every way possible, I want to see God’s will to prevail – and so we pray for an end to wars, for good government over us, for the health and well-being of others.

However, it goes far deeper than that, as I know my own Adamic self is still there wanting rather to rebel against what I know to be God’s will. To pray, “Thy will be done” actually starts with my own heart, my own life. One thing I like is that the Greek word translated “will” could actually be better translated “desire.” People get all twisted up, sorting between the Lord’s “sovereign” will versus what is called by some His “moral” will. His sovereign will is simply that which He has decreed and which will happen. His moral will would be what He desires and that part of His will where we must decide if we will cooperate with Him or fight Him.

Obviously, since the word “will” here is best translated “desire,” we’re considering the latter, His moral will or what He desires for us and from us. We’re praying that people would do what God desires, be the kind of people He wants us to be, to treat others the way He wants us to, to be the kind of spouses and parents and children and workers, etc. He wants us to be. We long for a world where everyone acts like Jesus is already King.

That is where this prayer gets personal. If I’m praying that God’s desires would be accomplished here on earth just as they are in heaven, then apparently I intend to be a willing part of that! My redeemed self will say, “Yes! I want my desires to be God’s desires. I want to live my day today cooperating with Him. If I want others to live like Jesus is King, then, for me, it starts with my heart and my life.” That said, I know myself too well to have any hope whatsoever that I’ll actually accomplish that.

It then becomes part of our individual prayers: “Lord, I know, without You, I can do nothing. However, today I do want to be a willing part of whatever it is You are doing in my life and in this world. Let Your desires be my desires. Make me holy like You. Help me, every word I say, everything I do, to please You. May Your will be done today in this world and may You help me every minute to be a happily willing servant in whatever way You choose to use me.”  

Only a redeemed soul can sincerely pray such a prayer and mean it.

One last thought on this subject – this matter of “desires” is critically important. It is really our problem. It is, in one way, our whole problem. What exactly is a “sin-nature?” How exactly does that weave its poison through us and drag us down to hell? Here’s my thought: It is specifically this matter of our desires. What do I want? What allures me? If all I had in my soul were holy desires, sin would hold no attraction for me. To have a sin nature is to be driven by unholy, wrongful, sinful desires. And that is the engine that drives our “bent for sinning.”

It’s like this: If I take a wriggling worm, put him on a hook, and drop him in the water, how does that affect fish? Well (hopefully), it allures the fish. He sees it as very desirable. That wormy shape and the way it wriggles to him is irresistibly attractive. He thereupon resolves in his little heart that he will have it and darts after it, only too late realizing it contains a hook.

If I happened to be snorkeling in the area and saw the same hook and worm, would I have to struggle desiring it like my fish friend did? Would my soul see it as delicious? Would I resolve to dart for it? Of course not. And why not? Because we don’t see worms as delicious and frankly have no desire for them. The fish goes for the worm and gets hooked. You or I simply have no desire, so that hook holds no danger for us. We simply have no desire for worms.

That is, at the root of it all, the difference between being holy or being a sinner. If we only desire what the Lord does, we’ll have no struggle with sin. When our hearts are filled with evil desires (like even us believers now), then sin (and its hook) will be a constant struggle. It’s all a matter of our desires. So, then, when we pray, “Thy will (desire) be done on earth as it is in heaven,” we’re longing for a world where I don’t even want to sin – when it holds no more attraction to me than a wriggling worm.

As we find in II Peter 1:4, “…He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” Another reason to study and know our Bibles is to know our Lord’s “very great and precious promises.” Knowing His Word strengthens our “shield of faith” by helping us desire only what God desires.

And that is the root of the problem.

Matthew 6:9 “Father”

 Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁹Therefore, you (pl.), pray thus: Our Father who [is] in the heavens, may Your name be hallowed.

The Lord’s prayer, as recorded in Matthew 6:9-13, is something most of us in America have heard and repeated our entire lives. At first glance, my heart looks at it and thinks, “I already know that.” However, I realize I have never actually studied it or made any real effort to understand its various lines – which all means there is probably a treasure chest of truths just awaiting my deliberate perusal!

That I am finding to be exactly the case.

First of all, however, I want to comment on something I’ve observed. Over the years I have heard people say that all our prayers should be modeled after this prayer. They then assert that we must follow this order exactly. I agree that approach would seem to be what Jesus is intending, as He does say, “Pray thus:” However, there is one huge fact that utterly militates against any such ideas. If you read through your Bible from cover to cover, you will find many, many prayers uttered by godly men and women, not to mention Jesus Himself.

What you will note is that there is not a single prayer in that entire Bible which scrupulously follows this model. We ourselves can assert, on the authority of the entire Word of God, that there is no pattern which we are somehow required to follow in order for God to hear us. Just an example is the entire book of Psalms. Each one is a prayer. However, you’ll note there is no common pattern to the Psalms.

The reason I’ve pointed this out is that I believe this “prescribed pattern” idea actually discourages people from praying. Prayer is nothing but talking to God. That being the case, He just wants us to come to Him and pour out our feeble prayers. This is the thought behind the familiar Romans 8:26, “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”  The fact is, prayer is like our two-year-old talking to us. We don’t care if they make any sense at all, or if their requests are silly. We just love to hear their little voice! So it is with our God.

These thoughts lead us right into the prayer’s opening words: “Our Father, who is in heaven…” What a blessing – to have the Lord Himself encourage us to address our prayers to Him as “Father.” He, of course, has many other names: God, Lord, King, Master, … Each is very important and emphasizes something about our Lord. However, the particular one that He Himself encourages us to use is “Father.”

It is one the many blessings which Jesus purchased for us – to be uniquely able to address the Creator of the Universe as “Father.” As we read in Romans 8:15, from Jesus, we “received the Spirit of sonship, and by Him we cry, “Abba, Father.” For me personally, I have the great advantage of having had wonderful parents. One of my earliest memories is of always being able to crawl into my father’s lap and enjoy his big strong arms around me. He was my hero and always there to provide for us, protect us, correct us, teach us, show us – whatever was needed. And as with both of my parents, there has never been a second of my human existence where I ever questioned whether they loved me.

That said, it’s never been difficult for me to embrace God as my Father. I say that particularly because I know too many people didn’t have that kind of childhood. Because of that, many struggle with this idea that God is their Father. Instead of my memories of love, too many think instead of abuse or neglect. That is too bad, but, no matter where we come from, we can all pray to a God who is everything a father should be.  

To know God as “Father” is all about grace. It’s all about that “unmerited favor.” A father’s love is not dependent on anything the child does or doesn’t do. Just like a mother, a father loves his children simply because they’re his. He may at times deal with them sternly (because they need it), while at other times affectionately (just because), but always in love.

As the old country song went, “Daddy’s hands weren’t always gentle, but I’ve come to understand, there was always love in Daddy’s hands.” Thus is God our Father’s heart toward us. That is the thought behind Hebrews 4:16: “Let us then come boldly before the Throne of Grace, that we my obtain mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

I am so thankful for this verse and God’s gracious fatherhood behind it. I think it’s always true, when I come to pray, that I am keenly aware of my unworthiness. I know I’m an idiot, that I have failed miserably in this life God gave me, that I am a proud, selfish, lustful excuse for a servant of God. Yet He beckons me, because of Jesus, to “come boldly!” I certainly need to “obtain mercy” and to “find grace to help,”  since I’m constantly “in time of need.” So, I do just that. Just come to Him and revel in that grace, climb up into His lap and enjoy His big arms around me, even if sometimes it’s my sins and failures that draw me to that lap!

What a pleasure to be able to remind myself that, because of Jesus, I never have to come to God as Judge, but as Father. The Judge only cares about the rules. Our Father loves us.

That leads us back to grace, because a true believer’s response to God’s fatherly love is to love Him in return. That is why our very next line is “Hallowed be Thy name.” Us recipients of His wonderful grace can only long to see Him glorified in this world. Though I may do a terrible job of it, yet that is my heart’s desire, that He should be glorified through my puny life. Part of coming to Him in prayer is to ask Him to use me for His glory, knowing full well if He doesn’t help me, I will fail. “For without Me, you can do nothing,” Jesus said.

It all circles back to the name He urges us to use: Father. As we will see, that name, and all it means – and the grace it carries – will infuse every line of this prayer. Then let us find a quiet spot and in fact, “pray thus” – to God our loving Father!