Fridays with the Heidelberg

Lord’s Day 48

122. Q. WHAT DOES THE SECOND REQUEST MEAN?

A.     “Your kingdom come” means, Rule us by Your Word and Spirit in such a way that more and more we submit to You.  Keep Your church strong, and add to it.  Destroy the devil’s work; destroy every force which revolts against You and every conspiracy against Your Word.  Do this until Your kingdom is so complete and perfect that in it You are all in all.

I really like the Heidelberg’s commentary on “Your kingdom come”.  I have been praying through it as I have been preparing for this post and intend to allow it to assist my prayer time over the coming weekend.

In the explanation, we see a model of prayer asking for growth in sanctification that is both dependent on God’s grace as well as individual responsibility to submit to God’s word.  This guards against the “Let Go and Let God” error as well as false self-dependence.

We are reminded to pray for Christ’s church; both universal and local.  We ought to also pray for Satan’s destruction.  That “every force which revolts against You (God)” will be destroyed.

If you have been struggling recently to figure out what to pray for, perhaps todays reading might assist you in this spiritual discipline.