Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not bring us to the time of trial,
but rescue us from the evil one.
Strong words… the ‘come’ and the ‘be done’ are at the beginning of the phrases and act as commands. This is why pulling a few Scriptures together might be a starting point but we need a little more than that. The intimacy, the halowing come first. But then…
On earth as in heaven. If we had no more Scriptures than this to inform us that the wil of God is not being done on earth, and it clearly does not come through God imposing it, and it does not come without our contribution, we have all of that in these phrases.
We get to know something of the will of God through understanding a little concerning the name(s) of God, the ultimate name being the name ‘Jesus’. I confess I have little idea how to pray for the Ukraine. I have prayed, because (I think) I have faith that there will be no release of chemical nor nuclear weapons; I know the will of God as in heaven is no killings, no war, but that is beyond me to pray that. If prayer is lifestye then there are those who are ‘praying’ to some god that war will continue, that land will be stolen, boundaries changed. Yes, at a lifestyle level, there are conflicting prayers, with a difference we pray to the God in heaven, at best others are ‘praying’ to the heavenly realms.
Eschatology. Every prayer, every seed sown now is being sowed into the future, and we need to sow where we want the world to go… My bottom line understanding of the delay of the parousia is that we are providing the material for that, hence every prayer at the macro level for the end of war has to sow into that age when the final sword will be reshaped into a farming instrument. Over-realized eschatology will say everything now… Eschatology will say ‘your kingdom come… on earth as in heaven’ knowing that there has been seeds sown into the future and will not be surprised when the future spills over into the here and now. Eschatology will not push everything into the future, even if it does not demand everything now.
Your kingdom… not my interpretation of your kingdom. Bold decarations from humble hearts.