Kingdom Praying, Kingdom Answers
By Hubert Harriman, President
January-March 2015
One of the great blessings of The Lord’s Prayer is its reference to our daily care: “Give us this day our daily bread.” God never disparages or demeans prayer requests for real personal needs. It’s interesting that this comes on the heels of the grandest prayer request: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” There is not a large chasm in God’s mind between the two. Like a general making vital strategic plans and moves, He also gives attention to keeping His soldiers well supplied. That’s a given in God’s kingdom. The chasm is usually in our minds—or hearts.
All too often, while concentrating on our daily care, we build a huge chasm between our needs and God’s kingdom. If prayer is relegated to the place of “give us this day our daily bread” alone, we effectively make prayer a consumer activity rather than a kingdom activity. Like Peter, we are guilty of not being mindful of the things of God, but the things of men (Mark 8:33).
Prayer, first and foremost, puts one in the presence of the Director of the universe. If prayer is honored as the place of presence in His presence, we become kingdom minded rather than just bread minded. Here we see the bigger picture and enter into being a player in God’s purpose rather than a consumer of God’s blessings.
The emphasis of The Call during the Concert of Prayer was on kingdom praying. The emphasis in this Call issue is on kingdom answers. This has a long-standing history and practice with WGM. From the beginning, kingdom praying was at the center of its focus. In fact, it was the very catapult that launched WGM from China to the ends of the earth. In 1927, Robert Smith approached the Board of Directors to begin ministry in Africa. He wasn’t into consumer thinking. He was into kingdom thinking and asked for this territory. As the board wrestled with the financial implications, they made it a matter of prayer. The very next day, they learned that God had already supplied through the death of an unknown donor who, totally unaware of these proceedings, had willed $5,000 seed money for expansion into Africa, “if and when you open work in Africa.” That seed has grown into incredible outreach in Kenya and beyond.
Prayer is not God’s response to our own personal whims or wishes, but our response to God’s will. I ask you to join with us in kingdom praying for kingdom answers. “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone’” (Matthew 4:4 NIV).
PRAY: Spend this quarter with your sphere of influence practicing The Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13.
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