In Earth, As It Is in Heaven

Pastor Leon Aguilera

⁶ Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.  – Matthew 6:10

When we hear the Lord’s Prayer recited, we usually hear emphasis on the words kingdom and will. It sounds like this: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done”

We can subtly change the meaning of wording by altering what we accentuate. Try praying it like this: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done” (my emphasis). Whose kingdom—yours or God’s? God’s! In prayer, you submit your will and your territory to God. You bring your burdens before Him, not as an equal, but seeking and expecting His will to be done and His kingdom to prevail. You will be able to look back and say, “When I started to pray about this, I was praying the way I saw things. But as the weeks became months, I started praying differently because I came to see things God’s way. That reality changed what I asked for and the way I asked. Now I want what God wants for my life.”

Sometimes prayer changes things—and sometimes prayer changes me. And I start to pray more in line with what God wants than what I want. Prayer is part of the furnace God uses to fabricate His will. Praying puts us where He can work on us. That’s why we pray in submission, “Thy will be done.”

Submission comes before wide-open prayer. Let’s be honest—many of us ask for silly or selfish things, or maybe we insist on our own way. But God doesn’t rule by committee, so through prayer, we submit and align our wills with God’s. That’s why Jesus said, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” (John 15:7). That’s not an open, unconditional invitation to ask for whatever you want, no strings attached. When you get yourself to a place of true submission to God, you can ask whatever you wish because you won’t ask for dumb stuff. You want what He wants, because your will is submitted to His.

We pray for God’s will to be done “in earth as it is in heaven.” How do you suppose God’s will works in heaven? If God says to the angels, “Build some more mansions,” do you think they respond, “We’re tied up right now,” or “We’ve got some supply problems, and the permits aren’t coming through”? I’m going to suggest that in heaven things happen exactly the way God wants, on time, every time. So when we pray, “Thy will be done,” we’re declaring, “God, we long for it to be like it is in heaven. We want our lives to reflect the state where what You want happens on time, every time.” That’s a prayer of submission.

Pray Simple Prayers

Pastor Leon Aguilera

⁷ But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. ⁸ Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him

  – Matthew 6:7-8

Imagine if your son or daughter came to you and said, “Dad? I just want to tell you I’m so glad I have a father like you. Thank you for being my dad. And I appreciate so much knowing you’re here with me right now, Dad, as I’m about to work my way around eventually to ask you something. . . . ”

At this point in the conversation, those of us who have hair would be pulling it out. “What do you want?! Just tell me!”

But isn’t that the way we sometimes talk to God? God loves us, yet do we approach Him like we believe it? We should come to Him as our Abba Father (Romans 8:14–15) and make our requests known to Him—simply and directly.

Are your prayers simple? Or do you “use not vain repetitions” and nice-sounding fillers, stall, and try to butter Him up before You get to the point?

Jesus taught, “⁷ But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.” Our ancestors had a reputation. The pagan Gentiles practiced polytheism, which meant they had a lot of deities to juggle and appease. For them, praying involved coping with the demands of all these cantankerous gods. Each god had a weakness or fault that had to be taken into account. Prayers became rote incantations designed to keep the gods happy and distracted. The people thought, This god is going to like it if I say it one more time. If I persist, then the god is going to hear me. But because those gods weren’t real and the idols were powerless, the phrases said to them were empty—no matter how high the penitent stacked them up!

We see this illustrated in the story of Elijah vs. the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel (1 Kings 18:17–40). The pagan priests went head-to-head with Elijah in a prayer contest. He was outnumbered 400 to 1, and each team was calling down fire from heaven. Elijah said, in effect, “The prayers that bring fire down are getting through to the real God. The other one is an impostor. May the true God win.” Then Elijah added, “You go first.”

The priests started praying and “called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us.” (1 Kings 18:26)! They chanted their mantra, “O Baal, hear us,” over and over.

“But there was no voice, nor any that answered.” (18:26). How sad.

During the lunch break, “Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.” (18:27). So they prayed harder!

Louder! More fervently! Hour after hour, they chanted, “O Baal, hear us.” Silence.

After a full day of this circus, it was time to get real. Elijah prepared his sacrifice and soaked it with water. Then simply and calmly, one time, he invited God Almighty to do His thing. “Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.” (18:38).

Just as God answered Elijah’s simple prayer, so He will also answer ours. Our prayers shouldn’t be an obnoxious echo, like a child who thinks he can wear down a parent through incessant repetition. Lose that. I wonder what our prayers sound like in heaven when they go on and on. The issue isn’t that we can only mention something to God one time. We can talk to God as often as something is on our hearts and minds. But the issue is our thinking that incessant repetition will force God’s hand or earn His favor.

No, when we need something, we should come straight to our heavenly Father and tell Him what we need, “for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.” Our prayers don’t inform God. Never does God hear a prayer and then blurt out, “Oh, now I get it.” We don’t unburden our hearts before God for His sake, so He can understand. It’s for our sake—because we need to tell Him, because prayer exercises our faith in Him, and because prayer aligns our agenda with His.

Secret Prayer

Pastor Leon Aguilera

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.  ⁶ But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.  – Matthew 6:5-6

How can you spot hypocrisy? What are hypocrites like? Jesus tells us “they love to pray standing” In Greek, there are two words for standing. The first word conveys an uncertain or timid stance. The second word means to take your place, mark your spot, and make your stand. Now which of those definitions do you think applies to these hypocrites who love to stand? Correct, the second. Hypocrites love to boldly take their place. They think, Only two more people till it’s my turn to pray. Only one more person, and then I’m up! Very soon I’ll take the stage, and everybody’s going to hear me talk to God. They will be so impressed with me this week at small group. I’m going to blow them away with my prayer. Revival will break out because I am so awesome at talking to God! The hypocrites get an emotional rush out of displaying their holiness.

And not just “in the synagogues” (read: church settings) but also “in the corners of the streets” (read: public settings). Today’s hypocrites think, I love to get to the office early and sit at my desk with the Bible open. I can hardly wait for people to walk by and see me. I’m so godly. Or they think, I love when my kids come downstairs in the morning and see me with my coffee and open Bible. They see how good I am at God. I’ve clearly got the God thing figured out.

Really?! Jesus says if that’s the part you like—the impression you create—then you already have your reward. Whatever that’s doing for you, those feelings are the only result, because the performance is not doing anything for God. He is not responding to you. Why doesn’t God answer my prayers? you might wonder. It could be because your true motivation is to “be seen of men.” If you love it when people see you being spiritual, if your public prayer exceeds your private prayer, and if you prefer it that way—then hear Jesus’ correction.

“But thou, when thou prayest,” Jesus said, “enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”Jesus is commending prayer by yourself. It’s not wrong to pray in groups. It’s good to pray with your spouse. It’s important to pray in your group. But public prayer should be the overflow of what’s happening in secret. If the substance of your prayer life is your public prayers, if your high watermark is people hearing you pray, then it’s time for a shift. The furnace for an authentic prayer life is praying in secret. “enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door.”

Once you are alone with God, “pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” The prayer closet allows no showing off. Solitary prayer is a mark of your sincerity. No one goes into a room by herself, closes the door, and gets on her knees to fake it. No one pretends in secret.

The secret to prayer is secret prayer. And the litmus test for the vitality of your spiritual life is what is happening in that private place that only you and God know about. Everything else that happens in your spiritual life, if it’s genuine, is rooted in what goes on just between you and God.