Prayer – Day 12

Throughout the Old and the New Testaments there is a great longing for the time when God will rule the world in full glory and power, and all the more so in the times we are living in. We yearn for God’s kingdom among us, which will be ruled by justice and love, and where war, poverty or loneliness will be no more.

The petitions of the “Our Father” all assume that, when we pray, we somehow affect what is happening and that our prayers will actually bring about what we pray for. The problem is that sometimes God’s answer to our prayers may not be exactly what we expect. At times we even want to prescribe to God how our prayers should be answered.

However, when we pray, we bring new insight and depth into our own faith, our relationships with others and the events occurring in our lives. And by the way we relate to people and the world we live in, we bring a piece of heaven on earth — maybe not in God’s perfect way but through our humble service in his kingdom.