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THY KINGDOM COME
In 1857 there was a 46 year old man named Jeremiah Lamphere who lived in New York City.
Jeremiah loved the Lord tremendously, but he didn’t feel that he could
do much for the Lord until he began to feel a burden for the lost and
accepted an invitation from his church to be an inner city missionary.
So in July of 1857 he started walking up and down the streets of New York passing out tracts and talking to people about Jesus, but he wasn’t having any success. Then God put it on his heart to try prayer. So he printed up a bunch of tracts, and he passed them out to anyone and everyone met. He invited anyone who wanted to come to the 3rd floor of the Old North Dutch Reform Church on Fulton St. in New York City from 12 to 1 on Wednesday to pray. He passed out hundreds and hundreds of fliers and put up posters everywhere he could.
Wednesday came and at noon nobody showed up. So Jeremiah got on his knees and started praying. For 30 minutes he prayed by himself when finally five other people walked in. The next week 20 people came. The next week between 30 and 40 people came. They then decided to meet every day from 12:00 to 1:00 to pray for the city.
Before long a few ministers started coming and they said, "We need to start this at our churches." Within six months there were over 5000 prayer groups meeting everyday in N.Y. Soon the word spread all over the country. Prayer meetings were started in Philadelphia, Detroit, and Washington D.C. In fact President Franklin Pierce started going almost every day to a noonday prayer meeting. By 1859 some 15,000 cities in America were having downtown prayer meetings everyday at noon, and thousands were brought to Christ.
The great thing about this revival is that there is not a famous preacher associated with it. It was all started by one man wanting to pray.
So in July of 1857 he started walking up and down the streets of New York passing out tracts and talking to people about Jesus, but he wasn’t having any success. Then God put it on his heart to try prayer. So he printed up a bunch of tracts, and he passed them out to anyone and everyone met. He invited anyone who wanted to come to the 3rd floor of the Old North Dutch Reform Church on Fulton St. in New York City from 12 to 1 on Wednesday to pray. He passed out hundreds and hundreds of fliers and put up posters everywhere he could.
Wednesday came and at noon nobody showed up. So Jeremiah got on his knees and started praying. For 30 minutes he prayed by himself when finally five other people walked in. The next week 20 people came. The next week between 30 and 40 people came. They then decided to meet every day from 12:00 to 1:00 to pray for the city.
Before long a few ministers started coming and they said, "We need to start this at our churches." Within six months there were over 5000 prayer groups meeting everyday in N.Y. Soon the word spread all over the country. Prayer meetings were started in Philadelphia, Detroit, and Washington D.C. In fact President Franklin Pierce started going almost every day to a noonday prayer meeting. By 1859 some 15,000 cities in America were having downtown prayer meetings everyday at noon, and thousands were brought to Christ.
The great thing about this revival is that there is not a famous preacher associated with it. It was all started by one man wanting to pray.
2000 years ago, on a hillside over-looking the Sea of Galilee, one of the Disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. What He told them has come to be known as THE LORD’S PRAYER.
We
often start our own personal prayers the same way He taught, “Our
Father…” and if we think about it, we are not just praying toward a
heavenly Person in a heavenly place, but talking with Him in a very
close, personal relationship.
“Hallowed
be thy name…” and we add this spiritual clause to remind ourselves we
have just connected with the Lord of the Universe, the Creator of all
things including, and most importantly right then, ourselves.
“Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done…” Be careful; give considerable thought when you repeat this. Saying and meaning, “Thy will be done…” can be dangerous. It may force you onto a rooftop frantically beating a drum.
What am I talking about? Well, in a play I saw many years ago there are soldiers preparing for a surprise attack on a village.
However, a farm family sees what is happening. They muse on what they should do. They know they should somehow warn the villagers but they also know that if they try to do so they will quite likely be shot. So instead of running into town to spread the alarm, they simply take the safer route and begin to pray.
However,
their mute daughter leaves them down on their knees, climbs to the roof
and begins to loudly beat on a drum the family has had for years. Her frantic beating awakens the villagers and at least some of them escape. The girl is shot.
“Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done.” It
is a dangerous part of the Lord’s Prayer if it is taken at face value
and we force ourselves toward actions we know may well have adverse as
well as positive consequences.
“Give us this day our daily bread…” The
French classes I took years ago have pretty much gone to some hidden
recess in my brain, however, one French word bourrer, which means “to
stuff” came to mind as I considered this because deep down inside when
we pray this prayer we are right on the edge of praying that our lives
be stuffed with “stuff.”
Food,
and complete financial success, and friends that love us so much we do
not have to try to improve, and newer and bigger houses and cars and
…well, some of the poor and hungry when they pray “Give us this day our
daily bread” mean just what they say…but in a rich America, many
Americans really do mean something else.
“Forgive
us our debts as we forgive our debtors…” which is the Presbyterian way
of putting it, or “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who
trespass against us “ how Methodist and others say it.
Or “Forgive us of our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” And this is not a casual part of the prayer. It is a deep emotional spiritual need we all cannot really survive without.
Forgiveness
from our God and our forgiveness toward our fellowman, our spouse, our
children, our friends, even strangers from off the streets. If we do not forgive, as we ask God to forgive us, we shrink, we grow sick, we die inside.
“And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil…” But prayer without our follow-through is like reading a cookbook but never making it into the kitchen.
“For thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory,” and the stating of this fact cannot be done too often.
Prayer without improvement makes prayer a Tower of Babel. When
we have asked for God’s forgiveness and His guidance it should all be
building blocks upon which to build a better you and me. Otherwise, we only fill the air with words but do not construct a personal sanctuary.
A prayer worth praying doesn’t just devoutly whisper, “Thy will be done.” It shouts it loudly from the center of one’s soul
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