The disciples wanted to know what Jesus prayed when He talked with God. They certainly had heard His public prayers. But they wanted to know what Jesus prayed when He spoke personally with His Father in heaven. He told them, (my paraphrase) “Father in heaven, establish your kingdom here on earth like it is there in heaven.” Then Jesus went on to pray for daily needs, for forgiving grace and so forth. As some later manuscripts say, He concluded with a breath-taking exaltation, “Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever” (KJV). A key thought through the prayer is of “the kingdom of heaven.”


Jesus knew full well that the kingdom He came to establish would be accomplished by His life, His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. That was costly beyond measure. In a way, God bankrupted heaven when Jesus came to earth. But Jesus’ sacrificial life and death made our entrance into the kingdom possible.


The kingdom is among us. It is here, and we can welcome others into it each day.