More thoughts about Prayer

On Sunday I will continue to take a look at the prayer of Jesus in Matthew 6. In particular, I want to consider what we can learn from His prayer to the Father, "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven". If we fast forward from the teachable moment of Matthew 6 to the Garden of Gethsemane we can hear Jesus pray again, "Your will be done". The context is different. The prayer is the same. God's will was an agponizing death on the cross. Even though we may never be required to endure a trial before Pilate and a scourging like Jesus, I can't help but consider how we sometimes turn prayer around. How often do we pray as if it is about convincing God that He should faciliate the coming our our "kingdom" and our "will"? Thankfully, I believe Jesus teaches us that prayer can help us recognize (and desire) the Kingdom of God and understand how it differs from all other "kingdoms", including our own. The will of the Father is always best.