We at Faith Community Church are preaching through the winter on prayer in the teaching and life of Jesus. The first few weeks are on the Lord’s Prayer. Last week was “Your kingdom come,” and this week is “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Both of these petitions depend on the already-and-not-yet aspect of God’s kingdom. That is, God’s kingdom is both a present reality and a future hope; the kingdom has come and is coming.

Because God is already on his throne, because his present rule guarantees his future, ultimate rule, we can pray. We can pray for his kingdom to come, for his will to be done, with absolute confidence, because he’s promised that it will happen.

But it hasn’t happened yet. The world is still broken; things are not yet as they were meant to be. So we must pray. We must ask our King to come and make things right. Each new conflict, each new shooting, each new miscarriage, each new natural disaster reminds us of our need for his return.

As you look around a world that’s thoroughly messed up, as you look inside a heart that’s thoroughly messed up, let it drive you to pray, “Thy kingdom come!” Then remember the promise: “I am coming soon.” We must pray because the kingdom is yet to come; we can pray because it is already here.