Kingdom Focused Prayer
Kingdom focused prayer is prayer that is chiefly concerned with the character and sovereignty of God. Such prayers prioritized the will, ways and agenda of God for His own glory and the blessing of His people as expressed and seen through the person and work of Jesus Christ.
One such prayer is found in Acts 4:23-30. The occasion for this prayer is the persecution the church endured because of their bold proclamation of the gospel. There are four aspects to this prayer that give us insight into kingdom focused prayer.
The context of kingdom focused prayer.
The confidence of kingdom focused prayer.
The content of kingdom focused prayer.
The concern of kingdom focused prayer.
The context of kingdom focused prayer is gospel driven ministry. The believers pray after their incident with the religious leaders of Jerusalem. vss. 23-24.
Kingdom focuses prayer is prayer that happens within the day in and day out battle to extend His agenda of the gospel into our communities and culture.
We pray concerning our walk with the Lord that we will grow in spiritual health and maturity. We pray for holiness within our relationships to our spouses, parents, children, neighbors, co-workers, friends, classmates etc. Praying for holiness in these areas helps us to understand the crucial role our holiness plays in sharing the gospel. We pray for the opportunity to use our abilities and gifts to do good, pursue peace and enact justice as a way to build bridges to proclaim the gospel. We pray for the ministry of our local fellowship asking God for His power and direction in our continuing effort to carry out His command to take the gospel to our communities. We pray for God’s power, strength and wisdom to accomplish His purpose through us regarding the gospel.
The confidence of kingdom focused prayer is God’s sovereign control in the affairs of His creation, our situation and His own agenda. vss. 24-28
The early saints addressed God as the sovereign Lord. That simply means that the Lord has absolute control of all affairs governing our lives and His creation. The disciples prayed with assurance that God was in full control their present circumstances which included His control over those who opposed them. They understood that God’s control of the physical creation is no different from His control of people, groups and nations. God will move when He wants to and how He wants to whether it is the sea or a person. This knowledge helps us to refrain from falling back into old sinful patterns of dealing with difficult situations and people. (the apostles could have fallen back into their fear of the religious establishment, refused to preach the gospel and disbanded the church). Their prayer recalls God’s commitment to be an active player in His creation by saving men and women through Jesus Christ. The passage they quote refers to the eventual rule of God’s eternal Son, Jesus Christ. God made good on this commitment by sending His Son, Jesus Christ to become a man, live among His creation, and die for the sins of His people. The disciples are moved to pray knowing that God already used the actions evil people to accomplish His predetermined plan to save us from the penalty, power and presence of sin.
The content of kingdom focused prayer is the supremacy and centrality of the Person and work of Jesus Christ. vss. 27-28.
It first and foremost highlights and emphasizes the position of honor and power Jesus Christ occupies with God the Father. This is especially true regarding how one stands before God. We engage in kingdom focused prayer with the express goal of declaring and proclaiming the truth stated by Peter and recorded in Acts 4:12
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
A generic prayer to God is in reality no prayer at all unless it acknowledges that any who would approach the Father in prayer must do so through the Son and that’s true of our prayers. Effective prayer starts by admitting our sin, believing in Jesus Christ and committing to follow His rule and agenda.
The concern of kingdom focused prayer is the spread of the kingdom of Jesus Christ through the proclamation of His gospel. vss. 29-30.
The saints call attention to their inability to deal with this threat to the gospel themselves. By asking God to look upon these threats they invite Him to act on the behalf of His plan and people. In this manner they commit themselves to continue to act biblically within the situation and not give in to their old sinful nature. We should expect opposition to the spread of the gospel in our community. When it arises our task is to ask God to deal with those who oppose Him. This keeps us from the error of weakening and giving up our witness as well as the error of taking matters into our own hands and acting sinfully. Kingdom focused prayer is not concerned primarily with getting relief from difficult situations or people. Instead we pray for God’s guidance, endurance and grace to be His witness within the situation. The ancient church prayed for the Lord to empower them with courage to persist in proclaiming the gospel. Kingdom focused prayer will constantly ask God to give us opportunities to share His gospel with those who don’t know Him. The believers’ prayer recognizes that God expresses His sovereignty through them and thus they ask Him to continue working through them to do good in the Name of Jesus. The signs they spoke of were those the apostles were doing. Kingdom focused prayer asks the Lord to empower His people to do good works in our communities for His glory and in the Name of Jesus Christ. Doing them in the Name of Jesus means that we connect our works of righteousness, mercy, peace and justice directly to the proclamation of the gospel of Christ.
Kingdom focused prayer isn’t a journey into the spiritual unknown. It is prayer that prioritizes God’s will with regard to advancing His gospel and agenda through His people, by His power. It is prayer that God answers because we know that it is His will to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Pastor Lance
