Fifty-Seven Words That Change The World: A Journey Through The Lord's Prayer

by Darrell W. Johnson

Only God can do what we are asking to have done. Only God can hallow his name. Only God can bring his kingdom. Only God can do his will. The prayer is not what many believers have over the years thought it to be: the prayer is not, “let us hallow your name.” The prayer is not, “let us bring in your kingdom.” The prayer is not “let us do your will.” The prayer is “Father, you do it! You hallow your name on earth as it is in heaven. You bring your kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. You make your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Do you see the difference? It changes the whole tone of the prayer. We are asking God to do what only God can do. We are “commanding” that God do what only God can do. We might be involved; indeed, we want to be involved in the process of the kingdom coming, for instance. But we are not the ones making it come. As D. Elton Trueblood put it, “We mistake the kingdom request greatly if we think we are the chief actors in the drama. We may be needed, but the fundamental work for which we pray is God’s work.”9 Professor Stendahl of Harvard University reminds us that the prayer “asks for the establishment of the kingdom of God, by God for us, not by us for God.”10 “Father, you do it, for only you can do it. You bring heaven down to earth.”