Blessings And The Kingdom of Heaven

“God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. [Matthew 5.3]

I've been noticing references to the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven lately. Today is no exception.

The Amplified Bible really brings out the meaning of this verse: “Blessed [spiritually prosperous, happy, to be admired] are the poor in spirit [those devoid of spiritual arrogance, those who regard themselves as insignificant], for theirs is the kingdom of heaven [both now and forever].

So, in essence, when we pray, "May Your Kingdom come..." (Matthew 6.10), we are praying for ourselves to be poor in spirit. We are requesting for ourselves to be stripped of any pride and self-sufficiency. And, just like the TV commercials, "But wait!!" there is, in fact more...

God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. [Matthew 5.10]

Following the same thread of thought as above, we can deduce that if we pray, "May Your Kingdom come..." we avail ourselves to persecution.

Anyone who takes "May Your Kingdom come..." lightly is gravely mistaken. When we pray for God's Kingdom this way, we are indeed voicing our approval of placing God's interests at the highest level and ours at the lowest. 

Jesus not only taught us to pray this way, but prayed it Himself in the most critical of times: He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” [Matthew 26.39]

And what was the "cup of suffering"? It was persecution in perhaps its ugliest fatal form - crucifixion.

The Beatitudes basically begin and end with conditions for the Kingdom of Heaven being granted to us. Both these conditions are real and they are serious. However, we cannot ignore the fact that these conditions include "blessings"...

Father, help us - help me - never say the words, "May Your Kingdom come," without pausing to seriously consider what I might be praying!