The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1956-11-15
One Man Looks
At God
by Charles w. Carlson, Pastor,
st. Marks Evangelical Lutheran
Church, Oakland Maryland.)

AS we continue our series on
prayer in general, and the Lords
Prayer in particular, this week l
will consider the second petition of
the Lords Prayer, Thy Kingdom
come, Thy will be done on earth,
as it is in heaven. ="
AS l have indicated before, the
hardest thing about prayer is to
actually believe in what you are
praying. Throughout the churches
of the world, this prayer is spoken
more than any other, l. e. the Lords
Prayer But from my vantage po-
Sition, where | can observe better
than the average person just how
faithful people are to the cause of
Christs Kingdom here Oh earth,
| sometimes wonder at the sinceri-
ty of the people who use this par
ticular part of the Lords Prayer,
for though the Kingdom of God
came in the Person of Christ with
out our asking for it, we have been
given the challenge of Christ to
carry that Kingdom along in this
life. Too many people say the words
of this prayer and then go about
their business as if the Kingdom
of God never existed, and certain
ly has no chance of ever coming to
this world. There is no question
about the will of God being done
in Heaven, there is no question
about the existence of His King
dom there but there is not enough
done by the people who say they
believe that His Kingdom can
come, that His will can be done on
earth, to accomplish this fact
Perhaps people do not complete
ly understand what they are saying
when they pray the words of this
part of the Lords Prayer. | have
heard many groups of people speak
these words in unison at some
meeting, public or church meeting,
as if they were a bunch of parrots
repeating some memorized little
series of verses. On the contrary,
when person prays these words,
he must be ready first of all to al
low the Kingdom of God to come
into his life, the will of God to be
done in his life When the person
prays these words with no thought
of what he is saying, he is perform
ing the worst sort of Hypocrisy.
The words themselves have no
meaning apart from the willing
ness of the person who is praying
them to do something positive to
accomplish that for which they are
praying. AS one illustration of the
fact that apparently people are not
doing what they say they believe
in praying these words, | indicate
that right in my own congregation
there are many regular church at
tenders who admit that they do
not have any regular program of
Bible reading and study. | have
asked many of them how they eX-
pect to have the will of God done
in their lives without knowing what
that will is-and the clearest place
in which we can find the viii of
God for our lives is in His Word,
in consistent study of what He
has to say in various situations. |
am convinced that where people
will take the trouble and the time
to study Gods Word, His Will will
be done in their lives.
And then when we consider the
second portion of this petition, the
matter of hoping that the Kingdom
VI bOd VIII Colllc Ou tllS car III, VIC
pray that we want this to be ac-
complished, but then do not pro-
vide the men and the means to ac-
complish this fact. 1t takes upwards
of $4,000 to establish a missionary,
pay his transportation, his salary,
his materials and supplies, Bibles,
and other books and materials that
he needs, in the pagan atmosphere
of native Africa Yet there is ire
mcndous shortage of men and
money to accomplish anything. |
often wonder how different the
world would have been, if we had
been willing to invest the time,
and effort to spread Christi