Day 18: Kingdom Prayer: Aligning with God’s Will - 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting
Your Will Be Done
Welcome to Day 18 of our 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting. We have been praying for seventeen days. Today we stop to ask what prayer is for.
When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, this came near the very start:
“your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:10 (NIV)
Prayer That Puts God First
Before Our Own List
In the Lord’s Prayer, daily bread, forgiveness and protection all come later. First comes the Father’s name, the Father’s Kingdom and the Father’s will. Jesus is not telling us that our needs are unimportant. He is showing us the right order.
Prayer Changes the One Who Prays
We sometimes treat prayer as a way of bringing God round to our point of view. Kingdom prayer works in the other direction. As we pray, He brings our desires into line with His.
Jesus in the Garden
Nobody prayed this prayer more truly than Jesus Himself. In Gethsemane, with the cross ahead of Him, He was honest about what He felt, and then He prayed, “yet not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42).
That is the pattern. We may tell God exactly what we want. Then we trust Him with the answer.
How Do We Know His Will?
Through His Word
We are transformed by the renewing of our minds, and then we are able to test and approve what God’s will is (Romans 12:2). The more Scripture shapes our thinking, the more clearly we recognise His voice.
Through His Spirit
We do not always know what we ought to pray for. Paul says that the Spirit helps us in our weakness and intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God (Romans 8:26–27). This is one reason praying in the Spirit is such a gift to the believer (1 Corinthians 14:15).
Through Surrendered Plans
In their hearts people plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps (Proverbs 16:9). It is good to plan. It is better to hold our plans with an open hand.
The Confidence It Gives
John writes that if we ask anything according to God’s will, He hears us (1 John 5:14–15). Praying in line with His will does not make our prayers smaller. It makes them bolder, because we are asking for what He already wants to give.
David’s prayer is a good one to make our own: “Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground” (Psalm 143:10).
Three Steps for Today
Start with Him. Before you bring any request today, spend five minutes worshipping God and praying for His Kingdom to come in our church and our city.
Hand over a plan. Name one plan or decision you have been holding tightly. Tell God that you want His will more than your own.
Listen. Finish your prayer time with a few minutes of quiet. Give the Holy Spirit room to speak.
Prayer for Today:
Our Father in heaven, may Your name be honoured. Let Your Kingdom come and Your will be done in my life, in my home and in our church. I bring You my plans and I lay them down. Where my desires are different from Yours, change my heart. Holy Spirit, help me to pray, and teach me to do the will of God. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Keep going
See every day of this guide on our Prayer & Fasting page.
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