ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN
Greetings church family!
One of the most impactful experiences I can recall as a high school student came during my junior year. My Precalculus teacher needed to miss two days of school to attend his father's funeral. He pulled me aside after class one day, and asked me to be his substitute teacher for those two days. I didn't think I was ready to teach 2 math lessons that I hadn't learned before. He assured me that if I came in after school, he would teach me the necessary concepts I'd need to know to instruct the classes. He also stated that a supervising adult would be in the room, but I would be the teacher. I couldn't believe this teacher trusted me to be his substitute, his representative, while he was away. It was that experience that led me to become a math teacher!
When Jesus taught His disciples how to pray, He gave them a divine blueprint of heaven’s intention for earth. In the Lord’s Prayer, one phrase acts as both a declaration and a mandate: “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10 CSB)
These are not idle words; they are a commission. They reveal that prayer is not a religious formality but a governing act. God’s will is perfectly done in Heaven because His authority is unhindered there. But on earth, He has given humanity dominion (Genesis 1:26). This means that believers are not passive recipients of God’s will. Just as I was a representative of my Precalculus teacher, believers are representatives of, and co-laborers with God—through whom Heaven’s purposes are carried out in the world. And the key that unlocks heaven’s authority on earth is prayer.
In Genesis 1:26, God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion…” From the very beginning, humanity was created as God’s representative authority on earth. Adam was not a deity, but he was God’s appointed steward—a regent—governing creation under divine direction.
However, when sin entered, humanity’s dominion was lost, and our connection to heaven’s will was corrupted. Through Cain's (Adam's first son) murderous act against his brother Abel, Cain's descendants became increasingly marked by violence, pride, and rebellion. Yet, through Seth (Adam's third son), a lineage of descendants remained faithful to God's will. It was through this line that "people began to call on the name of the Lord" (Genesis 4:26), keeping humanity's partnership with God intact.
This partnership is not through sword or power, but through prayer! When Jesus taught His followers to pray for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, He was essentially calling them to act as Heaven’s ambassadors, ushering divine order into human affairs.
That is why 2 Chronicles 7:14 remains timeless: “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
Just as a king’s envoy speaks not with his own power but with the king’s authority, so a believer prays not as a beggar but as one who carries the King’s decree. Jesus affirmed this in John 14:13–14: “Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”
To pray “in Jesus’ name” is not a magical formula—it is to pray under His authority, in line with His will, representing His interests. Heaven’s power moves when earth’s regents pray according to Heaven’s purposes.
Church family, the next time you are tempted to believe that your prayers are insignificant or meaningless, understand that this temptation finds its source in the enemy. If Satan can convince us not to pray, he successfully hampers our divine and authoritative representation on earth. But if we rise to our place in prayer, Satan cannot thwart the invasion of God's will on earth on our behalf.
So rise, church family! Step into your calling. Open your mouth, and release heaven’s will on earth. Our prayers are the intersection of the throne of God and a world in need - a world desperate to know that God is for them, God is with them, and God loves them.
Blessings!
Pastor Chris
