TL;DR:
Matthew 6:10 — "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth" — is tightly connected to the Great Commission. Praying this phrase without considering world evangelism overlooks a core part of Jesus’ intent. The Great Commission and more than 180 other Bible verses indicate that God's will includes making Christlike disciples in every nation. Thus, praying for His will to be done on earth is inherently a prayer for global gospel proclamation.
"Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven"
— Matthew 6:10
Unpack the Lord's Prayer, and you will find references to:
Pray the Lord's Prayer in a meaningful way, and two phrases at the beginning — "your kingdom come, your will be done on earth" — unequivocally speak to the need for world evangelization.
For 2,000 years, Christians have memorized and recited the Lord's Prayer. Too often, we repeat those marvelous words in a singsong fashion with little thought to their deep meaning. One result is that the words of Matthew 6:10 rarely bring global missionary outreach to people's minds. That's too bad because asking for God's kingdom to be realized and for His will to be done all over the earth has to include gospel proclamation worldwide.
In terms of God's will, sermons on the Lord's Prayer generally use Matthew 6:10 to talk about righteous living and perhaps even social justice. Those things are in God's will, but doesn't His will include more? Doesn't God ask His people to make Christlike disciples in all nations? Telling the story of Jesus to the "ends of the earth" is, after all, an unambiguous scriptural command. Matthew 6:10 also feeds naturally into Matthew 9:38, which is powerfully rendered by The Message as, "What a huge harvest! . . . On your knees and pray for harvest hands!"
As long as there are people on earth who know nothing of the true God, God's will is not being fully done. As long as people serve other gods — whether those be "worthless idols" (Jonah 2:8) or gods of wealth, power, or pleasure — the fullness of God's kingdom has not yet been realized. Therefore, praying Matthew 6:10 without world evangelism in mind misses a key thought of that verse.
The Great Commission of Matthew 28:19–20 — "Go, make disciples of all nations" — does not appear out of the blue. In teaching His followers to pray, Jesus used wording that should sensitize them to the Father's will — expressed multiple times in the Old Testament — that the whole world be evangelized. Thus, early in His ministry, Jesus may have intentionally framed this model prayer in a way that prepared the ground for the Great Commission He would give at the end of His earthly ministry.
We are often reminded that prayer should be more than handing our wish lists to God. Prayer also involves allowing God to shape us. As we repeat the words of Matthew 6:10 — "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth" — we must allow the Holy Spirit to truly turn them into the desires of our hearts. Every time we pray the Lord's Prayer, we must allow its majestic words to increase our passion for world evangelism.
— Howard Culbertson, hculbert@snu.edu
This blog post on a world missions Bible passage is one of more than three dozen articles in the "Heart of God" series published in Engage, a monthly online magazine. That series looks at what the Bible says about world missions.
The words "on earth" in Matthew 6:10 point to the global scope of the church's mission. God's will is to be accomplished everywhere, not just in particular places or among certain groups of people. More than 180 Bible verses point to world evangelism, including 123 Old Testament verses and 61 New Testament verses. Among them are Jesus' Great Commission, recorded in Matthew 28:19–20 and Mark 16:15, and His words in Acts 1:8 about the gospel reaching the "ends of the earth."
Praying the Lord's Prayer should create in all followers of Christ a longing to see every person in the world reached with the gospel message. As we repeat the Lord's Prayer in corporate worship or during times of personal worship, let's feel a sense of solidarity with all followers of Christ as we seek together to make Christlike disciples in all nations.
Memorable Quotes About Other Bible Verses
