As we continue to glance at the Lord's Prayer, we come to the following statement: "Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven" (Matthew 6:10).

The word "kingdom", being ancient and mostly non-related to our modern life, sometimes prevents us from understanding of this phrase. However, it is not difficult to grasp. Kingdom means supreme dominion and ultimate authority.

While reading gospels, we may notice that the kingdom of God, or the kingdom of heavens, was the main message of Jesus. This kingdom was the Good News, originally proclaimed by Him.

It was not a Messianic kingdom of earthly power and glory, anticipated by Jews. It had nothing to do with "getting to heaven" after death, as some modern Christians suppose. It belonged not to the future, but to the present reality.

"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel" (Mark 1:15, RSV). This means that entrance to the immanently present divine realm is opened neither through political activism nor through death, but through repentance - changing of person's heart and mind.

We are to let go the darkness of ignorance and turn toward the light of divine wisdom. We are to believe in the Good News - to accept the truth on God's goodness and our own goodness. In the sight of God, humans are not unworthy sinners hoping to be saved. Since the beginning of our existence we were children of light, children of the Most High - we just did not know it. All this time the kingdom was hidden within us, like a treasure buried in a field.

"When he was asked by the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation. Neither will they say, Lo here! or lo there! for behold, the kingdom of God is within you".
Luke 17:20,21

It is plain enough that Jesus did not exclude anyone here. Even the Pharisees were heirs of this inner kingdom. Unfortunately, those people allowed their religion to obscure their vision of it.

In the light of this revealing fact, why do we need to pray for coming of the kingdom? It is already here. What did Jesus mean?

Some writers believe that the Lord's Prayer we have in our Bibles is not translated correctly. They insist that in the original Greek it is not a petition, but a series of affirmations, positive statements. It might be so, but not being a Greek scholar myself, I do not have strong arguments to support their opinion. I think there should be a deeper way to read the Bible, irregardless of details of its translation.

My spiritual experience teaches me that a prayer often starts as a request, but then, as our confidence and understanding grows, it is turned into an affirmation. Later, it is turned into thanksgiving. So, there is nothing wrong in asking God if we feel like asking. We are to communicate with the Spirit at the level we're now, not at the level we think we're supposed to be.

We may start with asking God to manifest the kingdom in greater measure. But in the process of doing so, we will come to the discovery that "the Father's kingdom is spread out upon the earth, and people don't see it". Then, we will be counted among those who have an exalted vision. Even amidst the earthly turmoil, we will cry out with God's angels:

"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory" (Isaiah 6:6).