A Prayer

Father,

Today, we celebrate Jesus as our King. And doing that just makes sense. The wise men came looking for the one who was born King of the Jews. Jesus entered into Jerusalem with the people shouting, 'Hosanna to the King of Israel'. And on the placard hung on His cross was written, 'King of the Jews'. Jesus is King.

But, Father, sometimes it surprises us to see that He is a very different kind of king, different from all the kings of this world.

His coronation was unlike that of any other king. He did not enter His capital city on a white charger. No, He rode in on a humble donkey. He was not honored by a golden crown decorating His head. No, His crown was made of sharp thorns that pierced His head. And He did not ascend to a glorious throne. No, He was lifted up to be impaled on a cross.

He had none of the pomp and glory that has surrounded the kings that we have read about. But right now, He rules all of creation from heaven above. He is a different kind of king.

Father, by Your grace, we have been made willing subjects in this kingdom which Jesus rules. And we are so grateful for that. The alternative, to continue to be rebels against this king - that is something too dreadful to think about, though that is what so many others continue to choose. Jesus is now in the process of conquering all of these, in one way or another. And we know that when we get to the end of this part of Your story, that rebellion will be crushed. And once that happens all of us who are subjects of Jesus' kingdom will be blessed to be rulers with Him. Our future is magnificent.

We want You to know, Father, how grateful we are for these blessings. But we do have a request. There are times when we forget that we are subjects of this kingdom. There are times when we forget that we are called to submit to our King, Jesus. There are times when we live like rebels, submitting only to our own lusts, trying to establish our own independent kingdoms where we rule alone. And quite apart from that being so very wrong, it's just stupid. Our lusts are tyrants. Life in such a tyranny is no life at all. And after Jesus has done so much to get us into His kingdom, does it make any sense for us to reject His love?

So, Father, our request is that Your Spirit would make us better subjects of our King, that Your Spirit would make our hearts eager to submit ourselves to Jesus, in the big things and in the little things. We ask, Father, that we would be changed so that our lives would praise Jesus as the King that He is. And we pray these things through Christ our King, Amen.