021 Thy Kingdom Come Part 1

Did you know that mankind once had a kingdom? Discover how it was that we originally lost our ability to rule that kingdom when an ancient enemy stole it. And discover how it is that we continue to surrender that kingdom in our daily lives. Don't worry, God's got a plan, and we are a part of that plan. 

**Original Purpose of Mankind**

- Humans were uniquely created in God's image to rule over Earth and reflect His character through their actions
- As God's "icons," humans were meant to fill the Earth with representations of God's glory and character

**The Fall and Satan's Role**

- Satan, driven by insanity from his own fall, redirected his hatred for God toward mankind
- Though insane regarding his position before God, Satan remains intelligent and cunning in his attacks on humanity

**Loss of Human Kingdom**

- Through sin, mankind both surrendered and lost their capacity to rule as God intended
- Satan now rules by manipulating humanity's fallen nature, creating an illusion of freedom while actually enslaving people to sin

**Current Reality**

- Every act of sin is effectively choosing Satan's rule over God's kingship
- Unlike Satan who gives harmful desires immediately, God gives or withholds based on what is truly good for His people

Transcript

Welcome back to Holystic Christian Prayer! If you’ve been following this podcast for a while, then you are aware that we are doing an in-depth study of the Lord’s Prayer, line by line. Last time we looked at the first of the seven petitions found in the Lord’s Prayer, and in this episode we will be discussing the second petition: Thy Kingdom Come.

Jesus tells us to pray, “Thy Kingdom Come”, but what does that really mean? As we will discover, there’s a lot to unpack in this short phrase. I’d like to begin this episode with a short quote from our old friend A.W. Pink in his book, The Lord’s Prayer.

”Thy Kingdom come.” Whose Kingdom is being referred to here? Obviously, it is that of God the Father, yet it is not to be thought of as something separate from the Kingdom of the Son. The Father’s Kingdom is no more distinct from Christ’s than “the Church of the living God” (1 Tim. 3:15) is something other than the Body of Christ, or than the “Gospel of God” (Rom. 1:1) is something different from “the Gospel of Christ” (Rom. 1:16), or than “the Word of Christ” (Col. 3:16) is to be distinguished from the Word of God. But Christ does mean, by the words “Thy Kingdom,” to distinguish sharply the Kingdom of God from the kingdom of Satan (Matthew 12:25–28), which is a kingdom of darkness and disorder. Satan’s kingdom is not only opposite in character, but it also stands in belligerent opposition to the Kingdom of God.”—Arthur Walkington Pink, The Lord’s Prayer (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2005), Mt 6:9.

Does this quote take you by surprise a little bit? I have to admit when I first considered the phrase, “Thy Kingdom Come”, it didn’t even occur to me that Jesus was making any sort of distinction between the kingdom of God and some other kingdom. According to Pink, there is a kingdom of God, and a kingdom of Satan. At first, I thought he got it wrong. God obviously has a kingdom, but does Satan really have a kingdom? After some reflection I realized that Pink was speaking of God’s kingdom and Satan’s kingdom in terms of opposing forces that are at work in our world.

I also considered humanity, and if it couldn’t be said that there is a kingdom of mankind too. These thoughts led me into a deep prayerful study and do you know what I found? There are three kingdoms, but all of them are subject to God’s sovereign rule. We will first look at the kingdom of man, then the kingdom of Satan, and then finally the kingdom of God. You might be wondering why I’m taking the time to do this and I don’t blame you. In order to really understand what Jesus intends for us when we pray “Thy kingdom Come”, we need to understand God’s plan for mankind, Satan’s interference, and our role in the spiritual war that continually rages on Earth. Lastly, we need to understand the central point of “Thy Kingdom Come” and pray prayers in alignment with the heart of that prayer. Understanding this phrase of the Lord’s prayer is so important that I’ve decided to discuss it over three episodes. There’s just so much contained in this one little phrase that I felt you guys deserved taking the time to fully explore it, rather than just passing quickly through it. Let’s pray.

God, I thank you for what you have helped me to prepare. I ask that you open the spiritual eyes of all who listen to this episode to the reality that all the Earth is a battleground between good and evil. Help us to see the physical world and the spiritual world as interwoven realities that we have to take equally seriously. Let the righteous indignation and wrath You have towards evil burn within us, until we are moved to do something about it in our world. Remove our timidity, pacifism, and fear of the evil one. I thank You that you have given us everything we need to prevail in spiritual battle. Holy Spirit, make us certain of the incomprehensible power You long to loose through us to destroy the works of the enemy. Let the kingdom of God fully establish itself in every place within us that has not yet surrendered to your rule and direction. Restore the image of God within us, and align our will with Yours so that we pray as we ought and do as you would do. And Lord Jesus, we thank You for delivering us from the kingdom of darkness and death, and into Your kingdom of light and life. Through You, we have the promise of victory over sin and death even before we ever pick up of the Sword, which is Your Word. Amen.

• Created in His Image to Rule
  • The Unique Honor of Man: Made in God’s Image
  • Let’s go backwards into the history of mankind all the way to the beginning. For that we turn to Genesis chapter 1, verses 26-27. In just these two verses we are told something very interesting: God made us in His image to rule over the Earth. Let’s listen to what exactly it says:
  • “26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
  • 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
  • It's hard to fully understand the magnitude of these two verses without doing a bit of digging. So let’s get our facts straight. Number one, God created us. Fact two, God made us in His image, male and female. Fact three, we were originally created to rule the earth.
  • God created us, that’s fact number one. This is a fundamental starting point. In fact, Scripture says that everything that exists is contingent, that is, dependent upon God for it’s existence. John 1:3 says, “All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” Colossians 1:16 reaffirms this and tells us a bit more. Listen to what it says. “For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through and for him.” Everything that exists, exists because God created it, and it all exists for Him. Take a moment to consider that. Everything—every tree, every mountain, every subatomic particle, every planet and every person was made for God. This is especially true of people. But why? It’s because of the second fact: we were made in the image of God.
  • Now, something that is often said, but less often understood is that we were made in God’s image. That means, at the very least, that we were created to resemble God in some way. No other creature on Earth, not even the angels in Heaven, were given the incredible honor of being made in God’s image and likeness.
  • This thought should stagger you a bit. Out of all the creatures that God created, God entrusted mankind with both His image and His likeness. He trusted us to represent Him in word and deed before creatures upon the Earth and all the Heavenly host. Not many of us who have children would feel comfortable with our children, even our most well-behaved children, to be faithful representatives of what we are really like to a watching world. And yet, this was God’s original plan for us. Humans beings were originally created in such a way that as they multiplied and filled the Earth, God’s image and likeness would also fill the Earth.
  • You might recall in previous episodes that we talked about this idea of Christians resembling God. Originally, all people were created to reflect God’s image and demonstrate His character in all their actions. In the same way people can observe us and our parents, and see our resemblance to them, all creation should be able to observe human beings and see our likeness to God. Obviously, I am not talking about the resemblance to God’s physical characteristics, but our mannerisms, expressions, the way we talk, and especially by what we do.
  • You guys know what an icon is, right? They are small images that have a likeness to something larger than themselves. Sometimes we even call people icons, and what do we do with people that we call icons? Do we not fill the Earth with images of them, increasing their fame and influence? We see something in our icons that is praiseworthy or worthy of admiration, and share their images in hopes that others will see what we see, joining us in admiration and praise.
  • We were created to be a kind of icon of God. Merriam Webster defines an icon as “a person or thing widely admired especially for having great influence or significance in a particular sphere.” According to God’s original plan, the Earth would be filled with small images of God through human beings. Every single person on Earth would serve as an icon of God, putting on display a God who created everything, and has great significance in every sphere of life. The original plan was for all human beings, not just Christians, to be little image bearers of God, to rule the Earth, and to bring glory to God. Luckily for all of us, God had a plan to save us from the penalty of sin, restore our relationship with Him, and to empower mankind to once again reflect God’s image throughout the world. We will talk about the role of the Christian in this plan a little later. Let’s move on to the third fact.
  • Mankind to Rule Under God in His Likeness
  • We were originally created to rule the Earth under God’s sovereign rule of all things. Notice the way those two verses in Genesis uses all-inclusive words to describe our rule over the Earth. Every domain of Earth was ours to rule, from the skies to the seas, over every animal, and over all the earth. So, the whole earth was our given domain, and Scripture says we were to rule over it all. In the ESV translation of the Bible, the Hebrew word, “radah” is translated as “rule”.
  • The word “radah” is also translated in other translations as, “have dominion”, “dominate”, “tread down”, “subjugate”, and “reign”. Although I’m not a huge fan of the Amplified version, I like the way it translates “radah” as “to have complete authority”. Now combine that with what I just said about resembling God in our character.
  • We were created to rule the Earth and to reflect God’s character while doing so. To be clear, even at the beginning where we were meant to rule over the Earth, at all times mankind was still under God’s absolute and Sovereign rule. At any point in time God could had said to the human race, do this and don’t do that, and we would be obligated to follow Him because it’s His image and His likeness that we were created to reflect. In short, the way that God reigns over all Creation should be very similar to the way we were meant to rule the world. And how does God reign?
  • First and foremost, all that God does He does so that His name will be glorified. And I mean everything. He seeks His own glorification, and as we already saw, everything was made by God and for God. But for God in what sense? For His glory. We, unlike God, aren’t meant to seek our own glory, but were made to glorify God in all that we say and do. To glorify God is a Christianese way of saying, “to make known God everywhere as great, to celebrate who He is, and to make His name and His deeds known to all of creation”. If God rules all creation the way He does in order that His name is glorified, the way we should rule the Earth should always have the glorification of God’s name as our chief aim. We were made for God to glorify Him, and that purpose should be evident in our works.
  • In all the ways that God reigns over Creation, He seeks to glorify His name. He is a God that protects the weak and downtrodden, and we praise Him that He is our great protector. We similarly are called to protect the weak, and when we do so, we reflect the loving protectiveness of God to those we protect, and in that way God’s name is glorified. God is a god of justice, and so we seek to reflect that aspect of His character by acting justly and defending others from injustice, and in that way God’s name is glorified. God is generous, and so we reflect His generosity to others when we give generously, and in that way God’s name is glorified. In nearly every praiseworthy thing that God does, we are expected in virtue in being made in God’s image and likeness, to imitate all that our Heavenly Father does. Whatever we see in the way that God rules over creation that we find beautiful or praiseworthy, we imitate, because as we do those good works, God’s name is glorified. God puts His works and name on display for all to see, and as His image bearers we likewise put our good works on display, because it brings God glory to His name.
  • Maybe a parable of Jesus will help hit this idea home for those want more Scriptural backing to my statements. Let’s read Matthew 5:14-16.
  • “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
  • I hope you were listening closely, specifically to the last line. “…so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Our good works, when seen by others, gives glory to our Father in Heaven. But how? Satan and sin work to shroud everything in great darkness, concealing pain, decay, and every work of the devil in shadow. The dark hides not only the death and destruction of sin, but also keeps the unbeliever from seeing God’s glory and works.
  • Believers of Jesus belong to the kingdom of light and life, and so they carry the light of God to dark places. Light allows us to see things as they really are, and reveals the narrow path. When a believer witnesses another believer doing a good deed, our natural instinct is to give God glory to the Father. Because we desire to see God’s will obeyed in our lives, we rejoice and give glory to the Father when we see God’s will obeyed in the life of another. I’m not sure how it could work for unbelievers, but here’s an educated guess.
  • To some, the light that the believer shines all around them is like a lighthouse to a ship lost at sea. And to others, the light is unwelcome because it reveals sin for what it is, and the image that they see in the mirror is beyond their ability to face. So they cling to darkness and shadow and sin, because in the dark, they don’t look too bad. Either way, when a believer allows their light to shine, it makes it possible for their good works to be seen by others since they are not in shadow. Just being able to see a good work performed might be reason enough to give the Father glory.
  • What all this means is that mankind was originally supposed to rule the Earth in much the same way that God rules over Earth and all creation. Unfortunately, our reign was short lived and disastrous. The kingdom of mankind was stolen from us by the one who already tried and failed to steal a kingdom that didn’t belong to him—Satan.
• A Stolen and Surrendered Kingdom
  • The Insanity of Satan
  • Satan wasn’t ever meant to rule the Earth. In fact, he lost his original position as choirmaster of heaven and legitimate authority when he fell from Heaven when he aspired to take God’s place. The Bible doesn’t explicitly say how much time elapsed between Satan’s fall from Heaven and the creation of mankind, but however long it was, it must have been long enough for sin to corrupt the mind of Satan into insanity. In fact, I think that sin immediately drove Satan’s mind to insanity the instant before he made his decision to attempt to overthrow God.
  • The Genesis account says creation and the fall of mankind happened within days of each other. Whether you think creation was 6 consecutive 24 hour days, or you believe them to be mere place markers between large epochs of time, is not especially important. What is important to know is that from the time that Satan was cast down from Heaven, he hated God. He hated God, and yet while powerful and had many angels backing him, he was unable to overthrow God or injure Him directly. And from the time of his exile from Heaven, his hate for God and his insanity grew all the more, and had nowhere to go until the arrival of mankind. Unable to overthrow God or injure Him directly, Satan redirected his hatred and malice toward something that could harm God indirectly: mankind.
  • Only a mind driven to insanity would ever think that a created being had the faintest chance of defeating not only his eternal Creator, but the Creator and sustainer of everything that exists. To us, though our own ability to reason has been corrupted by sin, the idea that what was created should ever think it could win a rebellion against it’s Creator and sustainer is so detached from reason and reality that the only explanation for his actions is insanity. Satan’s attempt to rebel against God is like the man attempting to saw off the tree limb he is sitting on, and expecting not to fall. He somehow can’t see that no matter how much effort he exerts, that no matter what plan he devises, he will never be successful in taking God’s place on the throne of Heaven. I think that when Satan sinned, it primarily damaged his ability to see the reality of who he is before God. Sin has somehow blinded Satan I think. He doesn’t see himself anymore in a way that’s true to reality. Sin has made him forget or dismiss that fact that he was created by God and wouldn’t exist without Him. Sin either made Satan forget that he hasn’t always existed or sin convinced him that not even God has power to overpower him. One way or another I think his mind and heart was so damaged that he can no longer perceive reality as it relates to him. In other words, he’s sane and rational in his thinking of all other things except himself.
  • I don’t think that the enemy is stupid, in fact, he is quite clever. It would be a mistake to underestimate his cunning or to view him as some minor threat. I think that in some cases he deliberately makes himself appear feeble and launches many ineffective attacks upon us as a way of making us drop our guard around him. 1 Peter 5:8 calls for us to remain alert to all the devil’s tactics, because the devil is not some harmless kitten unraveling a ball of yarn, but a lion seeking to devour a person who doesn’t stay on guard. Let’s hear that verse.
  • “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
  • Satan is intelligent, cunning, subtle, and patient. He has been around since before the Creation of man, and so he probably has a better understanding of human psychology and behavior than any psychologist or sociologist alive today. He’s had thousands of years to finely tune his methods to produce the mentalities, the strongholds, and the behavior he wants produce in us. Worst of all, he knows Scripture like the back of his hand. He can even use Scripture to mislead us by tearing things out of context, or by using Scripture against us. For an idea of what I’m talking about, I recommend that you read C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters. While it is a fictional book about an older demon teaching and younger demon how to more successfully drag human beings away from God and into hell, it can be helpful in considering the very real schemes of the enemy. Satan may be many things, but one thing he certainly is not, is stupid.
  • The insanity of Satan, along with the desire to destroy what God loves—us—gave Satan all the impulse he needed to set his mind to seizing and ruling the kingdom given to mankind by God. We will look at this more in detail in the next episode.
  • In a way, the kingdom of mankind was both stolen and surrendered. Let’s consider two quotes from Mike Breen in his book, Covenant and Kingdom. Here’s the first quote regarding how the kingdom of man was surrendered.
  • A Surrendered Kingdom
  • “Because the connection Life was severed, Adam and Eve began to die. And their broken relationship meant that they also surrendered their capacity to rule. In submitting to the temptation of the serpent, Adam and Eve lost their rightful places before God and surrendered their throne—making room for the accession of another, who would later be known as the devil.”
  • Did you catch that? When mankind sinned, we simultaneously lost our capacity and will to rule in a way that glorifies God. Our focus shifted to ourselves, and feeding the sinful nature, or the flesh, within us. Even if Satan had left us alone to rule the Earth, our new sinful nature would lead us to rule the Earth in a way that does not glorify God. But Satan did not leave us alone to rule. Satan weaponized our new preference for sin, and rules us through the manipulation of our depraved fallen nature. Remember I’m not saying that there is no sense that we wish to do good, or that human beings never do good deeds, just that Satan has the ability to leverage our preference to sin against us. He tempts and entices us to feed the flesh, and by these means he is both able to rule us and enslave us to his will. There is yet another sense in which the kingdom of mankind both was surrendered and continues to be surrendered by mankind.
  • Let’s look at that second quote by Mike Breen.
  • “And so the world fell under the influence of one who hated God, hated his creation and in particular hated that part of creation that bore God’s image. All the maladies and miseries began here, with a wrongful ruler given power by our wrongdoing. In the darkness of his evil heart, the devil conceived a plan to oppose God’s purposes by stealing the position designed for us.”
  • There was of course the initial surrender of mankind’s kingdom, when Adam and Eve fell into sin, which we have already seen. But there is yet another sense in which we all continue to surrender our kingdom to Satan today. Remember how earlier I said that Satan was clever in the way that he deliberately chooses to feed our flesh? The reason that this is so clever is because it creates the illusion of total freedom, while enslaving us. We feel free because we think that complete freedom means being able to do whatever we like, in whatever fashion we like, at any time we like, and without any restrictions whatsoever. But by doing whatever we want, we enslave ourselves to sin, and by extension to our enemy. Let’s have some Scriptural backing for this idea. Consider Romans 6:16 which says this,
  • “14Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?”
  • We become slaves of sin, which leads to death. But why? Because that’s what our enemy wants. Our enemy encourages us to indulge the desires of the flesh. He uses our appetite for sin to ensnare us in his plans to steal from us, destroy us, and bring every form of death he can to us. The language of “if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey” might confuse some of those listening along, so let me show you how it can be said that we continue to surrender our kingdom to Satan today. Earlier, I said that both Satan and God count obedience as worship, and that Satan, like God, desires worship. When we indulge our flesh and sin, we obey the voice of our enemy, and offer him worship as he brings death and destruction upon us. Not only did the human race surrender the Kingdom to the enemy in the garden of Eden, but we pledge allegiance to Satan’s flag of death and darkness every time we sin.
  • You might think I’m overstating things, but look at the language used in Romans 6:16 again. “If you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey.”
  • Also consider Galatians 4:8 which says,
  • “8Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods…”
  • Every time we sin, we align ourselves with the leadership of Satan. Every time we sin, we unconsciously make ourselves slaves of Satan. Any time we sin, we are effectually saying to God, “I don’t want You, God, as my King” and there are only two options left to us if we don’t want God as King over us. We crown ourselves or we crown Satan. Either way we choose, we reject God’s kingship over us and make ourselves enemies of God. I encourage you to feel the weight of Jesus’ words in Luke 11:23 where he says,
  • “23Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters”.
  • Jesus doesn’t mince His words and neither will I. If you’re not on Jesus’ side, you’re on Satan’s side by default. Satan is equally pleased with crowning ourselves or crowning him, because either way, we obey him and therefore worship him. Satan wanted to do things his own way, and he’s pleased when we do the same because it means rejecting God as King. We can’t bend the knee to God as King if our knee is bent before the throne Satan occupies in our lives. We may think we sit on the throne, but the truth is if God is not on the throne of our lives, Satan will be, even if the jester’s stool we occupy is  tall and decorated with fake gems to make it look very pretty.
  • Suppose you choose self-rule. We can say to ourselves, “I’m the captain of my own ship, and I make my own choices” but it’s really Satan plotting our course to final shipwreck. He will feed our egos, inflate our sense of superiority over others, and as we satisfy our flesh, we allow him to seed ever greater evil within our hearts and minds. Again, I stress that we may feel in control, but that’s only because Satan is giving us what we want with no regard for our well-being. In fact, he’s giving us what we want to destroy us. So, to the one who says, “I’m the captain of my own ship”, Satan is delighted. He won’t try to forcibly relieve you from the helm of your ship but will help you set your course to hell and death more assuredly along the way. It works well for Satan when that’s the attitude we have in our hearts about our lives. He knows that left on our own, we would shipwreck our own lives gradually, but he wants our death and destruction now. He is impatient to rush our doom. So, he helps us get there faster. He suggests shortcuts in choppy waters, he sabotages our instruments for navigation such as the eyes, the mind, and the heart, and blinds us to the instruction of God.
  • God gives us both good and “bad”, but the aim in giving “good” or “bad” things is always for the good of those who love Him, just as it says in Romans 8:28.
  • “28And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.”
  • A.W. Pink, in the quote we read from him at the very beginning says that the Kingdom of Satan is ruled opposite of God and I think here that is made obvious. God only gives us what actually is good for us, and at a time that is right for us to receive it. He gives truly good gifts, and at a time that when we are mature enough to receive it. He might delay giving us something that He commands us to pray for and is obviously within His will, because He knows we are not yet ready to receive what He wants to give us. He also allows bad things to happen, but even that is intended for our good. I can’t possibly demonstrate how each and every evil thing that God allows to happen is for our good, but I can think of at least two small examples of how it works.
  • A nail in a tire or a slap in the face are things that we would quickly call “bad”. But with God, even the bad things can be used for our good. A nail in your tire might prevent you from a car pile up miles down the road, and a well-timed slap in the face might be enough to break you out of hysteria and escape the danger you’re in. We might not have all the answers as to why God allows particular evils to happen, but God’s interest in giving us good things is for our good and for His glory. Satan is happy to give us anything we want, so long as the immediate or long-term effect results in theft from us, any form of destruction, and death in its many forms.
  • The original idea for the how we surrender to Satan today is an idea that comes from one of my local pastors, Jesse Matthews from Mercy Hill church. His main point was that when we sin, the overall message we declare to ourselves and God is, “God, we don’t want you as King”. I expanded this a bit by explaining that by default the only other contenders for “God of this world” is ourselves or Satan. It’s sort of like when we vote for leaders. Unhappy with the options of the candidates, we choose the next best available candidate. We have said as a race, as well as in our daily lives, “I don’t want God as King of my life”. We either say, “I will rule”, or we say, “let someone other than God rule over me.” Satan and sin offer death and destruction as an alternative to life and relationship with God. The outcome of attempting self-rule or accepting the rule of anyone other than God is death, destruction and misery. Sin is a deadly poison, a cancer to our souls and the physical world. Rejecting God’s rule over us is like being injected with deadly poison, and if we refuse the one and only antidote, it won’t matter how many other counterfeit cures we take. Worse, with every fake cure we ingest, we die all the more quickly. So it doesn’t matter if you choose to self-rule or allow Satan (consciously or otherwise) to rule. The outcome is theft, destruction, and death in every area of life. So, Satan is happy so long as God is not the King you serve.
  • In the next episode, we will examine the way that Satan uses our fallen nature for his purposes in ruling the earth, how Christians can oppose his rule, and what we are really asking God to do when we pray, Thy Kingdom Come. Let’s close out in prayer.
  • King Jesus, we thank you for your great grace towards us. When we fell to sin, we lost the ability and will to rule the Earth as You intended, and surrendered our kingdom to Satan, the enemy. Rather than just leaving us to suffer under the rule of our enemy, You left Your Kingdom in Heaven to rescue those who rebelled against You and have rejected You as King. Lord Jesus, let us repent of the ways that we try to make ourselves king over our lives, and swear allegiance to You in our hearts. Let us once again reflect to all of creation Your image and likeness in all that we do. Amen.