At Gold Hill, we take one verse of the Bible each year and set it as a theme and a focus, something to keep coming back to and shape who we are. And this year, the verse is…
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9-10)
It’s part of the “Lord’s Prayer”- a prayer that Jesus taught to His disciples and we are to pray it too. The prayer is set in the context of the Sermon on the Mount. This is where Jesus set out his radical expectations of how his followers should live. These verses in Matt 6:9-10 capture the hope that we will see God’s kingdom come and his will be done on the earth. Our faith is not simply about hoping to get into heaven when we die – it’s about bringing heaven to earth. Through our prayers, worship and faithful obedience, we should expect to see justice done, the hungry fed, the sick healed, prisoners visited, the homeless housed, refugees welcomed, enemies reconciled and the planet thriving.
So this verse will be a constant reminder to us throughout 2023 to be full of prayerful expectation that we will see God’s power and rule displayed in every situation we encounter. As individual believers, as we meet together as a church or in homes, as we use the Hub to bless the local community – may we become ever more powerful outposts of heaven here on earth.
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9-10)
Keep the verse close to hand
For lots of us, in the busyness of life, it’s easy to forget things that are important and to slip into self-reliance instead of reliance on God. This verse is a great way to remind us, but to be reminded we need to see it and remember it often. Something that most of us look at dozens (if not hundreds!) of times a day is our mobile phone. So we have made a few different versions of this verse to be used as a Lock Screen for you your phone. If you’d find that helpful, download one, set it as your Lock Screen image, and pray it when you see it.
(If you find yourself starting to miss it because it’s too familiar, switch up the design so it catches your attention again!)
To download, just right click on the image (or press and hold on a phone) and save the image. Then you can set it as your Lock Screen through your phone’s settings.
