IMAGINE hundreds of millions, even billions, of people, all asking for the same thing. They are asking the highest authority in the universe to fulfill a specific request. Yet, very few of them know just what it is that they are asking for. Could such a thing really happen? In fact, it happens every day. What are all these people asking for? The coming of the Kingdom of God!

By one estimate, there are some 37,000 religions that call themselves Christian, claiming Jesus Christ as their Leader. There are well over two billion members of those faiths. Vast numbers of them pray what is often called the Our Father or the Lords Prayer. Do you know this prayer? As Jesus taught it to his followers, it begins this way: 'Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified. Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth.'Matthew 6:9, 10.

For centuries now, worshippers have reverently repeated those words in churches. They have also recited them in family groups and as individuals, in good times and in bad. They have spoken the words sincerely, even fervently. Many others have learned them by rote and utter them with little or no thought to the meaning. These members of Christendom are not the only ones who have hoped and prayed for the coming of Gods Kingdom.