On the Lord's Prayer

I was reflecting on the Lord's prayer a few days ago and one of the things that God taught me seems so simple, yet so unpracticed.  The prayer begins with these words, "Our father, who are in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven..."  and then it goes on "give us this day our daily bread..."

Why is it that we spend so much time praying for our daily bread, our daily needs, wants and desires and so little time praying for the Kingdom to come, for God's will to take over people, and for the world to reflect the order of its Creator?  Is it possible to pray for our daily bread if we don't know what the kingdom is we are praying for first?  Can we expect God to answer the 2nd when we neglect the first?

What hit me profoundly, is that so much of my children's prayer life, and the lives of those I pastor is filled up with daily bread kind of prayers and how little we ask for the Gospel to take over our lives, or for boldness to speak the Word of God to others, or for God to make us holy and righteous.  The list could go on, in fact I have a previous post on Praying God's Will from the life of Paul, for those who are interested.

I am certainly rethinking my prayer life in light of this insight from my Lord.  I hope you will too.