When we pray, we as God for his will to be done “on earth as it is in heaven.”

This will take place instantly, totally, and irrevocably when Jesus returns. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:51–54: “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed… When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’” When Jesus returns, eternal life begins!

But eternal life can begin for us now if we strive to do God’s will. George Eldon Ladd described this dynamic as “the presence of the future.” For an example of it, consider 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” The language of the “new creation” is the language of the kingdom of God. It derives from Isaiah 65:17–25 and describes a reality in which peace prevails: “The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like an ox” (cf. Isa. 11:6-15, Rev. 21:1–22:6). For Paul and other New Testament writers, the future is present in the life of believers. Their environment is old and dying, but they are new and coming to life.

Paul uses the language of citizenship to describe our relationship to our environment. “Our citizenship is in heaven,” he writes in Philippians 3:20–21. “And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” We live on earth as resident aliens. And just as a resident alien’s primary loyalty is to his home country, so our primary loyalty is to heaven. We live by its values in a world governed by other values.

Prayer enables us to be good citizens of the home country by reminding us, first and foremost, that it exists. When we pray, we remember that God is the most important Person we need to interact with every day—more important than our spouses, families, neighbors, friends, or coworkers. And we remember that what is unseen is just as important as what is seen. “WE live by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7).

Prayer also gives us power to do God’s will. In Philippians 2:12–13, Paul writes, “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” God wills through our willing and acts through our acting.

Prayer, then, is the nexus between God’s power and our need.