day no. 15,209: wage war as it was once waged in heaven

Jesus taught us to pray by asking that the Father's kingdom would be made manifest on earth as it already is in heaven.

Matthew 6:10
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

So this begs the question: what is His kingdom like there? Is His kingdom one of ethereal cloud-like bliss? Is it where all good harps go when they die?

One thing we do know about heaven, it hasn't always been a peaceful place.

Revelation 12:7-12
Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”

There was a time when war arose in heaven. The angels had the ability to reject their Lord and God and some took advantage of the opportunity. These angels numbered one out of every three of the entire angelic realm and their effort was spearheaded by the dragon. The remaining two out of three of the angels, headed by Michael, fought against the dragon and prevailed, throwing the dragon and his coterie out of heaven.

So when Jesus teaches us to pray for God's kingdom to be manifest here as it is already in heaven, He is giving His elect the charge to elbow the devil out, to fight him back and finish the work of following through on the eviction notice already published by the land Lord.

In other words, when we pray for God's kingdom to come here on earth as it is in heaven, we are praying to be deployed upon the front lines. We are praying that God would bless our battles and bring about the same resolution that heaven has already achieved. We are praying that we would see demonic strongholds thrown down and God's victory proclaimed.

Those who conquer here do so the same way they did in heaven -- by fighting in faith for God against evil until all who remain there rejoice in Jesus alone.