Thy Will Be Done
7 And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition, as the Gentiles do,
for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.
8 Therefore do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need, before you ask Him.
9 Pray, then, in this way: “Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven…”
-JESUS (Matthew 6:7-10)
Have you ever found yourself at a point in your walk with God where you have been able to pray with total peace and joy, “Thy will be done”? O, my friend, it is a wonderful place to be, but I think that few ever discover it. Many Christians today go through life striving and stressing because they fail to understand, believe, and know the secret behind this prayer.
Praying “Thy will be done” can be quite scary (humanly speaking) because of the uncertainty we have of His will for our lives. This uncertainty is usually the result of one of two things: the ignorance we have of God’s Word or the refusal we have to believe God’s Word and accept that God is in control and knows what is best for our lives. To pray “Thy will be done” with complete peace requires us to have complete surrender. To have complete surrender requires us to have complete trust, and this is the secret behind being able to pray this prayer.
Trust in a loving, good, powerful, and sovereign God is what enables us to pray “Thy will be done”with absolute surrender. In doing so, we receive the supernatural peace and joy that only He can give). Look at verse 8 of the passage above: Therefore do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need, before you ask Him. Jesus is telling us that we shouldn’t be acting like unbelievers, like people who have no hope and life. We should rest assured that God knows what we need – He knows what we need before we even know! God is in control! He knows the events of our lives and He is ahead of us preparing the perfect way to meet those needs. And He does it in such a way that will bring Him glory and honor and praise. If He knows what our needs are before we do, and if He is orchestrating events to meet those needs, should we not trust Him – even if we don’t understand?
I haven’t met a Christian yet who doesn’t at least say that they trust in God. Trusting God is fundamental to the Christian life, yet many find it hard to actually do. We say that we trust God for our eternal salvation but we can’t trust Him with our very lives. O, my friends, this should not be. We worship The God would made the heavens and the earth. We worship The God who fashioned each one of us in our mothers’ womb. We worship The God who reached into the timeline of human events and became a man (and yet remained fully God) and paid the price for our sins once and for all. We worship The God who knows our every need and He alone knows how to best meet those needs so that He alone gets the glory. We sing that our God is an awesome God. May we see that He really is awesome, even in the midst of seemingly difficult circumstances, and sing it with conviction and joy. May we see that in all that happens, God is sovereign – He is in control – and may we know His goodness and love in the midst of it all.
If we have come to know the goodness, love, and sovereignty of God, we will stop striving and stressing in the midst of difficulties. I believe that it is possible for Christians to strive in their prayer life – to nullify the most intimate thing that we have: our walk with God. We strive when we pray as unbelievers do (meaningless repetition and placing our will above God’s). In doing so we nullify a close and intimate walk with God because we fail to trust in His will as being best. When we can’t pray “Thy will be done” we are robbing ourselves of the peace and joy that comes in trusting the absolute goodness, love, and sovereignty of God over our lives.
“Cease striving and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10
God doesn’t want to be the co-pilot of our lives. He doesn’t even want to be the navigator. And He doesn’t want us to co-pilot or navigate with Him. God wants to be the pilot of our lives (and He doesn’t need a navigator) and He wants us to enjoy the ride. And yes, that means to enjoy the ride through difficult times as well. This can only happen when we are surrendered to Him and trusting in His goodness over our lives.
Difficulties really reveal where our heart is – are we more concerned about ourselves or are we really concerned about the glory of God? We say that the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever but when difficulties come we quickly lose sight of this. If we have really come to believe and know that God is good and knows what we need then our outlook in the midst of seemingly difficult times will be full of trust. To trust means that we don’t ask the Lord why. Why has this happened, why me Lord? Instead, we ask what. Lord, what do you want me to learn through this, what is it that you want to accomplish? And how. Lord, how can I best glorify You through this situation? How can others come to know You better through this? How can I make you known? These are the questions of one who trusts in the goodness, love, and sovereignty of God. These are the questions of one who is surrendered to His will being done in and through their lives. These are the questions of one who truly wants to see God glorified and who enjoys Him no matter what happens. You can’t fake this kind of trust. People can talk the talk and sound spiritual but talk doesn’t do it – walking does. And God allows times of seeming difficulty in our lives to test us in our faith and to strengthen our faith in Him.
Next week we will continue on this subject and will be looking at a Scripture that many people know but fail to experience in their daily lives. Until then, my prayer for you is that you will come to know the peace and joy which comes to us when we are surrendered to His perfect will knowing that our Father has nothing but good planned for us.
By God's Grace ~ Through God's Word ~ For God's Glory!
Chuck Long
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea.
Psalm 46:1-2
©God’sGWG
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