God’s Will In Prayer
“Your
kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in
heaven” (Matthew 6:10)
When John the
Baptist came onto the scene of this world, in about
25 or 30 AD, he presented a simple, clear message: “Repent,
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”
(Matthew 3:2). The central core of Jesus’ ministry,
which began near the end of John’s, is also summed
up in Scripture. As we see in Matthew 4:17, Jesus
began to preach and to say, “Repent,
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” ALL
of us need the healing touch of God in every part of
our lives.
The “Sermon
on the Mount” was presented not long after
Jesus began to minister openly, and in it He showed
our need to repent and trust in God. Every “kingdom”
that comes to us must have a king, and He is our
King. The “kingdom of
heaven” was now among us in the Person of
Jesus Christ. He walked on this earth and He is
with His people – forever!
Included within
the Sermon on the Mount is what has been called the
“Lord’s Prayer.”
Do you have trouble knowing what to pray? The
Lord’s Prayer is intended as a MODEL that will help
us to know HOW to pray, rather than something to be
repeated by rote. We know that is true because He
prefaced the prayer with these words: “When
you pray, do not use vain repetitions…”
(Matthew 6:7).
Here’s how the
“Lord’s Prayer” helps us pray. We are to:
-
Address our
prayers to God the Father (Matthew 6:9)
-
PRAISE Him
as we begin to pray (Matthew 6:9)
-
Urge Jesus
to come back and rescue us – soon (Matthew 6:10)
-
Pray in His
will and pray for His will to be done (Matthew
6:10)
-
Ask Him for
all of our needs (Matthew 6:11)
-
Seek
forgiveness in prayer (Matthew 6:12)
-
Forgive
others, one-by-one, as we pray (Matthew 6:13)
-
Pray that
we will be delivered from temptation (Matthew
6:13)
-
Pray that
we will be rescued from Satan’s influence
(Matthew 6:13)
-
Close our
prayer in Praise to God (Matthew 6:13)
Some of those
steps may be enlarged, reduced or even eliminated
from time-to-time, as the Holy Spirit leads us in
prayer. Note again that the Lord’s Prayer is a
guide, a model to help us maintain our focus in
prayer. It is not law. If you are or your loved
one is in a surgical waiting room and you or they
are being wheeled into emergency surgery, and the
Holy Spirit leads ONLY to pray for help as to what
the doctors are about to do, then just PRAY, and
worry about other steps later, when you have more
time.
It’s always a
concern when our prayers do not seem to be answered,
and a key to understanding the problem is found in
our Scripture for today – we are to earnestly pray
that God’s “will” be
done in whatever situation is before us. And that’s
the very point where the process tends to break down
for most people. We want God to do it OUR way.
We often don’t
pray effectively because we attack the problem and
don’t take into account the Solution. Here’s what
Peter Marshall and David Manuel said, in their book,
“The Light and the Glory”
(Page 295): “How often do
we ourselves pour all our energies and resources
into something which seems so right or so good –
only to see it come to nothing? Bitter and
frustrated, it might not ever occur to us that the
reason is that our endeavor, no matter how noble it
appears or how sincere our commitment, has been
totally out of God’s will.” The authors of “Light
and the Glory” went on to quote what former
President Abraham Lincoln said, during the time of
the U.S. Civil War: “Sir,
my concern is not whether God is on our side; my
great concern is to be on God’s side.”
And it’s often
difficult for us to determine if, in fact, we ARE on
God’s side at any given moment. We have the Bible,
God’s written Word, and that’s wonderful, for it
shows us how we should live and what we should do.
We also have God’s Holy Spirit, who enables us to
understand what is written in His Word, and shows us
how to apply it in our lives.
Joshua was brought
into a similar position to that which was faced by
Abraham Lincoln. There would have been ample
evidence for Joshua that God was WITH the nation
Israel. But he had been merely a secretary, a
servant to Moses for many decades, and now was faced
with leading – everything! Suddenly, an armed,
dangerous-looking “Man”
was in front of him (Joshua 5:13). Joshua nervously
asked, “‘Are You for us or
for our adversaries?’ and the ‘Man’ replied, “No,
but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now
come.’”… “Joshua
fell on his face to the earth and worshiped…”
(Joshua 5:14).
Joshua now
understood, Abraham Lincoln saw it, and it’s time
for you and I to understand: it is not that God will
immediately answer all of our prayers in just the
way we want. Our prayers need to be in and for
God’s “will,”
that it will be done “on
earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).
John the Apostle (a different John – not John the
Baptist) saw all this and said, “This
is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we
ask anything according to HIS WILL, He hears us, and
if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we
know that we HAVE the petitions that we have asked
of Him” (1 John 5:14-15).
I think we all
want the awe and wonder of answered prayer. The
answer is to quit praying in our own strength, just
like we must quit doing everything ELSE in our own
strength. We need the Lord and we need Him now!
And He is available for us. Have you trusted in
Christ? If you have, “you
are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed
the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does
not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if
Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin,
but the Spirit is life because of righteousness”
(Romans 8:9-10). If you have Christ, you also have
God’s Holy Spirit, and here’s what He is making
available to you right now – PRAYER in the will of
God:
Romans 8:26 says
that “the Spirit…
helps in our
weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray
for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes
intercession for us…” Use the Lord’s model
for prayer – He will show you what to pray and
ANSWER your need.
Lord, teach me to
pray. Show me how to pray and what to ask. Let my
prayers be in Your will. Let me forgive and be
forgiven. I praise Your Holy Name. In Jesus Name.
Amen.
