Amy Carmichael said, “And shall I pray to change thy will, my Father, until it be according to mine? No, Lord, no that shall never be rather I pray thee blend my human will with thine.” She was right. Prayer is not to bend God to my will but to bend my will to God. Since the last few days we have been looking at the pattern of prayer given by Lord Jesus Christ.
We continue our meditation on the pattern of prayer Jesus gave and the verse for today's meditation is
We continue our meditation on the pattern of prayer Jesus gave and the verse for today's meditation is
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven
Matthew 6:10
In just saying the above prayer, we’re immediately faced with a dilemma. Do we really need to say, “God, Your will be done?” Isn’t God sovereign anyway? Isn’t that a rather useless thing to say? Isn’t it apparent that God’s will, will be done? Matthew 6:10
We need to pray this prayer because there are things that God wills that just don’t seem to happen. Now don’t misunderstand the statement. They’re His desires but men reject them.
For example, Jesus desired that Jerusalem be saved. In Matthew 23:37 and in Luke 13:34 he said, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem I want to gather you,” but you won’t. And in John 5:40 he said, “You will not come to me that you might have life,” and Jesus wept. He wept. Back in Jeremiah chapter 13 God says, “I’m going to judge you and when I have to judge you mine eye will run down with tears.”
All our prayers, I suppose, come down to that bottom line: “God, Your will be done.” Now, taking the literal Greek of this simple statement, it says something like this: “Your will, whatever You wish to happen, let it happen immediately.” In other words, “God, do what You want.” That’s the bottom line in prayer. “Do what You desire, do what’s in Your heart to be done.” That’s the petition.
I think David prayed that way in Psalm 40, verse 8 when he said, “I delight to do thy will, 0 my God.” He wanted to know it, and he wanted to do it; that was his heart.
We can see this in the life of Jesus Christ also. In John 4:34, He said, “My food is to do the will of him that sent me.” In John 6:38, He said, “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me.” In 3:35 He says, “Whosoever doeth the will of the Father, the same is my mother, and sister, and brother.” And several of the Gospels record Him in the garden, praying in agony, and saying, “Nevertheless, not my will, but” – what – “thine, be done.” Jesus always prayed that God’s will be done. “Thy will be done.”
True prayer is always dominated by His name, His kingdom and His will, not ours. This won’t happen until we lay our life on the altar, until we’re a living sacrifice, until our will is dead.
All our prayers, I suppose, come down to that bottom line: “God, Your will be done.” Now, taking the literal Greek of this simple statement, it says something like this: “Your will, whatever You wish to happen, let it happen immediately.” In other words, “God, do what You want.” That’s the bottom line in prayer. “Do what You desire, do what’s in Your heart to be done.” That’s the petition.
I think David prayed that way in Psalm 40, verse 8 when he said, “I delight to do thy will, 0 my God.” He wanted to know it, and he wanted to do it; that was his heart.
We can see this in the life of Jesus Christ also. In John 4:34, He said, “My food is to do the will of him that sent me.” In John 6:38, He said, “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me.” In 3:35 He says, “Whosoever doeth the will of the Father, the same is my mother, and sister, and brother.” And several of the Gospels record Him in the garden, praying in agony, and saying, “Nevertheless, not my will, but” – what – “thine, be done.” Jesus always prayed that God’s will be done. “Thy will be done.”
True prayer is always dominated by His name, His kingdom and His will, not ours. This won’t happen until we lay our life on the altar, until we’re a living sacrifice, until our will is dead.
The best example for this is Abraham. Abraham took Isaac, strapped wood on his back, marched him up to Mount Mariah. All the way up the mountain Abraham must have been saying to himself, “This is very strange God. You’ve told me to go up there and slay my son on the altar and yet my son is the fulfillment of Your covenant. You tell me to lie him down on an altar and kill him. It doesn’t make sense.”
But we today know it’s one of the greatest illustrations of a living sacrifice in the world because Abraham went all the way up there, put Isaac down, strapped him down, lifted the knife and was ready to plunge it into his heart. If he would have done that Isaac would have been a dead sacrifice but Abraham would have been a living one. Why? Because Abraham would have crucified all his own dreams, all his own hopes, all his own ambitions, all his own goals, all his own desires. He literally would have died to himself in obedience to God.
The question is not, “Can you die for Christ?” The question is, “Can you live selflessly for him?” That’s the question. If you can then you can know His good will. So the thing that always stands in the way of praying for God’s will is our own will.
This Lenten Season let us ask God to drive us to the place of prayer that we may seek the fulfillment of His will of purpose and desire and thereby making us vessels to fit for the Master’s use.
May the Lord Almighty help us to set our lives accordingly. God bless you.
But we today know it’s one of the greatest illustrations of a living sacrifice in the world because Abraham went all the way up there, put Isaac down, strapped him down, lifted the knife and was ready to plunge it into his heart. If he would have done that Isaac would have been a dead sacrifice but Abraham would have been a living one. Why? Because Abraham would have crucified all his own dreams, all his own hopes, all his own ambitions, all his own goals, all his own desires. He literally would have died to himself in obedience to God.
The question is not, “Can you die for Christ?” The question is, “Can you live selflessly for him?” That’s the question. If you can then you can know His good will. So the thing that always stands in the way of praying for God’s will is our own will.
This Lenten Season let us ask God to drive us to the place of prayer that we may seek the fulfillment of His will of purpose and desire and thereby making us vessels to fit for the Master’s use.
May the Lord Almighty help us to set our lives accordingly. God bless you.
Amen
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