Day Four: ‘Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven…’ (Matthew 6, verse 10b)
Reading: Matthew 26:36-46
Until now, Jesus Christ has been teaching us that the focal point of all prayer should be ‘Your name, Your kingdom, Your will’. This shows us what should take priority in our prayer lives. Today, when we approach our Father in prayer, let’s be aware that we are entering into the presence of a Father who is sovereign. However, this sovereignty raises a number of questions. For example, how do we link the sovereignty of God to the prayer ‘Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’. Or even, if our Father is sovereign, does this mean that His will is done inevitably anyway? Can our will cancel out the will of our Father who is in in heaven, when we pray seriously and sincerely? Here is one of the Bible’s paradoxes.
We must remember that our Father in heaven is sovereign, and allows people to act on their own volition in certain circumstances. God is not a dictator Father. The African context is full of examples of Fathers who impose their will on their children. The fact that Jesus Christ teaches us to pray ‘Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ indicates that the will of God our Father is not always done on earth. Our prayer should be that every person and every thing on earth may come into alignment with the perfect will of God. Praying ‘May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ is a sort of protest against the ideas and systems of the present age, characterised by the reign of the Devil. It is about praying that Satan’s will may be completely defeated. It is also about praying that what is of great interest to the Father be also a priority in our own thoughts. This can only happen when the Gospel begins to take effect in the lives of people. Then they desire to do His will, and thus come to be a community of the people of heaven on earth. This is what we can describe as tangible proof of the work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of people. When we pray ‘May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’, we are firstly praying that the will of our Father who is in heaven might become our will. Not the other way around. Then we pray that His will may conquer and be accomplished in His world as well as in the world to come. When we pray, we must recognise that God knows what is good, and we must always abandon our will to His. The Word of God reminds us that the will of God is good, agreeable and perfect (Romans 12:2). When we pray that the will of God be done, we must, however, be aware that pride is the great enemy of this will. Pride moved Satan to rebel against God, and today pride leads unbelievers to reject God and leads believers to disobey. In order for the will of God to be accepted, and if we are sincere in this sort of prayer, self-centredness must obviously give way. This is not easy, humanly speaking. However, it is possible, by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Our Lord and Saviour set us the example when during a dark night he prayed in the garden of Gethsemane. This was just before his arrest. Three times, he asked that the will of His Father (and ours) in heaven be done (Matthew 26:39-44).
Verse of the Day: We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).
Prayer Points:
- Pray that God will give you the spiritual wisdom to learn His will (Psalm 119:27, 33)
- Pray for spiritual inclination towards His will (Psalm 119:32; 36)
