HOW TO PRAY (PART 3)

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.
In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’”

Matthew 6:9-10

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In part two of this six devotion series, we find Jesus telling us how we should pray before giving us the first words to speak, words that:

1. Acknowledge God as our Father which makes us His children.

2. Acknowledge that God abides and resides in heaven, reigning and ruling over His children.

3. Declare that God’s name is holy (hallowed).

Today, we build on those words with the next verse, verse 10. Look at it again here:

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

Think about the world we live in for a minute. Yes, there is a lot of good but also so much evil manifested by the sins of people. There is evidence every day that Satan, our enemy also called the devil, is alive and well, negatively influencing and impacting the lives of people here on earth. And don’t think this is merely a 21st century phenomenon because it isn’t. Paul wrote these words in his letter to the church in Corinth:

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 2 Corinthians 4:4

The god of this age is none other than Satan who blinded the minds of unbelievers in first century AD and he’s still doing it today. And it wasn’t just what Paul wrote in the verse from 2 Corinthians but what Jesus Himself was imploring in Matthew’s Gospel, calling on His followers to pray for God to bring His kingdom to earth, a perfect kingdom where sin and evil could not abide.

Sin on earth will never fully be obliterated until Jesus returns again and God hits the reset button on all creation but that doesn’t mean we can’t pray for more holiness and righteousness to come to earth as it is in heaven. This is what Jesus is calling us to do.

Note the other request we are to lift up to our Father in heaven. For Jesus tells us to ask for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

How many times have you heard someone say, “God’s will be done”, in regard to some situation?

The person making the statement is acknowledging that God is in control and He has a will for every one of His children. He has a will for you and He has a will for me. All we are to do is to seek and follow that will in obedience. It’s as simple as that.

But here’s where the problem comes in.

You see, we ask for God’s will to be done but we really aren’t all in when it comes to the statement. In other words, there’s a part of our will that we are not ready to surrender.

It’s true, right?

At our core, and maybe we could call it a part of our core that is rotten, we want to be in control. We want to dictate our own terms and destinies in life, and we want things to go as we expect them to go. When they don’t, then we find ourselves frustrated and angry, like a spoiled child who has failed to get their way.

Friends, here’s a newsflash. Unless we are in concert with what God desires, then our will is going to clash with His and trust me when I say, His will is always going to get done over ours. We may as well save ourselves a lot of time and trouble, and just submit in willful obedience to the desires of our heavenly, holy Father and allow His to bring a part of His kingdom in heaven to earth through us.

So when we pray for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, we need to remember what we are asking for and then fully allow His will to be done without question and definitely without rebuttal.

Jesus asks for us to pray for the will of His Father to be done because He knew we needed to pray this over and over and over again. He knew us better than we know ourselves and understood we would need to pray and pray a lot before we would yield to what God wants over our own longings.

The next time you pray for God’s will to be done, remember what you are saying and commit yourself to what you are asking, for the Father to lead you to the things He wants for you as His beloved child.

He really does always want what’s best for us. He really does.

Tomorrow, we’ll look at part 3 and what Jesus says we should ask for God to give us.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com