Thy Will Be Done Series

What I hope is that all of us will get from this series of sermons is a new awareness and appreciation for the Lord’s Prayer. I hope it just won’t be a recitation of a bunch of words. Most of us can repeat the Lords’ Prayer without even thinking of what we are saying. We can almost repeat it in our sleep. But I hope when you repeat the Lord’s Prayer you will have a deeper understanding of what you are praying. When we form that circle around the church and repeat the Lord’s Prayer at the end of the altar time, I hope you will have an appreciation and a better understanding of what we are saying. But now we come to another phrase in the Lord’s Prayer: Thy will be done.

Let us try to gain an understanding of what we are praying for here. There are some deep ramifications about praying for God’s will to be done. What does it really mean? How can we pray it? First of all, we are praying that God will accomplish His will on earth and in our lives. The word will refers to God’s plan, God’s purpose, God’s desire, or God’s favor. We are praying for action on the part of God. We remember what God has done in the past. We pray for a repeat performance from God. We pray for a continual act of love and kindness from God. The people of Israel always remembered what God had done for them. He had delivered them from oppression in Egypt. He had caused them to cross over the Red Sea on dry ground. He had drowned Pharoah’s army in the sea. He had fed the people with manna every day from heaven. He had led them by a cloud each day and a pillar of fire by night. He finally had brought them into the promised land. God’s will was shown by his activity on the part of his people. God’s will or desire even extended to other nations. It was God’s intention or will that the Hebrews be a blessing to the entire world.

Likewise, we pray for God’s will to be operative in our lives. We remember how God has been good to us in the past. We remember how God brought us from a mighty long way. We remember how he has been a very present help in the time of trouble. We remember how God has guided our footsteps and held our hands. We remember how God has been better to us than we have been to ourselves. Remembering what God has done for us in the past, we pray that God may continue doing what he has already done. It’s almost like asking the question, “What have you done for me lately?” What has God done for us lately? When we pray thy will be done, we are praying for God to continue doing what he has already done. What has God done for us lately? He woke us up this morning and started us on our way. What has he done for us lately? He keeps on being a rock in a weary land and shelter in the time of storm. What has he done for us lately? He keeps on watching over us all day long and all night long. What has he done for us lately? He keeps on making a way out of no way. When we pray thy will be done, we know it is God’s desire and will to do these things. We know he will always do these things because he is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. We know his promises will never fail. We pray for his will to be done because it is God’s will to bless us every day. We pray for his will to be done because it is his will to do what he has promised to do. We pray like that because Jesus taught us to pray, Thy will be done.

But there is another side to this prayer. We pray that we may do God’s will in our lives. We pray that we may be obedient to God’s will. We pray that we may do what God would have us to do. As we call on God to be active in continuing to do his will, God calls us to be about doing his will. Jesus said that those who do my father’s will are my brother, my mother, and my sister. We are called to do God’s will in our lives. We know what God’s will is for us from what we read in God’s word. Jesus Christ came to do his Father’s will. Jesus said that those who do the will of his father in heaven shall enter the kingdom of heaven. We also see how God’s will and our will come together. God desires us to love our neighbors as ourselves, so we respond by loving our neighbors. God’s will is for us to love him with all our hearts and minds, so we respond by loving him with our hearts and minds. God’s will is for us to love one another in the church, so we respond by loving our brothers and sisters in the church. God’s desire or will is for us to believe in him so we would not perish but have everlasting life, so we respond by believing and accepting Christ that we may have everlasting life.