Thy Will Be Done

Many people can recite the Lord’s Prayer from memory. Even in TV and Movies, this prayer is used because it is well known by a large segment of our culture. Sometimes when we commit scripture to memory, we stop pausing to really allow the weight of the scripture to take hold in our life. I want us to pause for a moment and consider one aspect of the Lord’s prayer found in Luke 11:2-4. We should no that of all the ministry items the disciples could have asked for insight into, the one they choose was the prayer life of Jesus. How should we pray was the question? I want us to pause and consider part of verse 2.

“Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.”

We would be mistaken to believe that the kingdom of heaven is solely future in nature. Yes, there is an aspect of the Kingdom of God that we will not know until the end of time but there is a lot that we can know and experience now. Jesus is teaching the disciples to pray for God’s kingdom to come to the here and now. What creation needs most, is for the rule of God to be poured out in our day and time. Jesus gives us insight into how this is done today when He says, “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” It would be easy for you and me, to look at the world that we live in now and conclude that the will of God is not being done here and now and that it will not until Christ returns. This however pulls our lives out of the equation. Can Jesus have His way, can He rule in our life today? If so, what impact would this have on the world we live in? Imagine for a moment that every born-again believer submits their life to Jesus’ rule, which should happen but realistically is not. If you and I allowed God to ‘rule’ in our lives, what change would take place in our world? What would happen if we ministered to every widow, orphan, and shut-in that God has placed in our lives? What if we shared the good news of the coming of the Kingdom of Jesus? What if in our Jerusalem, Judah, Samaria, all the way into the uttermost parts of the world we were Jesus’ witnesses, how would our world change? Part of what Jesus is teaching us to pray is that He would be able to have His way in every one of His followers because He knows if this happens a little piece of heaven would be demonstrated here on earth. I guess this begs a few questions. Do I allow Jesus to fully have His way in my life? What are the barriers, both eternal and self-imposed, that prevent me from allowing Jesus to have His way in my life? How would my life be different if I did surrender? Do I have the courage today to pray for God to have His way in my life just like He does in the heavenly realm? I challenge you today, pray for the coming of God’s kingdom in your life and watch and see how it impacts the world that you live in.

Pastor Scott