Your will

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

YOUR WILL

Matt 6:9-13

9 "This, then, is how you should pray: "'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.'

NIV

Now we ask in our prayer which is in our secret place, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. What exactly does that mean to us as we say that, or use that as an example or pattern for our praying? Let’s just assume for a minute that God the Father does sit upon a throne in heaven, as John described for us in the revelation given to him. He is surrounded by the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures as well as flashes of lighting, rumblings and pearls of thunder. Before the throne was what appeared to be a sea of glass.

Rev 4

4:1 After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this."  2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3 And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne . 4 Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne , seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. 6 Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne , were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying:

"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."

9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne , and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

11 "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all thiengs, and by your will they were created and have their being."

NIV

This is how it is in heaven, this is the will of God the Father who sits upon his throne. There is nothing that happens in heaven which is not his will. Surely once someone challenged his will, one of his creations, one of his angels, whose name was Lucifer. We know what happened to him. He and those he deceived into believing he could overthrow God, were cast out of heaven. God’s will has always been done and will always be done in heaven. So how then can his will be done on earth? What as we asking for? We could consider that ultimately his will is going to be done on earth as it is described for us in the revelation he gave to John. The fact that one day all men will be judged according to their work, whether they accepted or rejected Jesus as Lord and Savior. The sheep and the goats will be separated. The sheep will enter his rest, the goats will be cast out of heaven into the lake of burning sulfur. His will ultimately will be done. But that is the future, the someday, our hope. Yet in our prayer we are really, or should be really asking God to reign supreme in our hearts as he does in heaven. We should be asking that his will be accomplished in our hearts as it is in heaven. This would imply that we bow our hearts before him, that we fall flat on our face within our heart. We give him all the glory and honor and power in our hearts. This would mean we cannot think more of ourselves then we should. We are sinners save by his grace. Yet do we not take so much credit for so many things? We allow men to give us honor and praise for our intelligence, our degrees, our titles, our works, or good deeds which we do before men. But those good deeds are for the purpose of men giving glory to God. Yet here we are, taking the credit. Just look at our resumes, and see our listing of our degrees, our many talents and abilities and how much we know and can do. We take all the credit for it, wanting that company to think we are the best candidate for the position.  When missionaries come to church, they tell of how many things they are doing and thank us, give us thanks for all the support we give them. Surely we have already received our reward. But we sit there all puffed up, feeling good about ourselves, because we gave so much. No, that is not his will being done on earth as it is in heaven. All praise, all honor, all glory for all things done both in our heart and with our hands belong to the Father who sits upon his throne within our being. Would the world want to hear all we are, all we say, and all we do are for the purpose of honoring God? Maybe not, they what to hear about how great we are, or they want to tell us how great they are. Men praising men, but that is not his will being done on earth as it is in heaven. If we mean this in our prayer, then we must live as if we mean it, and not some of the time, as on Sunday morning, but all the time, every day of our lives everywhere we are in all situations. We bow our hearts before him, knowing that we want his will to be done in our lives, giving him all the honor, all the praise and all the glory for all that is in our lives. We submit all authority over to him, bowing our heart, yielding our self, forfeiting our will, our desires, our goals and ambitions to his will. This may not be an easy task, but this is what we are praying for when we say something along this words: “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.