Building on our discussion last week about what the Lord’s Prayer truly means to us, we shift our focus to one of the most challenging—yet rewarding—petitions in the prayer, as echoed in this devotional.
There is a beautiful simplicity in how we first learn these words. In fact, our four-year-old grandson just learned to sing the Lord’s Prayer in Sunday school. There is something absolutely adorable and deeply convicting about hearing a child’s voice chirp out the words, “Our Father… in Heaven, Hallowed by Your name…” Even if he struggles a bit with “Hallowed,” he sings it with such pure, uncomplicated trust. As adults, we often struggle where he succeeds; we tend to overthink the “how” and the “why,” while he is simply happy to be part of the song.
“Therefore, you should pray like this:
Our Father in heaven,
your name be honored as holy.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not bring us into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.
Read Matthew 6:9-13
This verse is a petition based on the doctrine which Christ preached during his ministry and previously echoed by John the Baptist. Their beliefs were pointing out to their followers that both the kingdom of God in Heaven and the kingdom of the Messiah was at hand.
God’s kingdom sums up everything a Christian longs for, and 1 Corinthians 13 describes this as a world characterized by faith, hope, and love.
“Now that which we see is as if we were looking in a broken mirror. But then we will see everything. Now I know only a part. But then I will know everything in a perfect way. That is how God knows me right now. And now we have these three: faith and hope and love, but the greatest of these is love.”
1 Corinthians 13:12-13 (NLT)
If our earthly world was built on only these three principles, how much more peaceful, more beautiful, and more livable would it be than the world we’re living in right now?
The Shift from Stress to Surrender
Many years ago, I worked at a large city newspaper. It was a daily grind of stress and deadlines. One day, my supervisor came up to me and told me that I seemed a lot calmer and more relaxed lately. She said that I even seemed happier. At the time, I didn’t even know why.
Eventually, I realized that it was the same time that my relationship with Jesus Christ became real. I was praying daily and pouring over God’s word with passion and meaning. I was the same person, but my soul was awakened. I had stopped trying to bend the world to my deadlines and started asking for His peace to fill my day.
“…Your Will be Done”
God’s will should be our will, not the other way around. We pray to align with God’s plan for us. If we pray that God align with our plan, wishes, and dreams, we would be asking God for an a la carte menu to pick and choose what we want. We would be negating His all-knowing wisdom and sovereignty. We may never see the whole picture, but God drew it.
The movie Bruce Almighty shows us an over-simplified example of what would happen if our will ruled the world. God gave a disgruntled guy named Bruce the power to run the world as he saw fit. At first, Bruce loved the control and the temporary happiness it gave him. After time, he saw that he wasn’t fit for the job. He tried to please everyone, and the world fell into chaos. Eventually, Bruce learned that God’s love is delivered through an all-knowing and ongoing presence, not just by granting every fleeting wish we have.
Praying this petition should be a total surrender. We humbly ask God to give us the strength to follow His will, not ours. God doesn’t need our input to make His will happen, but it is His wish that we participate. He wants us to be “onboard” with Him.
“…On Earth as it is in Heaven”
The promise of God’s kingdom being fulfilled provides a gift that cannot be given by anyone else. The delivery of God’s kingdom means a “new heaven and a new earth.” If we truly want the will of God, then we have to humbly accept the hills and valleys of His plan for us—the beauty and the beast. We must walk through heartaches and challenges, rejoicing in the knowledge that He is in charge now and forever.
By praying for God’s will to be done on earth as in heaven, we are praying for His plan to be completed. It is the surrender of our perceived control over our fleeting lives to the perfect control of God’s eternal wishes. Like my grandson singing in Sunday school, we are invited to join the melody of God’s kingdom with a heart of trust.
Life Application:
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Open up to God. The more willing you are to give your life to Him, the more you will enjoy the joy of His plan. Pray one thing to Him this week that you’ve never prayed before.
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Release Control. Let go of what you can’t control (like others’ opinions or unexpected circumstances). Focus on being the person God made you to be: focused on faith, hope, and love.