This is a word for anyone, new or well-seasoned in your walk with God…
When I was a kid I couldn’t WAIT to get to be “double-digits” ten! When I was ten I couldn’t WAIT to be thirteen – a teenager!!! When I was thirteen I absolutely wanted to be “sweet sixteen”, when I was sixteen my desire moved up to wanting to be eighteen! At eighteen, I wanted to be the “all grown-up twenty-one.” As it was in the physical, it was (for me) in the spiritual. As a new Christian, I looked up to those who were “older in Christ.” I remember the day I met the first brother and two sisters-in-Christ I ever met – in my eyes they spiritually had it ALL together! They could quote scriptures, they could pray beautifully and seemed (even in the worst of life moments) to kept it all together, calm, cool and collected; while there I was (a baby Christian) one big hot mess! 🙂 Thirty-four years later in Christ, I see things more clearly – no matter how young or how old you are in Jesus, God is forever (through His Spirit) refining us, growing us, changing us, teaching us new things… I believe that as long as we have breathe in our bodies, are diligently seeking after Christ and wanting to grow and learn from Him, we will undergo refinement and growth up until our last day and He calls us home. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13:12:
“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, as I am fully known.”
No one can tell me that God does not have a sense of humor, because one week after I turned twenty-one.. I celebrated it by rushing down to the DMV with my girlfriends to get my “liquor license,” (in Massachusetts, that’s the legal age to drink); God allowed me to encounter situations that were outside my comfort zone, in order for my heart to be softened and, so that I could be in a place, where He could remove the spiritual scales off my eyes that had blinded me to the truth of who He was/is.
God knows what He is doing, and the timing of when whatever it is needs to be done. In 1988 at UMass Boston, God used Ms. Sarah Small, Director of Campus Crusade for Christ, to introduce me to Jesus.
Thirty-four years later, I am still growing, still transforming and still learning in Him and today Holy Spirit gave me another new revelation… Here it is:
Jesus taught the disciples how to pray, this can be found in Luke 11:1-4:
“Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”
So He said to them, “When you pray, say:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us day by day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins,
For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.” “
THY WILL BE DONE …
It kept reverberating in my head… Trusting God is a part of praying this prayer. When you are praying, “Thy will be done,” you are entrusting yourself to God… When you think about saying that, do you mean it? I had to ask myself IF I truly meant it.
Whatever God’s will is – to be done. God’s Word is His will. So it behooves us to study His Word.
Do you trust God in order to submit and truly give whatever you are going through, whatever/whoever you interceding for RIGHT into the palm of God’s hands? Release it for HIS will to be done?
Holy Spirit drew my attention to two examples of this – One is found in the story of Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego (the three men spoken about in Daniel 3:16-28). King Nebuchadnezzar, when told that they would not worship the image of gold that he had set up, commanded that they be throne into the fiery furnace. (See below):
“Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”
Look at that – “BUT EVEN IF HE DOES NOT,” – in other words – “GOD’S WILL BE DONE.”
Have you ever considered praying that way? And in praying that with sincerity, REALLY being ready to accept whatever God’s will is? Because accepting God’s will is entrusting Him to do whatever it is that He (not WE) thinks best… It becomes an action of trust.
Then Holy Spirit showed me something else. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed (as shown in Matthew 26:36-39):
“Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, He began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then He said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with Me.” And going a little farther He fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” “
Have you ever noticed that before? JESUS HIMSELF prayed, “NOT AS I WILL, BUT AS YOU WILL.”
God the Son, submitted to God the Father’s good and perfect will. When you think about it, Jesus was teaching the disciples how to pray in the manner of how He, Himself prayed.
If Jesus did it, and He is to be our example, than WE need to pray the very same way, we need to trust God enough to know that being in the very center of His will, is exactly where we need to be. In perfect submission to God.
We need to not only pray in the manner that Jesus’ says we should pray, but REALLY mean what it means to pray, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.”
“Father God, thank You for Your good and perfect will. Forgive me for the times when I have been headstrong, wanting MY good and perfect will ahead of Thine. I realize that this signifies an area of trust that I need your help… Father, being in the center of Your will is EXACTLY where I long to be – so as Jesus’ prayed I choose to do the same… In my life, NOT AS I WILL, but as YOU WILL. Thank You Father for your good and perfect will. In Jesus’ precious name I pray – AMEN.”
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