“Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May Your Kingdom come soon. May Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven…” (Matthew 6:9-10 NLT)
Have you ever stopped to consider what Jesus is asking us to say to God in His “Lord’s prayer?” Especially when we ask Him to accomplish His will and purposes on the earth, “as it is in heaven.” How do you imagine God’s will is accomplished in heaven? Is there an instant of delay in carrying out His commands? Is there a moment’s hesitation before the angels are in motion to carry out every detail of His will with perfection?
How about in my life and yours? Are we listening carefully to our Father’s commands? Are we taking the time and making the effort to hear clearly what our heavenly Father desires of us? Implicit in asking the Lord to accomplish His will “on earth” is our desire to see His will accomplished in the lives of His children – me and you.
What’s at stake when we confess our desire to fall in line with God’s will being carried out here on earth as it is in heaven? Are we simply asking “globally” that God have His way in the world? Yes, of course, that’s part of it, but there’s a much more personal piece to our prayer. The late Timothy Keller wrote: “Unless we are profoundly certain that God is our good father, we will never be able to say, ‘thy will be done.’”
Must that not be our starting point? My sense is that the “Lord’s prayer” is verbalized multiple times from the lips of those across our world every day who give no real thought to what the prayer means or is intended to accomplish in our individual lives. It’s as if the prayer is an incantation over our lives, believing words spoken will accomplish what only a life lived well to God’s honor will do.
Are you “profoundly certain” that God is YOUR good Father? How can we be certain? There’s only one way: “Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me.” Certainty is a byproduct of knowing your sins are forgiven and your life is in the capable hands of the Lord Jesus.
He alone made appeasement with God for our sins. Forgiveness and restoration of our relationship with God can only happen by the shed blood of Jesus on the Cross. To believe we can bypass the Cross with our “good” works is blasphemous. There is none righteous, no not one (Romans 3:10)! Putting our trust in anything or anyone else is an exercise in futility. Only God through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ can put us in a right relationship with Himself.
Certainty grows out of relationship. I’m certain I’m married to my beautiful wife, not because I signed a certificate of marriage, but because for the last 30+ years I’ve devoted my life to her. I’m certain that my sins are forgiven and I’m more desirous that God’s will be done in my life than my own will, not simply because I knelt at an altar of prayer and sought His forgiveness more than 60 years ago, but because as I write these words His Spirit is leading me and assuring me of His presence in my life.
Knowing and loving God the Father isn’t a religious exercise that we confess and to which we commit ourselves in an obligatory way. It’s a privilege for which we gratefully express our appreciation to Him every second of every day.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 