The Lord’s Prayer begins with an invocation: “Our Father in heaven.” Then Jesus teaches seven petitions to the heavenly Father. The first three petitions are God-centered: “Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” The remaining petitions address our personal needs. In a real sense, the first three petitions are synonymous. They are three different ways of asking for the same thing.

• God’s name is hallowed when God’s kingdom comes.
• God’s kingdom comes when God’s will is done.

This third petition is transitional. God’s name, kingdom, and will are heavenly matters. This third petition moves from heaven matters to earthly matters. We need bread, forgiveness, leadership, and deliverance. Our first need is that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. The will of God exalts the Father and enriches his children.

“Your will be done” is an affirmation, confession, and petition. The affirmation is that God has a will. Psalm 33:11 says, “The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.” God’s will is sovereign, moral, and personal. His sovereign will is inevitable. Ephesians 1:11 says God “works all things according to the counsel of his will.” His moral will is non-negotiable. Matthew 7:21 says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” His personal will is providential. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” God’s will covers all creation. Yet God’s will designs the unique details of your life.     

This petition is also a confession that God’s will is not done on earth as it is in heaven. The world does not operate as God designed it. The world is in rebellion against God’s will. This is the sinfulness of sin. 1 John 3:4 says, “Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.” Sinful people rebel against God’s name, kingdom, and will. Righteous people take this confession and make it a petition. To follow Jesus is to repent of your spiritual rebellion. Saving-faith fights for God’s will, not against it. Christians pray, “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Deuteronomy 29:29 says, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever that we may do all the words of this law.” God’s will is secret and revealed. “Your will be done” is not about knowing God’s secret will. It is about doing God’s revealed will. John 7:17 says, “If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.” God does not reveal his will for entertainment purposes. God reveals his will to those who have a pre-commitment to obey. You cannot make this petition with passive resignation, hidden rebellion, or bitter resentment. We pray God’s will be done on earth as the angels in heaven.

• Angels do God’s will sincerely, not hypocritically.
• Angels do God’s will willingly, not defiantly.
• Angels do God’s will instantly, not eventually.
• Angels do God’s will enthusiastically, not halfheartedly.
• Angels do God’s will completely, not partiality.        

What does it mean to pray “Your will be done”?

Submission

Adelaide Pollard desired to join a missionary team. She could not understand why the Lord would not provide the money. During a prayer meeting, someone prayed, “It doesn’t matter what you do with us, Lord. Just have your way with our lives.” Adelaide later read the prophet’s vision of the potter’s wheel in Jeremiah 18. Adelaide was cornered. She wisely surrendered.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! 
Thou are the potter, I am the clay. 
Mold me and make me after Thy will, 
While I am waiting, yielded and still. 

“Your will be done” is the most difficult prayer to pray. To make this petition, you must deny yourself and submit to God. There is something in us that does not want to submit to God. We want to be “god” and use God to accomplish our own will. We may say with our mouths, “Your will be done.” But our hearts pray, “My will be done.”

• Prayer is not getting our will done in heaven.
• Prayer is getting God’s will done on earth.

James 4:2 states the main reason we do not receive answered prayers: “You do not have, because you do not ask.” James 4:3 gives another reason we do not receive answered prayers: “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” Selfish prayer does not work with God. Prayer only works when you submit your will to God’s will. You must say no to self to say yes to God.

Jesus faced two intense periods of spiritual warfare. In Matthew 4:1-11, Jesus was tempted by the devil after fasting in the wildness for forty days. Jesus defeated Satan with the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. In Matthew 26:36-46, Jesus struggled in the Garden of Gethsemane. This was not a battle against the devil. It was a battle with his flesh. Luke 22:44 says Jesus sweat drops of blood. Jesus was sinless. Yet he was still human. And the agony of the cross grieved him. Matthew 26:39 says, “And going a little further he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” You are playing at prayer if you cannot pray: “Not my will, but your will be done.”

The Lord sent the prophet Samuel to Jesse’s house in Bethlehem to anoint a new king after he fired Saul. Jesse presented the sons he thought would make a great king. But the oil of God did not fall on any of Jesse’s picks. In 1 Samuel 16:11, Samuel asked Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” Jesse had forgotten about David. But David was the chosen one. Jesse gave the Lord what he thought God wanted. He should have presented his all and let the Lord decide what he wanted. The same is true in your life. The Lord wants to bless you. But the Lord will not permit you to define, dictate, or determine how he blesses you. To receive the blessings of God, give him all you have. Then get out of the way. As you get out of the way, tell the Lord, “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Trust

The Bible teaches three truths about life:

• God is good.
• God is all-powerful.
• Terrible things happen.

Any two of these statements make sense together, with the exclusion of one of them, any one of them. The three statements do not make sense together. But the fact is that God is God and all-powerful. Yet bad things happen in our lives. To hold all three truths in tension requires stubborn trust. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” To pray, “Your will be done” requires trust.

Trust the Word of God. I am a frequent flyer. But I still get nervous when flying through clouds or a storm. I prefer flying in the clear blue sky to see out the window. I don’t like it when I cannot see anything. But I am comforted by remembering that pilots fly by computer radar. If they can see miles ahead, fine. If they cannot see anything, we are still fine. The course is marked by radar. If the pilot deviates from the flight plan, the radar warns him to get back on track.

There are times on your Christian journey when you have visibility. There will be other times when you cannot see your way. What do you do when life doesn’t make sense? Romans 12:2 says: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” God has a tracking system that marks the right path and warns us we are off course. It is called the Bible. The will of God is in the word of God. When you look to God’s word, God’s will becomes much clearer. But you must trust God’s word, not what you see.

Isaiah 55:10-11 says, “For as the rains and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

Trust the Son of God. To know and do the will of God, you must trust the written word and the Living Word. Learning the Bible is essential to understanding God’s will. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” The word of God is clear. But you will misunderstand the Bible if you do not know Jesus. John 5:39-40 says, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.”

We are all sinners who have rebelled against the will of God. Our rebellion deserves and demands punishment. But God sent his only begotten Son to suffer that punishment on our behalf. He died on the cross to pay for your sins. He rose from the dead to give you new life. If you repent of your sins and trust the finished work of Christ, you can be saved today! John 6:39-40 says, “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him upon the last day.”

How are things between you and the Lord Jesus Christ? Romans 8:32 says, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” If you can trust God to save you, you can trust God to sustain you.  

Patience

The Lord delivered the children of Israel from the bondage of Egypt and the oppression of Pharaoh. After crossing the Red Sea on dry land, they camped at the foot of Mt. Sinai. Within days, the newly freed slaves were dancing around the Golden Calf that Aaron made. How did the children of Israel turn to idolatry so quickly? Exodus 32:1 says, “When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”

The children of Israel were enslaved in Egypt for four hundred years. Now they were in a big hurry. Moses was taking too long. They couldn’t wait any longer. For the record, Moses was on the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments from the Lord. Messing with the Golden Calf, the people broke the first three commandments because they could not wait.

Impatience is idolatry. We often get out of the will of God because we are impatient. We are in too much of a hurry. We do not wait on God’s perfect timing. But it is dangerous to be in a hurry when God is not. To walk in God’s will, wait on God’s will. Rookie parents say “Yes” to their children’s requests. Veteran parents say, “We’ll see.” This answer is not a rejection, indecision, or manipulation. It is parental wisdom that recognizes their children do not know the difference between “yes” and “now.” Have you considered the trouble you would be in if God answered every prayer immediately? There are things we pray for that seem important and urgent. Only later do we recognize we were asking for the wrong thing at the wrong time for the wrong reason.

Our heavenly Father knows what is best. Be patient. Waited time on God is never wasted time. Isaiah 40:28-31 says, “Have not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

A man was called into the office on his day off. He took his young son with him. The boy sat out front as his dad worked. The father assured him he would get him when he finished work. When the man finished, he left the office through the back. It was not until he got home that it dawned on him that he had left his son. He rushed to the office to find his son sitting where he left him. The dad asked the boy how he could wait so long without panicking. “You told me you would get me when your work was done,” the son answered. “And you always keep your word.”

Our Father in heaven is not like this absent-minded daddy. He will never forget you.

• Are you like this trusting child?
• Do you take God at his word?
• Can you wait for God to finish working?