[A ‘Tuesday Challenge‘ originally prepared for the congregation of Horley Baptist Church during February 2025]
Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.
Luke 11 v2 [NKJV]
This extract from the template prayer that Jesus taught his disciples is ingrained in the minds of many people, not just in what we might call Christendom but also in its Jewish and Islamic equivalents. The prayer itself is often recited verbatim in the churches of many denominations but in essence it is an example of how our prayers should be constructed.
Why do we even need to pray for God’s will to be done? Are we, somewhat presumptuously, giving God permission to proceed with his plans? Surely, as he is Almighty God, he gets whatever he wants.
Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
Psalm 90 v2 [NIVUK]
But God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.
Jeremiah 10 v12 [NIVUK]
Perhaps that portion of the prayer is more for our benefit. It reminds us that we are included in God’s plans, with the reassurance that being included brings.[1] Yet how often do we recite the words without recognising their implications.
When we say: ‘Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ we are asking him to make us obedient so that his will may be done in us as it is done in heaven by his angels.
Augustine of Hippo (354-430AD)
More recently the writer John Ortberg expressed the same idea in more contemporary language:
The request that “thy will be done” is God’s invitation to “join him in making things down here the way they are up there” [2]
We can remain passive or we can make an active response. In other words, do we mean it?
In the gospel of John we read
And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
John 14 v13-14 [NIVUK]
These verses have the potential to be very controversial in that we may be asking for things that are not in God’s will. Even Jesus himself faced that situation.[3] Charles Spurgeon highlighted a very practical dilemma that many of us will face.[4] Using the example of praying for healing, he asks whether we might be praying contrary to the will of Jesus. He refers to the very familiar words that Jesus prayed:
Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am.
John 17 v24 [NIVUK]
Does this mean that we should give up praying? On the contrary, by praying for God’s will to be done we become partners in a divine plan, a grand scheme that is largely hidden from us.
In our modern Baptist practice we tend to ignore church history that predates the Reformation but that is to discard the gems hidden in 1,500 years of Christian experience. Some more words from Augustine of Hippo:
We need to use words when we pray so that we may remind ourselves to consider carefully what we are asking, not so that we may think we can instruct the Lord or prevail on him.
References:
[1] Jeremiah 29:11
[2] John Ortberg. “God is Closer Than You Think”, pg176.
[3] Mark 14:36, Luke 22:42
[4] “Morning and Evening”, Charles Spurgeon, Reading for 22nd March.
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Last week’s reflection: What Day Is It?
Contributed by Steve Humphreys; © Steve Humphreys
Hi Steve,
Thank you for another interesting and thought provoking reflection.
I was sorry to hear that Lesley Butcher had died. I will pray for Peter and the family.