We talked a little about this last week…God’s Will…can anything be more allusive? …who can know or understand God’s Will because I can’t discern at times what is God’s will versus something that just happens.
I don’t believe that everything that happens is according to God’s will…things don’t always happen for a reason. Things just happen.
There’s some areas in life that God’s Will is not being done…it’s God’s will that people would not steal…commit murder…adultery…but they do…it’s God’s will that all people would be saved [1 Tim. 2:4] …it’s not happening.
We pray that the will of God will be done in this world BUT here’s the realization: God’s will is not done by people who do not regard Him with reverence …therefore God’s will is not being done.
In some areas we do know God’s Will…He had it written down…The Ten Commandments are certainly God’s Will for our lives…in addition:
…1 Thessalonians 5:16-19 16Rejoice always, 17pray continually, 18give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will…19Do not quench the Spirit
…1 Thessalonians 4:3-4 3It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality;
…1 Peter 2:15 15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people
If we want to know what “Your will be done” means, we can look to see where we find these words elsewhere in the Bible…. there is ONE place where these exact words are found…Matthew 26…in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus goes to pray before His arrest and crucifixion.
There He prays [v. 42] “if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, YOUR WILL BE DONE.” Those words are significant, because in the original Greek text, as well as in English, they are the exact same words that Jesus taught us to pray here in Matthew 6:10
γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου.
Be done the will of you
Jesus did not merely “teach” these words; He used them Himself, in a real-life situation…So what can we learn from Jesus’ use of these words in Matthew 26?
In His humanity…the human side of Jesus…He did not “want” to go to the cross…suffering the beating and physical torture…worse yet…bearing the wrath of God because of the sins of the world…in His humanness (He was a real man) He did not “want” to bear it…who would?
But in prayer…He determined that it was God’s will that He go to the cross, so He surrendered Himself to do NOT what He wanted to do, but what the Father wanted Him to do instead.
In His human flesh He did not want to die on the cross…but what did He say? “Yet not as I will, but as You will.” [26:39] …then in [26:42 / 44] He prayed again…. saying the same words, we find in [Matthew 6:10] “Your will be done.”
To show you how confusing we have made this thing called God’s Will…people have sliced and diced this thing up in so many pieces it’s hard to know what to think:
SECRET WILL OF GOD – Pink – GOD’S PERFECT WILL – Chambers
God’s eternal unchanging purpose…that must come to pass despite our insubordination…or our failures…despite our prayers…it’s gonna happen.
HIS WILL OF PURPSOE – McArthur
This is the will of God that allows things to run their appointed course at
their appointed time until God ends everything exactly according to his plan
REVEALED WILL OF GOD – Pink –
Defines our duty and responsibility (the Bible)
Frequently not followed God’s revealed will measures our accountability
GOD’S PERMISSIVE WILL – Chambers
The things God allows in our lives to accomplish His divine purpose in our lives. God’s permissive will can be changed.
Can this get any more complicated…how does this affect my life…what does this all mean to me sitting here on Sunday morning…what’s my take away…give me something useful…There are three ways the Bible speaks about the will of God:
Category #1: God’s Sovereign Will
God has the power and authority to do anything He chooses. (Eph. 1:11; Acts 4:28).
Category #2: God’s Moral Will
God has communicated his standard for right and wrong based upon his own holy and righteous character (Exodus 20:1-17).
Category #3: God’s Permissive Will
Because sin entered the world through Adam and Eve, God currently allows certain things to take place in this world that he would not allow in a sinless world (Acts 14:16).
God’s Will Regarding Our Lives
One of the areas that “Your will be done” is asking for God’s direction for our lives…in two ways:
FIRST…two parts to the first part…first and foremost…it’s God’s will for us to know him in a personal way…that includes everyone…secondly…to know and understand what God’s purpose for our individual lives is.
When we pray for God’s will for our lives, we are setting aside what we want and desire…and we’re asking for what He desires instead.
This is significant, because this is just the opposite of what many so-called “Christian” teachers are encouraging us to do…they teach that you can just pick out whatever ‘vision’ or ‘mission’ you want for your life…your business…your ministry…and ask God to bless that for you…because they claim…God’s intent is to help you to be successful in living out “your dream.”
Joel Osteen recently wrote on his website: “You were created to be successful, to accomplish your goals.” Really??…what ever happen to your will be done.
This is where Joel deviates from genuine Biblical Christianity…him along with others who tell you God wants you to be financially prosperous…you can always tell who the others are…they’re the ones riding around in the nice cars…living in big homes and own jet airplanes…and they’re always talking about how you can “claim your vision” and God will bless you and help you to achieve it.
The Bible doesn’t teach that God is concerned with our personal agenda…who exists to fill our dreams…there’s a popular version of Christianity that says: I’ll pick out what I want to do, and God will bless my vision….genuine Christianity says: God, You tell me what YOU want me to do, and help me do YOUR will…we exist to do HIS will.
The will of God…or God’s Divine Will is that God has a plan for people…and it’s not [Jeremiah 29:11] “I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you…plans to give you hope and a future” that verse does not apply to you…people who accept that have a misunderstanding of who that promise was made to.
BUT…God does have a plan for you… [Philippians 1:6] “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus…that does pertain to you.
BUT…it’s not a guarantee…it’s conditional…99% of all promises in the New Testament are conditional…when you do something God does something… “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” [Matthew 6:33]…there’s the first thing…seek…then…these things will be added.
Go back to [Philippians 1:6] …the verse just before… “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion” …5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now…it’s not automatic…you don’t just claim it…it doesn’t say…God bless our will.
God has a general and specific purpose for each of us…there’s a difference… there’s the general will of God as it relates to our eternal life…which is His ultimate plan for us…His will of specific purpose relates to the plan God has preordained for us in our individual lives.
Let me add this…there is a great deal of peace available for us if we pray for the will of God, instead of our own will…when there’s something that we really want…and beg God for it…we can become really anxious about it…and stressed: “God, please give me this; oh, I hope I get it” like a little kid at Christmas…we become anxious about it, because we think we just have to have it.
But if we instead pray: “God, I just want Your will, whatever that is…if You want me to have it…I’ll be happy…if You have another plan…I’ll be happy with that… it alleviates that anxiety…you don’t worry about it one way or the other; you trust that God knows best.
Here’s the problem with most of us…it’s not in hearing from God…it’s in being obedient to what He had already clearly spoken…people seem to want to know what God’s plan is for their lives but they overlook the fact that 98% of His will has already been made available.
God is saying…I’ve already given you a lot to do…I want you to have my attitude…my mindset…I want your life to look like mine…but we’re too interested in the future…instead of focusing on what God wants today.
God is saying…you want to know what I want you to do? Start by being obedient to what I’ve already commanded you…then we’ll go from there.
Instead…we want to know what God’s will for my life is in the future…we want a crystal ball that shows everything that lies ahead in our life…something I wish I’d learned when I was twenty-four instead of waiting until I was 58 to learn that.
Be obedient in the small things…things that God wants you to do today…then as you complete those…He’ll show you what He further intends for you to do.
It’s a truth in the Bible…Abraham learned it when he was 75…God said “Go forth from your country” …that’s it…just go…you can’t be obedient in the big things if you’re not obedient in the little things.
God’s Will Regarding Our World
The words, “On earth, as it is in heaven” The Greek text is literally the same:
τὸ θέλημά σου, ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς·
the will of you as in heaven and upon earth
We’re praying for God’s will to be done here on earth, just the way He has designed it up in heaven…BUT here’s the reality…TWO THINGS
FIRST…God’s will is not done by people who do not regard Him with reverence SO…God’s will is not being done and it will not be done.
SECONDLY…Everything that God has purposed to do will happen exactly as He planned it…it will all surely happen…nothing can change that…goes back to what McArthur calls God’s will of purpose [Eph. 1:1] … “the Lord works all things according to the counsel of his will.”
BUT…we know from Scripture that there are instances where things did not happen exactly when God said they would happen…those instances in the Bible where people prayed and prayer ‘changed God’s mind’.
Two Things: first…God doesn’t change His mind…no record of God ever changing His mind.
But…secondly…prayer does influence God’s decision when to act…God declares that events will happen…and they will exactly as He has predicted…He didn’t change His mind because everything happened just as He determined beforehand.
BUT prayer influenced God’s decision on when to act…God became flexible and refashioned His plan based on prayer and people’s response.
God’s Will Regarding Prayer
The idea of…if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us has limitations:
First…God will not promise to grant anything that is contrary to His will.
Second…God does not hear the prayers of unbelievers.
Third…God does not hear the prayers of Christians who are engaged in willful sin.
Fourth…will your request glorify God?
Fifth…Key when praying…need to ask…is there a promise in the Bible to match what I’m praying for…need to be standing on the promises of God
I need to be rich so help me win the lottery…or hit the million-dollar machine at Argosy’s… is not a promise found in Scripture.
Even failures in life glorify God…it is through them that He first gets our attention and secondly, through those failures He is able to teach us valuable spiritual lessons.
SO…we’re praying according to God’s will by asking God to stop something from happening that is clearly viewed as not being “according to his will” …something that is in violation of God’s moral law—category 2—and…according to [1 John 5:14] “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”
SO…we’re confident our prayer will be answered because we’re praying for God to stop something that is against His moral will…a person is about to wreck their life if they continue down this path…so I’m praying God will stop them
SO…we’re praying according to God’s desire…against something that we know is against God’s will…and because it is against God’s moral will…we firmly believe that God will stop it from happening…BUT…God doesn’t…what happened?
1 John 5 seems like such a wide-open promise…pray according to the will of God and your prayers will be answered…so why can’t we simply ask—and expect to receive positive answers when we pray about something that is God’s will?
In reality God did hear your prayer…and God acted accordingly…we fail to factor in the possibility of (category #3) …that God’s permissive will might also be at work…God allows certain things to take place in this world that he would not allow in a sinless world…He permits people to fail…despite our sincerest prayers.
God heard your prayer and acted according to His permissive will…but because the result was not what we desired…we feel God didn’t hear us or refused to act in a way we thought He should.
This means that although we should never pray for something that is against the moral will of God, we should give allowance in our prayers that God may have a purpose He is seeking to accomplish by allowing people to continue in their willfulness and sin.
It may be, as in the story of Joseph, that God will allow something that looks terribly wrong in the moment to further his good longer-term intentions.
Remembering this might help the next time we wonder what it means to pray according to the will of God.
Is God’s will elusive…yes it is…but what is certain is “Your will be done” is not bending God our way…it’s bending us His way…for His glory…to do His Will.
— God’s will is NOT: “God bless what I have picked out to do today
— God’s will is NOT: “God bless what I’ve picked out to do for my life.”
— God’s will is NOT: “God bless what we’ve decided to do as a church.”
Our prayers are to be: God what is YOUR will for me? Show me YOUR will and help me to do it.
So…in a nutshell…we are to pray seeking God’s will… “Your will be done” God’s will is simply that we live for Him today…making ourselves available… giving our lives sacrificially to Him…and in turn He gets us to where He wants us to be…using us as it pleases Him.