Monday, October 22, 2012

Your Will Be Done

This morning, while I was searching for something else, my Bible flipped open to Matthew 6, and my eyes fell onto this well-known, oft recited passage:

"This, then, is how you should pray:
'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.'" ~ Jesus, from Matthew 6:9, NIV

A few minutes ago, I came upon this video on K-LOVE radio's website, by Tenth Avenue North's lead singer, Mike Donehey, speaking on....The Lord's Prayer.  Coincidence?  I think not. 

My will....or God's will be done, here on earth as in heaven?  Sometimes, God has to pry open the hands of His beloved, yet strong-willed child to remove whatever we are holding onto so tightly.  Whatever is keeping us from doing His will.  Because whatever He has to give us; whatever He has for us to do, wherever He has for us to go is so much better, although we might not see it that way at the time. 

How many times in my life, this past month -- okay, let me be completely real here --this past WEEK!!! -- have my fists been closed tightly around something or other (or someone) that I deemed as MINE, refusing to surrender to my Father? How many times have I rebelled against God, wanting to do my own thing?  How many times have I refused to walk down the path created for me by Him, choosing instead to run in the opposite direction, because it wasn't where I wanted to go?  What a struggle it has been for me to let go, to surrender, to obey.  To choose HIS will, and not mine.

As Mike reminds us here in this video, even Jesus struggled with surrendering to the will of His Father.  Right there, on a dark night, in the garden of Gethsemane:

"Going a little farther, He fell with His face to the ground and prayed, 'My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.'  

He went away a second time and prayed, 'My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may Your will be done.' "  ~ Jesus, from Matthew 26:39; 42, NIV




This world truly holds NOTHING for us. God HAS everything.  God IS everything. As the Father loves His Son, so also does He love us with an 


unfailing

unconditional

unchanging

unfathomable

LOVE

What are you struggling to hold onto today that you need to surrender to our Father? Please don't wait until He has to pry it out of your hand(s). Let go and let God's will be done in your life. 


4 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing! Always a good reminder, because it is such an incredibly hard prayer to pray.

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  2. Would be nice if he didn't have to pry anything out of our hands, right? I started reading Everything last night. I see it on your blog, did you finish it? Did you ever buy Praying for your Prodigal Daughter? I need to read that asap. Hugs and love. And beautiful writing.

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  3. Grace,

    I totally agree. I've prayed it since I was a small child, and sadly, over the years, it became just a rote prayer that I could probably pray in my sleep. But now, I'm learning to really focus on the words --how are they meaningful to my life and my circumstances right now? It's my part of a conversation with God, not just a poem I'm reciting to someone. But it IS hard.

    Thanks for commenting, Grace.

    Pam

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  4. Dawn,

    Sometimes,I think God's had to use a jackhammer to pry open my fists. Kind of sad, really.

    I'm only on Chapter 5. I take SUCH a long time to read books like this one, because a lot of times, I have to put the book down and really meditate on something said/written.

    Yes, I did buy Praying For Your Prodigal Daughter. I've read some of it. Booo...bad mommy. I need to read ALL of it.

    Thanks for taking time to comment here, my BBFF. <3

    Pam

    ReplyDelete

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