Do you ask God to carry out his will in your life when you pray? If so, do you really mean it?
For various reasons, I sometimes forget - or avoid - asking for God's will to be done.
Why? Because I have my own ideas as to how God should answer my request. Or, because I'm afraid God won't answer my request the way I want.
That is wrong thinking.
For example, it assumes that what I want is more important than what God wants. When I think that way, I am out of tune with Jesus.
When Jesus outlined for his disciples the model prayer, he said in Matthew 6:9-13 that we should pray to the Father: "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
We are here to help advance the kingdom of God. And, in order for the kingdom to advance, God's will must be carried out.
For some people, the idea of submitting to God's will in a situation is akin to giving up.
Catherine Marshall says in her book Adventures in Prayer that she had been in bed for months with a serious lung infection in 1943 when bitterly and reluctantly she told God that he could do what he wished. In the hours that followed she felt Christ's presence in her room as never before and she recovered.
She calls this "the prayer of relinquishment". Her prayer had been ungracious, but God loved her and wanted her to surrender to him. When she did, he met her need.
Of course, we can't expect that the results of our prayers will always turn out the way we wish.
In a sense, a good case in point is Jesus' prayers to the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before he died.
Sweating drops of blood in agony of spirit, Jesus prayed: "Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine." (Luke 22:39-44)
Jesus knew he was about to die on the cross for all the sins of humanity from the beginning to the end of time. And he knew he was about to be cut off for a moment from the beloved Father as he suffered the consequences of mankind's sin.
Knowing this, he still obeyed the Father's will.
And, of course, he won the greatest victory in history - the defeat of Satan on the cross.
We are promised that "all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose". (Romans 8:28)
We know that our ultimate destination is an eternity with Jesus where we will be rewarded for our commitment to the Lord. In the meantime, we may suffer but our suffering will not be worthless. God will use it for his purposes - and his purposes are good.
For instance, I remember reading about a young Russian woman who was beaten to death by the Soviet secret police for worshiping God. One of her tormentors was so impressed by her steadfast faith to the end that he began thinking about God - and ultimately became a believer.
That is something few of us will face.
But we can be sure God will work our our difficult situation according to his plan - and his plan is always good.
And the result is good for us, too.
For various reasons, I sometimes forget - or avoid - asking for God's will to be done.
Why? Because I have my own ideas as to how God should answer my request. Or, because I'm afraid God won't answer my request the way I want.
That is wrong thinking.
For example, it assumes that what I want is more important than what God wants. When I think that way, I am out of tune with Jesus.
When Jesus outlined for his disciples the model prayer, he said in Matthew 6:9-13 that we should pray to the Father: "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
We are here to help advance the kingdom of God. And, in order for the kingdom to advance, God's will must be carried out.
For some people, the idea of submitting to God's will in a situation is akin to giving up.
Catherine Marshall says in her book Adventures in Prayer that she had been in bed for months with a serious lung infection in 1943 when bitterly and reluctantly she told God that he could do what he wished. In the hours that followed she felt Christ's presence in her room as never before and she recovered.
She calls this "the prayer of relinquishment". Her prayer had been ungracious, but God loved her and wanted her to surrender to him. When she did, he met her need.
Of course, we can't expect that the results of our prayers will always turn out the way we wish.
In a sense, a good case in point is Jesus' prayers to the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before he died.
Sweating drops of blood in agony of spirit, Jesus prayed: "Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine." (Luke 22:39-44)
Jesus knew he was about to die on the cross for all the sins of humanity from the beginning to the end of time. And he knew he was about to be cut off for a moment from the beloved Father as he suffered the consequences of mankind's sin.
Knowing this, he still obeyed the Father's will.
And, of course, he won the greatest victory in history - the defeat of Satan on the cross.
We are promised that "all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose". (Romans 8:28)
We know that our ultimate destination is an eternity with Jesus where we will be rewarded for our commitment to the Lord. In the meantime, we may suffer but our suffering will not be worthless. God will use it for his purposes - and his purposes are good.
For instance, I remember reading about a young Russian woman who was beaten to death by the Soviet secret police for worshiping God. One of her tormentors was so impressed by her steadfast faith to the end that he began thinking about God - and ultimately became a believer.
That is something few of us will face.
But we can be sure God will work our our difficult situation according to his plan - and his plan is always good.
And the result is good for us, too.
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