Thy Will Be Done

Continuing my mini-series on prayer, I've now come to a somewhat difficult phrase (for me at least), "Thy will be done." It's such a "famous" and common phrase in Christianity, that it's easy to skip over it and not have to think about it. But unfortunately, for me, it is one of those phrases that if I actually make myself stop and meditate on it, I found my head spinning. What does that mean, Thy will be done? Well, I guess its pretty simple, not my will Lord, but yours. But do I really mean that, don't I really want Him to grant me my desires, and do my bidding?

Here's a simple example (a short tangent, but it just popped in my head), I was sitting a light for a long time yesterday and I prayed "please Lord let this light stay green", which it did, and I gave Him praise. Then I came to and told myself that God is not a Genie, He's not here to do my bidding, I'm here to do His! I don't necessarily think it's wrong to pray those sorts of prayers, but it made me think about how I view God. It's easy to be reverent in a quiet somber prayer time, but my perception of God is made real through my daily living.

Okay, so back to Thy will be done, we've got the first part, not my will, His will. So what exactly is the will of God? I've grown up (in my christian walk, not my life) pretty confused on this issue by terms like perfect will, and permissible will, and the like, so I must confess that things can get a little cloudy. In regards to the question, I ask myself another: "in what regards?" If I break the question "What is the will of God" down, the answers are a little more clear. I know what God's will is in my family, in my career, in my life, and even in the world, so it's really not so tough a question after all. I just need to meditate on the first part of "Thy will be done", which I have already discussed. It doesn't really even matter that I know what His will is, its just that I need to pray that His will is done, and not mine. He must increase, but I must decrease (Jn 3:30).

Now you know what I mean about my head starting to spin when I get thinking about this phrase. I know it's a bit of a ramble, but, it is what it is. 

¶ 2/15/2005 08:07:00 AM