Reflections

 ⁹“Pray, then, in this way:
  ‘Our Father, who is in heaven,
   Hallowed be Your name.
¹⁰’Your kingdom come
   Your will be done,
   On earth as it is in heaven.
 ¹¹‘Give us this day our daily bread.
 ¹²‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
 ¹³‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.]’  Matthew 6:9-13

Jesus taught the disciples how to pray.  We often pray the Lord’s prayer in church and in our private time.  This prayer is usually memorized by most Christians.  But do we really pray the way Jesus taught us to pray?

Many times when we pray we put a caveat in our prayer “If it be your will…”  But Jesus told us to pray “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”  So when we pray we are to pray that the Father’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  We do not have to guess what the Father wants to do.  So when we pray we should ask ourselves what heaven says.  Then we know what to pray.

When we pray for the salvation of a loved one, we know that everyone in Heaven is saved, so when we pray we pray for God’s will on earth as it is in heaven.  We know it is God’s will to save the lost.  There is no sickness in heaven, so we know we can pray God’s will for healing to be done on earth as it is in heaven.  The bible even says that if we delight ourselves in Him, He will give us the desires of our heart (Psalm 37:4).  So we can pray with confidence that God’s will be done when it comes to our desires.

When we start off a prayer saying “If it be your will…” we put the responsibility on God and remove our responsibility to have faith that God will answer our prayer.  Because if our prayer is not answered, then we can say it was not God’s will.  Instead, we should have enough faith to believe God for the answered prayer; have confidence enough that if it is not in line with His will then He will tell us; and direct us in what His will is in the situation.

It is important to remember that we pray from Heaven to earth.  We are to pray that which is loose in heaven be loosed on earth.  So it is always in line with God’s will to pray for peace, salvation, healing, restoration, joy, love, etc. because all these things are found in heaven.  We never have to worry that God desires anything that is contrary to heaven. 

So the next time you pray know that the will of God will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Pray in faith and with confidence.