“Thy Will Be Done”

Bulletins

Michael Hickox
12/31/23 - General

A hard but crucial truth for Christians to internalize is that God answers prayer according to His will.

There are some things we may be tempted to pray for that we know through God’s Word aren’t in harmony with His will (i.e., praying for something sinful). We shouldn’t pray for these things at all.

There are other things that, as far as we can know, might be in accordance with God’s will, but they also might not be. Such things aren’t wrong to pray for, but our supreme desire should be for His will to be done.

For example, in 2 Corinthians 12, the apostle Paul spoke about his thorn in the flesh (verse 7). Paul didn’t initially know the Lord’s will regarding this trial(s), so there was nothing wrong with him praying three times for this thorn in the flesh to be removed (verse 8). Paul came to find out, though, that it wasn’t God’s will to take this “thorn” away (verse 9). Paul accepted God’s answer, and became grateful for what good could come from his thorn in the flesh (verse 10).

While prayer is powerful (James 5:16), God doesn’t promise to conform His will to ours. Though we may not always say these words, an attitude we should have when praying is, “not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42).