Perhaps the most often prayed prayer in the world is: “My will be done.” We sometimes use prayer for trying to get God to give us what we want, rather than what He wants. There are even books on prayer for how to pray in order to get the results we want from God. In these books we are promised that if we can get two or three others to agree with us in that prayer, results are guaranteed to get what we want. This is so far removed from Jesus’ humble prayer to Father, “Not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). But we can want something so much that we are blinded to what God wants for our eternal good. God has bigger purposes and plans for us than we can imagine.

In characteristic Hebrew fashion, Jesus’ prayer for God’s kingdom to come is in fact a prayer for God’s will to be done. The two petitions, “Your kingdom come” and “Your will be done”, speak classic Hebrew parallelism, saying the same thing twice for emphasis. For us to pray for God’s kingdom to come is to pray His will to be done, beginning with our own lives. We say “Yes!” to God’s will for us and sign on to His kingdom purposes for the world. A friend of mine likes to remind people: “If God is your Co-Pilot, switch seats.”

As we bow before Father asking for His will to be done, we are inviting His Holy Spirit to open our minds to better discern God’s will and have “the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). For us to pray as sons and daughters of the Father and to grow in family likeness to Him, we must think like He thinks, feel like He feels, and will as He wills for His kingdom and the world. Our Father desires us to share in His very nature and to want as He wants. Thus we pray, “Your will be done.”

PRAY THE LORD’S PRAYER (MORNING-NOON-NIGHT)