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This is the fifth in a series on the Lord’s Prayer. 

“Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
– Jesus, The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:10)

The first few phrases of The Lord’s Prayer teach us to pray to God on the grand scale. Pleading for God’s glorious Kingdom to break into our sin-soaked world can be exhilarating. Still, in case we would forget that God wants us to take part in His Kingdom work, Jesus adds that we should pray for God’s will to be done. Praying according to God’s will does not mean shrugging one’s shoulders, saying, “Well, whatever God wants.” Jesus does not teach us passivity in prayer – to simply stand by so God can do whatever He wants with or without us while we resign ourselves to fate.

What it means to pray in the will of God can be seen in other circumstances during Jesus’ life. Writhing in anguish in Gethsemane, Jesus begged that God would allow Him to be spared the suffering of the cross, yet He added, “Your will be done.” Jesus’ praying for God’s will to be done did not mean God must fulfill His plan some other way. He knew that God’s will would be done through Him! Thus, His praying for God’s will to be done meant that He was ready to step up to the plate, to be the one through whom God would carry out His plan.

When we pray The Lord’s Prayer, we’re saying, “God may Your will be done in us! Make us Kingdom people – the people who implement Your will! We will be those who live according to Your Son’s victory over sin and death.” More than just a coy phrase we attach onto a list of our prayer requests, “Your will be done” means we are ready to jump headfirst into God’s plan as it floods our world. “Your will be done, Lord! Your Kingdom come – on earth as it is in heaven.”

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