“Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” Matthew 6:9,10

Lately I’ve been pondering the 4th line of the prayer Jesus taught His disciples to pray. “Thy will be done.” Has that phrase ever felt to you like it’s something you should “be careful” when praying? I’m pretty sure that one of the reasons I’ve prayed “Thy will be done” so rarely is for fear that if I uttered those words, it would be like giving God permission, or even actually inviting Him to bring something extremely unpleasant into my life! (Ummm, thanks, but I’ll pass.) Because after all, the only time we know that Jesus prayed those words for Himself was when He begged His Father to let the cup of death pass from Him, but then said, “nevertheless…not My will but Yours be done.” And God’s will was for His only Son to die! Surely there is a component of dying to self when we choose to follow Christ. We must always live with a “Thy will, not my will” mindset.

Another ponder I’ve had is that I know there are powerful prayer warriors who are faith-filled believers who think that praying “Thy will be done” is almost like giving up! They are used to going boldly before the throne of grace, daring to pray focused prayers for specific needs, fully expecting that God will answer their requests. So to simply pray, “Thy will be done”, feels like they’re praying a prayer that has been drained of faith. In their mind’s eye, they may see themselves as the ballerina in the Dying Swan, arm on their forehead as they wilt and with a barely whispered final breath pray, “Thy will be done!”

Actually, I’m not convinced that either of those scenarios are what Jesus had in mind when He pictured His disciples praying the way He taught them. This morning as I pondered “Thy will be done” yet again, I felt like the Holy Spirit was saying—don’t look just at that phrase, look at what surrounds it. And so I recited,

“Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. 

Thy kingdom come, 

Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”

Do you see it? “Thy will be done” isn’t introduced before affirming the glory of God, as expressed in His all-powerful, holy name. God is to be revered. His name is like no other. To mention His name is to describe His glorious, fearsome character. Here’s how God proclaimed His name to Moses in order to assure him that His presence would go with him as he led the Israelites to the promised land: 

Exodus 34:5-8 The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the LORD by name. The LORD passed by before him and proclaimed: “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and abounding in loyal love and faithfulness, keeping loyal love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. But he by no means leaves the guilty unpunished, responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children and children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.” Moses quickly bowed to the ground and worshiped.

Yes God! Surely Your name IS Holy!

Then, Jesus said we should pray for God’s kingdom to come. He even included an explanation of what that meant: “Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” We can know that God has answered the prayer of “Thy will be done” in a situation, when we see God’s kingdom coming into that situation. When God’s will is being done, His kingdom has come! One thing we can know for sure—in Heaven, God’s will is carried out 24/7!

So I truly believe that the Holy Spirit wants to change our “Thy will be done” mindsets from pathetic Dying Swan to Mighty Prayer-Warrior. We are to speak to situations and say, “In the all-powerful name of Jesus we say, Kingdom of God, come! Will of our glorious, all-powerful, compassionate God, be done! Will of our faithful, merciful God, whose lovingkindness is never-ending, be done! God’s will be done on earth, here in this situation, even as it is being carried out in heaven!” And when we pray, we can know that God is moving heaven and earth to accomplish His will! As it turns out, perhaps praying “Thy will be done” is one of the most powerful prayers we can pray!