Thy will be done

When we pray ‘Thy will be done’ we should be committed to knowing God’s will is in His word

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My mother gave me the name ‘Thelma’ because her best friend, when she was 9 years old, had that name. Apparently, they had made a pact that if they had a little girl when they were married, they would call her by each others name. My mother’s family moved to another village when she was 11 years old and she never saw her friend again. She kept her side of the bargain but sadly never knew whether her friend Thelma ever had a daughter called ‘Molly’. Growing up I had some negative reactions to my name, especially in the early days of my teaching career. However, fortunately for me, in 1991 the film ‘Thelma and Louise’ became very popular and I have never had any trouble since. 

When I was deciding on the theme of this blog, I had felt I had to write it on the words ‘Your will be done’ from the Lord’s prayer. I was looking up the word ‘will’ on the internet and one of the commentators said, ‘Will’ is translated ‘Thelma’ in the Greek!! I then looked up the Lord’s prayer in the Greek and this is what it said for ‘Your will be done’ - genêthêtô to thelêma sou. That was it!

As most others of my generation, I was brought up to repeat this prayer everyday of my school life in morning assemblies. It is alarming to think of the millions of people, myself included, who have said ‘Thy will be done’, day after day, without ever intending to find out what the Father’s will was, let alone carry it out. 

We often pray as if we expect God to change His will just to accommodate ours. We make our petitions known and expect God to sort it all out our way. The truth is that often the unrest, frustration and unhappiness in our lives can be put down to our own self-will. Many of our failures come down to the fact that we really want our own way. When we pray ‘Thy will be done’ we should be committed to knowing God’s will is in His word. It makes sense that we read His very own instruction manual on how to live our lives, if we truly want to know His will. Here are just some of the scriptures that tell us of His will for us:

Ephesians 4:29-32: Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Micah 6:88 He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Proverbs 3:55 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

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Philippians 2:14-15: Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.

Those are just a few of the instructions that the Lord has given us in His word. The whole thing is summed up in Romans 12, where we are told not to conform to the ways of the world mentioned in the above passages and only then will we be able to know God’s will for us.

Romans 12:1-2: Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.

We have a great example in our Lord, who often said that He was doing the will of the Father and of course in Gethsemane in Matthew 26:42 He says, ‘My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.’ In the original Greek text these are the exact same words as in the Lord’s prayer: ‘genêthêtô to thelêma sou’

Unfortunately, even in many churches, the will of God is not being carried out. We have let the world into the church and have ‘conformed to the pattern of this world’.

Alan Redpath said in his study on the Lord’s prayer: ‘Both the outward look and the inward look reveal that the will of God is not being done. Because it is not being done in the Christian, there is no blessing in the church. And because there is no blessing in the church, the world is unreached, untouched, going to hell, lost for time and eternity.’ What a terrible indictment that is, but how true!!

C.S. Lewis wrote: ‘There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘THY will be done.’ All that are in hell, choose it.’ 

So let us remember it is God who wants to bring about His desires in our life. Our own desires will sometimes be in conflict with God’s. When there is conflict and we pray ‘Thy will be done’ we are asking that God’s will will prevail over ours. If we pray the Lord’s prayer without meaning it, then it is worth nothing but if we pray it sincerely amazing things can happen. Like Jesus in Gethsemane, we may not really want some of the things God wants but we have to kneel before God and say ‘Nevertheless, ‘Thy will be done’ You are my Lord and I will do it.

I am going to finish with a poem, whose author is unfortunately unknown.

The Will of God
The will of God will never take you, where the Grace of God cannot keep you,
where the Arms of God cannot support you, where the Riches of God cannot supply your needs, where the Power of God cannot endow you. 
The will of God will never take you, where the Spirit of God cannot work through you, where the Wisdom of God cannot teach you, where the Army of God cannot protect you, where the Hands of God cannot mould you.
The will of God will never take you, where the Love of God cannot enfold you,
where the Mercies of God cannot calm you, where the Peace of God cannot calm your fears, where the Authority of God cannot overrule you.
The will of God will never take you, where the Comfort of God cannot dry your tears, where the Word of God cannot feed you, where the Miracles of God cannot be done for you, where the Omnipresence of God cannot find you.

May the Lord bless you this week as you seek to do His will in all things.

Author: Thelma Cameron

May God bless and enrich your life

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