The Pastor’s Page

“When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.” Luke 11:2-4 
  
Hello My Friends, 

This past week during our worship service, we walked through ways of understanding God’s will. I felt it was appropriate to write about it here because it is an important topic for us to grasp as we pray for it every week when we recite the Lord’s prayer saying, “Your will be done”. If Jesus is asking us to pray for it when we talk to God, it is something that warrants our attention. 

The million-dollar question then is, what is God’s will? What is it that God desires? What is it that we are praying for? 
In seminary we would look at the will of God in three categories: 

Providential – What God chooses to do regardless of what we want or ask for. Ex. God made the Earth, Sun and Stars. God chose Mary to be the mother of Jesus. God will come again to judge the living and the dead. From what God has done and says He will do will help us to paint the picture of what God wants and desires for us. 

Moral – God’s commandments to us help us to understand what God desires. God gave us the ten commandments, commands us to love one another as ourselves, and love our God with all our heart, mind, strength, and soul. 

Personal – What God desires for us individually. When we make decisions do they align with what God wants? The personal will of God is where the rubber meets the road in our lives. Should I take that job? Buy that car? Enter into or exit from a relationship? 

Pastor Andy Stanley describes the inter-relation between the categories by saying the more Aware we are of God’s providential will, and the more Obedient we are to God’s moral will, the Easier it will be to discern God’s personal will for our lives. 

As a teenager, I knew my parents’ history. Decisions they had made in their lives that led to where they are now (Providential). I also knew the rules they had for me and my siblings (Moral). By understanding and following this information it was easier to understand if the decisions I was making on my own aligned to my parents’ desires for me (Personal). 

When we pray the way that Jesus taught us, we pray to God saying, “Your will be done.” We are truly asking God to help us understand His will. We are praying for God, to put us in a position to ensure His will be done. To discern God’s will, let us take the time in study, meditation, and prayer to learn what God has done, what God has commanded us to do, and let that be a guide for us when we make decisions in our lives. 

With much love, 
-Pastor Brian