#ThinkingTuesday – Change your thinking; Change your life.

How do you think of the words Thy Kingdom Come; Thy Will Be Done in Our Lord’s Prayer?

Well, today’s quote is from the beloved Elizabeth Elliot. This post is in her memory. Rest well in the arms of our Lord Jesus, Elisabeth Elliot Gren (December 21, 1926 – June 14, 2015).

In her sermon Praying the Lord’s prayer, she says “When the will of God cuts the will of man, somebody has to die” and to that I add, that someone already did and His name is Jesus.

When Jesus died for us and we accept and partake in his sacrifice, anytime God’s will is contrary to ours, we have to go back to square one and remember that now we live for God’s kingdom and if our will is not in line with the kingdom of God then it is better that we die, so we are cast unto death but Jesus steps in! Jesus takes our place, so that our will gets exchanged for God’s will and He instead dies in our place with the will we had before. Jesus still dies in our place everyday, because our selfishness that started years ago with a fruit cannot be undone in one day!

When we pray “thy Kingdom come, thy will be done” (Matt 6: 9 – 15) We must realise that the doing of God’s will is the undoing of our will. Paul says in Galatians 2:20:

And so we are crucified, and Christ lives in us, and whenever we pray for God’s will to be done, it will be the undoing of our will and the enforcing of God’s kingdom on earth. In heaven, God’s will is done pleasantly and happily with no grudges and complaints. On earth however, our fleshly bodies may put up some resistance to God’s will sometimes and that is why we must pray the Lord’s prayer with the understanding that when we do, we surrender our will totally to God and whatever he has planned for us. Therefore, we must yield ourselves over to God as instruments of His righteousness.

It is not wise to say “Lord this this what I want, make it happen”, instead, it is important pray “Lord is this is what I would like, but let your will be done.” This is saying to God, I am hoping my will is your will but if not Let your will prevail over mine.

*Notice “say” is used in the first example, because that is really not a prayer, it is a commandment and you can’t command God.

When we pray “Let thy kingdom come” we must understand, that it is on this earth – this earth being your flesh, your body. Let thy kingdom come, in me as a human being, in my home, school, my family, my plans, purposes, dreams. Lord do whatever is needed to bring your kingdom on this earth.

As christians we often say that people should not judge us because we are also capable of making mistakes but we must admit to ourselves that as christians we must have something in our lives that makes it significantly different. We owe the world that light in us, the world has a right to look for something different that distinguishes us from them. If they do not see a difference, they will be quick to judge and condemn us. We must participate in God’s redemption and reconciliation plan for the earth. This is why God’s kingdom must come and God’s will must be done; in each heart, and together we make the earth as a whole. We are asking for God’s kingdom – His truth, magnificence and glory to be enfleshed in us as it was with Jesus so that others may see and know Him as we do. 

Elisabeth Elliot echoing the words of G.K. Chesterton says “I am what is wrong with the world, because I am a sinner” so there’s no use thinking you are going to change the world until you let God change you from the inside (Elisabeth Elliot). Therefore, we must let the Kingdom come in our hearts, and let God’s will be done in our lives. We must bring our will under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. 

When things got heavy, even Jesus had to ask in prayer for His father’s will to prevail. Sometimes God’s will isn’t our will. We must accept this, trusting that God won’t do to us what isn’t for us; no matter how bad it looks at the onset. God has seen the end, and the end of His will is always good.

Sometimes the familiarity that we have with The Lord’s prayer causes us to miss the importance of the words we are praying. We just repeat them off the top of our heads, many of us forced to memorise these words as children. It is important now that our thinking is renewed so that we can see words of Our Lord’s Prayer for what they truly are; a conversation with our Heavenly father filled with worship of His name, a desire to partake of His kingdom and total surrender of all that we are to all that He is.

God bless you!