BE DONE YOUR WILL

In heaven, would any angel of God or another heavenly being dare to live according to a will conflicting with the divine? No. But on earth men live according to their own wills. Separated from God, many consider him not even to exist. Therefore, this request is closely related to the previous one: "come your kingdom". To ask that God's will be done here on earth as in heaven means praying for the kingdom of God's implantation in the world. This kingdom is not a place, a region, but the reign of God in the hearts of men. It is humanity living again in communion with the Creator. 

However, there is also a personal dimension in this supplication. It talks about subjecting our will to that of the Lord. It is at this point that many Christians disappoint yourself of the life of prayer. We go to God with our list of requests and we want them to be served. As our personal will is stronger than submission to the divine will, we do not accept or do not understand why certain requests do not have a "yes" in response. For this reason, many start to use "methods and techniques" of praying to increase their effectiveness, as if God were a force that could be manipulated. However, even with the use of these expedients, the "no" remains and thus many give up seeking a profound life of prayer. 

God knows what's best for us and so He often responds with a "no" or a "wait." The endemonous of the region of the Gadarenes after being delivered by the Lord Jesus pleaded with him to accompany him with the apostles, but Jesus said "no" and commanded him to return to his people and bear witness to what God had done to him. So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him” (Luke 8:26-39). God has his purposes in our lives. Sometimes we need to go through unwanted situations because the Lord wants to shape our character and teach something. In Gethsemane, Jesus prayed, “my Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). 

We need to have a more humble attitude in our prayers. After the end of the sermon on the hill, a sick man with leprosy approached Jesus, knelt and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you cam make me clean. Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing’, he said. ‘Be clean!’ Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy” (Matthew 8:2,3). "If you are willing..." Do we have the guts to pray like this? This kind of posture denotes the recognition that God has the power to perform the miracle we ask, but that his will is sovereign. He is not obliged to attend us, and if that happens, we will accept the fact, because that is his will for our lives, even if we do not understand it. "God's will is what we can pray" [1]. 

Jesus said, “you may ask me for anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:14). Why then are many of our prayers not answered positively? He said these words in the context of the realization of God's work (John 14:10-14). On another occasion, the Lord said, “if you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7). Permanence in Christ shapes our will according to the divine. In Christ, we learn to have wills according to God's will (Romans 8.5). The Apostle John said, “if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us" (1 John 5:14). 

As has already been said, we do not know pray because we do it as if we are the center of prayer. That explains our anxiety at having the prayers answered. With our eyes on our personal life project, we anguish and ardently wish to see our prayers answered. We use prayer in many cases as an instrument to achieve our purposes. But God has his plans for his every child of his own. St Augustine, in his Confessions, said: " everyone consults you with what they want, but they do not always hear what they want. Your most faithful servant is the one who does not expect to hear what he wants, but proposes to accept, first of all, the answer that comes from you." 

Evangelist Mark reported that brothers James and John asked Jesus for important positions in the kingdom he was implanting. They thought the Lord would expel the Romans and restore israel's earthly kingdom. But Jesus replied, "You do not know what you are asking..." and did not answer their prayer. Nevertheless, both remained in the Lord and had a future that, in the eyes of the world, would not be seen as a success. James would soon die, after the Resurrection of the Lord, because of the testimony of Christ (Acts 12:2) and John, according to tradition, would live poorly as pastor of the Christian community of Ephesus, founded by Paul. During his life, he would be arrested several times, tortured and exiled on an island. It is not easy to pray, “your will be on Earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).

Antônio Maia - M. Div.

Copyright

[1]  KIERKEGAARD, Sören. O Desespero Humano. Ed. Martin Claret, São Paulo, 2009, p.42.

[2] AGOSTINHO, Santo. Confissões. Editora Vozes, São Paulo, 2011, p.240.