How does God’s will be done here on earth as it is in heaven?

Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:9-10.

First, since this prayer was the doorway to the heart of the Father, the essence of this request was that His disciples would have as much clarity about the Father’s will here on earth as the Father desires from the pristine, uninfected domain of heaven. I have done ministry for about 40 years and the constant question most struggle with is what does God want me to be and do, here and now? Knowing His will is the constant daily battle of sincere believers.

There are many things that are perfectly clear in the Bible related to marriage, relationships, friendship, the workplace, and the community of faith. But no matter how sincere we are about those things, in the vortex and confusion of life, sometimes it is hard to know what His will is and how to do it. The bigger problem is that God’s Word is clear, but we are not sure we are interested in the cost of doing it.

Sincerity is wonderful but ambiguity breads anxiety. We all desire to please our heavenly Father but our finite and blurry perspective makes it a challenge to have a clear perspective on everything. Sincerity is not the solution – the next step is conviction.

Second, conviction takes clarity about God’s will and turns it into a value. Conviction means that something is so important to us that we imprint it deep into our heart and soul. We embrace that truth so deeply that it shapes our beliefs and values. We want this revelation to determine how we live. This leads to commitment.

Third, commitment is the manifestation of clear conviction. Sincerity often is wrecked in the business of life. But clear conviction sets priorities. We take this conviction and put it in the top five things that shape the way we begin thinking about each day. Being convinced that I need to pray and engage my heavenly Father when I first get up is often a conviction until I start filling up my life with other projects that suddenly become more important.

Fourth, confidence fuels commitment. Often, that confidence deepens after we “try making a commitment.” When a person decides to start getting healthier by getting exercise or doing a workout three times a week, the fuel that keeps them going is seeing improvement (success I suppose) when their commitment to “doing the work” bears fruit. When hard work produces desired change, it ignites greater clarity, conviction, and commitment.

Doing God’s will may seem like a pretty simple idea, and in some ways it is simple. But in our highly distracted world, even things we value often get neglected because we keep on bouncing back and forth between too many “things we are supposed to do” but we never invest in a few of them well. We randomly jump from one to the other and dabble in lots and master nothing.

Doing His will is critical but harder than we think.

Pastor Brad.