Yielding to God's Will in Our Prayers
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Introduction
Introduction
How I prayed when I young...
Many approach God with the mindset that prayer is getting what I want from God.
Continuing our sermon series on prayer...
P.R.A.Y.
Last week we saw the first letter, Praising God for who He is and what He has done.
This week we will look at the last letter, the Y.
Matthew 6:10
Matthew 6:10
Timeless Truth: Our prayers should include yielding to God’s will in all areas of our lives.
Timeless Truth: Our prayers should include yielding to God’s will in all areas of our lives.
Pray for God’s kingdom to come.
Pray for God’s kingdom to come.
What is God’s kingdom?
God’s kingdom is God’s sovereign and total rule.
When people in Israel heard about a kingdom, they would immediately think about Israel’s kingdom during the time of King David...
The people of Israel longed for this...
So, when praying for God’s kingdom to come, they, no doubt, would be thinking about the reestablishment of Israel’s sovereignty.
And yet, God’s kingdom is so much more than that.
In theology, we call the God’s kingdom an already-not yet promise.
God’s kingdom was inaugurated with the coming of Jesus and is established in the heart of His people. But, the full realization of His kingdom will not come until Christ returns.
What does it mean to have God’s kingdom come?
What we are praying for is the establishment of God’s kingdom in people’s hearts today (discipleship and evangelistic) and for the final establishment of God’s kingdom (eschatological).
What does this has to do with yielding?
We are praying for our hearts to be bent towards His kingdom, not our own...
We need to learn to pray that we would fall more in love with God’s kingdom than our own.
We are praying for our church to take God’s kingdom seriously…(more on this later)
We are praying for God’s purposes to be fulfilled in our world.
At the heart of this prayer is that everything will be set right, as it was supposed to be, before sin entered into the human experience.
God’s kingdom is a time when sin will no longer be a part of the human experience.
Pray that our hearts would desire God’s will ahead of our wants.
Pray that our hearts would desire God’s will ahead of our wants.
What is God’s will?
God’s will is what God desires will come about.
Important Theology: God’s plans are never frustrated, but not everything that happens is God’s will, though He allows things to happen that are not necessarily His will…and yet, even in that, His ultimate plans will never be frustrated.
What does “on earth as it is in heaven” mean when it comes to God’s will being done?
Praying that God’s “will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” means we want His will to be done perfectly, without question.
What does this have to do with yielding?
We typically want our will to be done, therefore, this is one of the most challenging prayers.
Therefore, it must start with us. We must learn to pray specifically for strength and wisdom when faced with the temptations we will face.
If God’s kingdom is to be seen as valuable to the world, we, His people, should live our lives as if God’s kingdom is valuable. They have to see it.
There is a conflict I should mention between God’s perfect sovereignty and man’s will. They seem to be contradictory to some, as they might ask, “How can finite man through his prayers have even the slightest effect on a perfectly sovereign God?”
But here’s the amazing thing to consider: That problem will never completely be resolved for us, even in Heaven. We will never understand completely how our God could have a perfectly sovereign will, yet at the same time allow His children to pray and even respond because of those prayers.
Yet, He does. It stems, ultimately, from a love that goes beyond human understanding.
It’s a love that cannot be explained…it can only be received and celebrated! Yet, 1 John 3:1: “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.”
Additionally, throughout Scripture, God calls His people to believing prayer.
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,
Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord,
but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him.
I could go on and on, because Scripture calls God’s people to believing prayer. And, the perfectly sovereign God responds to the prayers of His people.
Pray that His church will desire His will to be done.
Pray that His church will desire His will to be done.
We are part of a family of faith, called the church. And this is by God’s design. He never intended for us to be Lone Ranger Christians. We are to be part of a local body of Christ, called a church.
So, we shouldn’t just pray that we personally desire God’s will to be done, but that the church as a whole will desire that as well.
God’s plan for impacting a community is the local church. Therefore, we must pray that that we take His will seriously as a church.
This means that we pray that the church will be Gospel-focused...
That His church would take the Great Commission seriously...
That His church would take the Great Commandment seriously...
That His church would take sin seriously...
I agree with John MacArthur says: “…lack of faithful prayer inhibits His will being done.”
Will we faithfully pray that His kingdom would come and that His will will be done on earth as it is in heaven?
