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Thy Will Be Done
Jesus taught us to pray with complete faith and trust in God. He instructed his first disciples, “When ye pray, say, . . . Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth” (Luke 11:2).
The key words here are, “Thy will be done.”
It’s natural for us to be worried about our personal needs, so I think we often skip over this instruction. Or sometimes, we say, “Thy will be done,” as more of an afterthought, but it should not be.
God is all-knowing and all-powerful. We submit to His will because He is filled with infinite love and the eternal perspective required to resolve our needs in the proper way. Trusting in His will for us is a foundation stone of effective prayers.
Our Saviour Jesus Christ exemplified this teaching when, in Gethsemane, crippled by the awful burden of the world’s sins, He pleaded, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matthew 26:39).
Our prayers might not always be answered the way that we hope, but when we let His will prevail, our Father in Heaven has promised us peace in difficult times.
Late one evening when my own father was very ill, I knelt at my bedside and prayed with all the energy of my heart and soul for the Lord to help me know what I could do to help my dad. I prayed with complete faith and trust in my Heavenly Father. I would pray and then pause, and pray, then pause again, really trying to focus my mind. I really tried to pay attention to the Holy Spirit.
And then an impression came to me, and I said to myself, “You keep asking the Lord to give you what you want. What about what He wants?”
The next words from my mouth were, “Heavenly Father, I really want my dad to live. I really want him to stay here with us. But if this is not thy plan for him, then I am willing to let him go. I am willing to accept thy will.”
The Lord spoke to my heart and told me, “My faithful daughter, because you are willing to accept My will and not your own, you will be comforted and blessed with peace.”
The next morning, my sweet dad returned home to our Heavenly Father . . . and I felt a beautiful calm and peaceful tenderness in my heart. I felt God’s pure love for me.
Although I was sad, the Lord softened the blow and somehow made the pain easier for me to bear. I continued to feel His comfort in many different ways, and through many friends and family members. I felt so blessed, just as God promised I would be.
I said another prayer to thank Him, and to express how much I love Him.
I am so grateful for the precious and wonderful gift of prayer. Communicating with our Father in Heaven is a true privilege. May we have faith to accept His will in all things, and trust that His divine love will see us through all the challenges of life.