A story is told of an old woman who traveled around the countryside going from home to home selling thread, buttons, and shoestrings. When she came to an unmarked crossroad, she would toss a stick into the air and go in the direction the stick pointed when it landed. One day however, she was seen tossing the stick up in the air several times. "Why do you toss the stick more than once?" someone asked. "Because," replied the woman, "it keeps pointing to the left, and I want to take the road on the right." She then dutifully kept throwing the stick into the air until it pointed the way she wanted to go!¹

Christian, do you pray like that? Do you pray for the will of God whatever it is? Or do you keep throwing the stick up until you get what you want?

A mother drove her carriage along a road while a sibling cared for a spoiled baby in the back seat. The child continued to scream for something until finally the frustrated mother spun around and said, "Why don't you just give him what he wants and stop all this infernal fussing. The caretaker granted her wish and allowed the child to have what he wanted. The child wanted to play with a resting wasp. The child's screams were magnified by the sting of the wasp. The mother called out again and said, "Now what is the matter?" The reply came back, "He got what he wanted."

Like the child in the story, sometimes we should not get what we ask God for. Sometimes we should not get what we want because we want the wrong thing. That is why James said "You ask and don't receive because you ask wrongly, so that you may spend it on your desires for pleasure. (James 4:3)

In our previous discussion on what to pray for, we said to pray about everything even though no prayer in the Bible actually includes everything. So if I'm not going to pray for everything every time I pray, what things especially should I pray for? Jesus teaches us specific things to pray for in the Lord 's Prayer (often called the disciples prayer). We will look at especially the fourth line of the prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 and expand how to pray for the will of God.

We should pray for the will of God. How do we know what God's will is? Although we certainly have times when the specific will of God is unclear, the Bible tells us specifically what the will of God is in many situations. What can we know about the will of God?

First, Christians by definition strive to do the will of God. Matthew 7:21 says, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord!' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father in heaven."³ The ones doing God's will are the ones going to heaven. Forever! In other words, if you do the will of God now, you will do it forever because "the one who does God's will remains forever." (1 John 2:17) It is a very dangerous thing to realize that the pattern of your life is against the declared will of God. Pray to do the will of God in your life.

Second, doing the will of God requires an ongoing battle to suppress the desire to do our own will. Peter said that "since Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same resolve ... no longer for human desires, but for God's will." Christians are those characterized by doing the will of God, but it does not come in passivity, we fight for it with resolve. Pray for the strength to do the will of God.

Third, see the fight for the will of God as the pursuit of your own pleasure. Jesus said "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work," (John 4:34). Doing the will of God fills me up! Gives me strength! Satisfied my desires! It is my food! David said "I delight to do Your will, my God." (Psalm 40:8) Ephesians 6:6 tells not to work only "while being watched, in order to please men, but as slaves of Christ, do God's will from your heart." Embrace the will of God, no matter how difficult, and do it from the heart. Pray for pleasure in doing the will of God from your heart.

Fourth, learn what the will of God is. David said, "Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God." (Psalm 143:10) Paul said in Romans that submitting to God and allowing him to transform you will enable you to discern the will of God. "Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God." (Romans 12:1-2) God will teach us his will as we must submit ourselves to him, resist conformity to the Godless culture around us, and allow him to transform (or make) us into a new person. Fools resist this process according to Ephesians 5:17, "don't be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is." Do not be a fool. The fool says in his heart there is no God. Pray for God to teach you his will and help you to discern his will, which means to know it when you see it.

Fifth, God tells his will in numerous areas. Pray for:

David Livingstone tells how he was chased up a small tree and besieged by lions. He said the tree was so small that he was barely out of reach of the lions. He said they would stand on their back feet and roar and shake the little tree, and that he could feel the hot breath of the lions as they sought him. "But," he states, "I had a good night and felt happier and safer in that little tree besieged by lions, in the jungles of Africa, in the will of God, than I would have been out of the will of God in England." There is one safe and happy place, and that is in the will of God.

The Bible tells us many things that are clearly the will of God. We can pray boldly when we are praying for God's stated will. Pray the will of God when you know it. Pray to know the will of God when you don't know what it is. Pray to have the strength to do it when you see it. Pray to enjoy the will of God. Pray to suffer well in God's will. Pray for endurance. Pray to be always pursuing the safety of the will of God, no matter how dangerous it is!

Copyright © 2005 by Kevin Binkley