OnLine With Faith (OLWF)...
is a daily electronic newsletter offering practical spiritual advice, hope, and inspiration for your daily life and relationships with God and others. It is a ministry of:

Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church

2313 South Whittier Avenue

Springfield, IL. 62704-4699

The Monday through Friday editions include an inspirational Thought for the Day, Bible Verse and Prayer. The Saturday edition of OLWF is designed for children, but it is also appreciated by adults. Some families have discovered that it works very well to read them along with their children.  Our Sunday edition is expanded to include the weekend inspirational message from Pastor VanderKloot. To subscribe, please e-mail us at olwf1@gliq.net and enter "SUBSCRIBE" on the Subject Line. If you have any questions, comments, or prayer requests, please be in touch with us at pastor@faithlutheran.com .

"...Therefore go and make disciples of all nations..."

MATTHEW 28:19 NIV

 A Pastoral Teaching Message

The Prayer God Longs For # 4:
Your kingdom come, Your will be done
Submitted

Today we continue our look at the Lord's Prayer 
as a model for the prayer that God longs for. 
So far we have seen that God, as our loving Father, 
longs for prayer from us that is intimate. 

As the God of the Universe, all powerful and all mighty, 
God longs for prayer from us that is expectant.
Then last week we saw that God longs for our prayers 
to be reverent, showing respect to God's name and 
responding in awe to God's presence.  

Jesus teaches us to pray...

	This, then, is how you should pray:
	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 TNIV

God longs for a personal response of submission 
in our prayers and lives. Jesus is teaching us to 
submit our will to God's will. We are taught in James...

	Submit yourselves, then, to God.
	James 4:7 TNIV

However, this goes against everything our culture 
tells us. We are independent. We don't want anyone 
telling us what to do. As a result, far too often 
when we pray we want to bend God's will to our will. 

We want God to do things our way and on our time schedule. 
However, our will is not always the same as God's will. 

Our timetable is not always the same as God's timetable. 
God tells us in Isaiah 55:8...

	For my thoughts are not your thoughts, 
	neither are your ways my ways, 
	declares the LORD.
	TNIV

Instead of getting God to do what we want, 
Jesus is teaching us... 
	
	to do what God wants, 
	when God wants, 
	how God wants.

Jesus told John the Baptist...

	We should do all things that are God's will.
	Matthew 3:15 NCV

To submit to God's will requires that we discover God's 
will. Pastor Daniel Henderson in his book Transforming 
Prayer writes...

	I am learning that my deepest needs are met 
	when my heart is most closely aligned with 
	the Word of God, the Son of God, 	
	the Spirit of God, and the purposes of God.
	p.71

Author and professor Paul Little was soon to graduate 
from the University of Illinois. He was trying to 
figure out what he was going to do with his life 
after graduation. He says...

	I was frustrated out of my mind 
	trying to figure out the will of God.
	I was doing everything 
	but getting into the presence of God
	and asking him to show it to me.
	quoted in The Prayer God Longs For  p. 45

The single best way to know God's will, 
so that we can submit to it, is to spend time 
with God in prayer and in God's Word. The more 
time we spend with someone the more we understand 
what they like, want to do and hope to achieve. 

The more we get to know God the more likely 
we will understand God's will and God's desires. 

Hopefully we will get to the point that the things 
that please God, please us and the things that 
break God's heart, break our heart. 

Let it be our dream, hope and goal for God to 
say about us what he said about King David...
	

	God testified concerning him: 
	‘I have found David son of Jesse, 
	a man after my own heart; 
	he will do everything I want him to do.’
	Acts 13:22 TNIV
 
Finding the will of God is not one isolated experience. 
Rather, it is a lifelong, day-by-day journey. 
As we are on this faith journey we can affirm 
and act on what we already know from God's Word 
about God's will through our understanding of God's 
nature and character. 

In effect in this petition, 'your kingdom come, 
your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven' 
Jesus desires us to pray...  

	Your kingdom come in my life, my family, 
	my church, my community
	
	Your will be done in my life, my family, 
	my church, my community

If we would pray that and then simply wait in silence, 
God will give us direction. 

The Bible also helps us to know God's will. 
Psalm 119 affirms that...

	Your word is a lamp to my feet 
	and a light for my path 
	v.105 TNIV

To submit to God's will requires that we let go 
and let God lead and take over the direction of 
our lives. In 1957 Lauretta P. Burns wrote this 
poem entitled Let Go And Let God!...

	As children bring their broken toys 
   	with tears for us to mend, 
	I brought my broken dreams to God, 
	because He was my friend. 

	But then, instead of leaving Him, 
	in peace, to work alone; 
	I hung around and tried to help, 
	with ways that were my own. 

	At last, I snatched them back and cried, 
	"How can you be so slow?" 
	"My child," He said, 
	"What could I do? 
	You never did let go."

To submit to God means that we let go of our agendas 
and let God direct our paths. Whether or not it is 
intentional, we all have agendas for our lives and 
for our futures. Some agendas are more immediate 
than others, some more sophisticated, some are better 
planned out than others, but they do exist.

To submit to God means that we let go of the priorities 
we set, the standards by which we make our goals and 
gauge our success, and the plans and dreams by which 
we live our lives.  
 
To submit to God is acknowledging that God has a 
better design for our lives than any we can devise 
for ourselves.  Remember as God told Jeremiah...

	'For I know the plans I have for you,’ 
	declared the Lord, 
	‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, 
	plans to give you hope and a future’.
	Jeremiah 29:11 TNIV
 
Submission requires obedience. It did not do Jonah 
any good to know God's will was for him to go and 
preach in Nineveh, until he was willing to obey it. 
It really is quite simple...

	When God says 'go', go.
	When God says 'stay', stay.
	When God says 'wait', wait.
	When God says 'speak', speak.
	When God says 'maintain silence', 
	maintain silence.	
	When God says 'serve', serve.

Psalm 34 tells us...

	If you obey the LORD, 
	he will watch over you and answer your prayers.  
	Psalm 34:15 CEV

In this petition we surrender control of our lives.  
We give that control to God. Make the words of 
Frances R. Havergal's hymn 'Take My Life and 
Let It Be' your daily prayer and goal...

	Take my will and make it thine; 
	It shall be no longer mine.
	Take my heart, it is thine own; 
	It shall be thy royal throne.
	Take my love; my Lord, I pour 
	At thy feet its treasure store;
	Take myself, and I will be 
	Ever, only, all for thee.
	
Amen 	

Reflect

	What is God's will for my life?

	How and when do I submit to God?
		

Pray

	To discover God's will

	For a willing and obedient heart

Act

	Set aside 15 minutes every other day to 
	discover God's will for you by reading 
	God's Word, praying, keeping silent and listening.