Luke 11:1-4. It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.” And He said to them, ” When you pray, say: ‘ Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. ‘Give us each day our daily bread. ‘And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.'”
Matthew 6:9-13 “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done , On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’”

“Lord, teach us to pray….” One of His disciples requested of Jesus that He provide guidance as to how he and his fellow disciples should pray. The prayer Jesus gave them was not only for them, but for all who will become His disciples, right up to the present.

Respect for ‘our Father who is in heaven’ is to be shown by reverencing His holy name. To use the name of God, or Jesus, emptily or casually is to dishonour He who is the giver of everything and the great creator. The second commandment given to Moses puts it this way. “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.”

Obedience to our Holy Father is demonstrated by doing His will. Reverence for His name and doing His will is the mark of a true disciple of the Lord Jesus. ‘Your will be done’. No delays; no excuses; no half-measures. This is not a matter of our ability or personal preference but simply one of choice. It is for us to choose to do whatever He gives us to do, in the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells forever in everyone who has come to Jesus in repentance and faith.

It is so easy to speak the words of this prayer given by our Lord Jesus without realizing the implication of the words. ‘Your will be done’ can only be performed in our individual life as we add these words, ‘my self-will be gone’. This is the real barrier to doing the Lord’s will which exists in every believer in Jesus; our self with its rights and desires. God has given to every individual the freedom and ability to choose His will or to neglect or refuse to do His will.

As fallen human beings, the Father invites us to come to Jesus in repentance and faith for forgiveness of our sins that He may deal with our sin condition. Our sin condition will be dealt with only as we choose to follow Jesus fully by becoming His disciple. In being the Lord’s disciple we shall be transformed little by little into His image and likeness.

The proof that we are a disciple will be that we are being consistently led by the Spirit of God to do His will. There will be no ‘sometimes’, ‘often’ or ‘frequently’ about this, it will become ‘our way of life’. Yes, there will be failures along the way, but the heart will be filled with a vision of God and of His Son Jesus Christ. All other things will gradually fade away by comparison.

To go through each new day with a frequent murmur to the Lord “Your will be done” is a radically life-changing experience.

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