Contentment while praying for God’s Will is possible. Why do we pray for God’s Will to be done? When do we pray for God’s purposes instead of our desires?
Contentment while Praying for God’s Will
As I began to think about questions regarding prayer, I spent the weekend at a national Women’s prayer retreat recently. Some of the teaching was on praying for God’s Will, and I will speak more about that in a moment. Yet there is an internal struggle of praying God’s Will and wanting to pray bold prayers of faith.
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all we ask or think, according to the power that works within us.
Ephesians 3:20 NASB
This verse has been a favorite of mine for years. We can call on His name and know He will do more than we can imagine. He is an amazing God!
I remember a specific instance of this years ago. I led a group of bicyclists from Minnesota to our Bible camp in Lansing, Iowa. It is 185 miles one way, and the purpose of the bike trip is to raise funds for projects at the camp. The group of bikers was small so I figured we wouldn’t raise more than $8-$10K. I prayed this verse above and believed that God would do more than I ever imagined. The proceeds for that bike trip were in the $20-23K range. As that bike trip was over twenty years ago, my numbers may not be exactly right, but my point is God did abundantly more than I asked or imagined!
So how can we pray both boldly and for God’s will? And how do we have contentment while praying for God’s Will when we desire something else? Let’s dig in and see how Jesus handles these questions.
Praying Bold Prayers
During the week of Passover and after the Triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, Jesus cursed a fig tree for having leaves but no fruit. It was not the season for figs. The next day, Jesus and the disciples passed by that same fig tree and found it withered. His curse on the tree had worked!
And Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted to him. Therefore, I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted to you. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you for your offenses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your offenses.”
Mark 11:22-26 NASB
What we learn from Jesus here is twofold.
1. Have Faith and Believe in God
We can pray with faith in God, and it can happen. Jesus had faith in God that the fig tree could be withered. He said it, and it came to pass. Jesus said, “Have faith in God.” He didn’t say to believe or have faith in yourself. That faith or trust is in God himself. And we only need a small amount of faith.
He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”
Matthew 17:20 ESV
The mustard seed is so small, like the point of your pen on a piece of paper. But it grows into a large flourishing tree. 🌳
When I spent three months looking for a job and praying for God to open doors to the right one, I’d have some days where my faith was small. I’d tell God, “Lord, I am struggling today, and all I have is the small mustard seed-like faith. Forgive my doubts and lead me to where I need to be.” I would ask my friends to pray, and their prayers in the text messages back to me would encourage me and give me God’s strength to move on.
2. Forgive others & God Will Forgive You
When we repent of our sins and forgive the offenses others have done to us, it cleanses us from unrighteousness and brings us freedom from the slavery of sin.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9 ESV
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
Galatians 5:1 ESV
When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are no longer slaves to sin. However, because we are human and under constant attack of the evil one, we succumb to sin again. That is why we need to keep repenting of our sins before we come before a holy God with our requests of faith.
This includes anything that we have against another sister or brother. We need to ensure that we are in a right relationship with others before we come to God for these bold prayers.
Repent – Sin can Hinder your Prayers!
In addition to what Jesus taught in this passage about having faith and forgiving others, I believe that we need to have a right relationship with God as well. This right relationship includes what we do with sin in our lives. Sin can hinder our prayers.
If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
Psalm 66:18 NIV
If we hold onto sin in our lives and refuse to repent of it, then God doesn’t want to listen to the prayers of a person with an unrepentant heart. He is holy and sin in His presence is disgusting to Him.
For example, let’s say that I am all cleaned, dressed up, and ready for church. Then the dog barks to come into the house. I let him in. He is all excited and jumps on me with his dirty paws and gets dirt on my clean skirt. I get mad and yell at the dog to go away from me. Get out of my presence. I am saying that with my clean skirt on, I don’t want him around me. Similarly, God is holy and is unable to bear being around someone that is dirty with sin.
Prayer for God’s Will to be done
Why should we pray for God’s Will to be done? Jesus shares the Lord’s Prayer with HIs disciples. He says that this is how we should pray. It is a command that is given for us to pray this way.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Matthew 6:10 ESV
When we say “Your will be done,” we are praying that it is God’s choice to do as He wants. He is the creator and sovereign ruler over this earth. It is His decision when things happen here on earth in our lives. Since He created us, He knows when we are born and when we will die. When we pray for something other than His will, we are praying for our desires or purposes and not His.
Pray for God’s Purposes instead of Ours
Since we live here on earth, our hearts are emotionally tied to the people and things of this world. When we accept Jesus as our Savior, we know that this world is not our final home. Heaven is our true home. We should want what He wants not our selfish desires. When we pray, we need to pray for His purposes and not our own.
Jesus gives us an example in His life where He was praying a bold prayer yet He asked God to do it in His will.
Before Jesus died on the cross, He went to the Garden of Gesthsemane. He said,
“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
Luke 22:42 ESV
Jesus’ bold prayer was that God removed this cup or asked that He wouldn’t have to die this way. He knew that crucifixion on a cross was a painful death. Because Jesus was also fully human, He knew that it was going to be extreme pain and He was not looking forward to going through with this.
Yet, Jesus was also fully divine. He knew that He needed to pray if it was God’s Will. So He asked the prayer in a way to do BOTH. He asked if God was willing, could the cup be removed from Him.
Then Jesus prayed a second time.
Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”
The model of Jesus is to pray boldly and ask for God’s Will at the same time.
How can we have Contentment while Praying for God’s Will?
When we pray for God’s Will, we are asking for God’s purposes to be done. We know that He gives us good gifts and has the best in mind for us (James 1:17). When we do that, He gives us peace in the process because our mind is focused on God.
Isaiah 26:3 ESVYou keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
I recently had a health scare that could result in surgery, a long cycle of treatment, and possibly end in death. In praying through this health issue, I kept praying, Lord, you know that I want healing, but I want your Will. If it means that my life is drastically changed due to this potential illness or I lose my life (yet gain eternity!), that is what I want. After meeting with the doctors, everything was fine. PTL! In looking back over the time of this health scare, I realized that I had prayed a bold prayer and asked for God’s Will at the same time. I had contentment while I prayed and in the waiting for the results of the procedures.
Contentment is possible when we are waiting and praying for God’s Will to come to pass.
