Lenten Devotion – Day 21

Friday, March 13, 2015

Today’s Scripture: Matthew 6:9-13       Part 2

“Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matt. 6:10)

“Christ makes Heaven the standard for God's will be done on Earth. What a high ideal is this! What power it would take to bring such a thing about! Nothing short of the Kingdom of God pulling down strongholds, overthrowing bastions of deeply entrenched sin, and then conquering this present world in such a way as to establish righteousness – nothing short of such things as these can meet the standard that Christ sets before us.” ― Geoff Banister

  The Lord's Prayer teaches us to strive first for the kingdom of God and to pray that God's will be accomplished in our lives. The Lord in turn, gives us what we need to live each day for his glory. Do you pray to the Father with confidence that he will show you his will and give you what you need to follow him?

  To be in the kingdom is to do the will of God. Immediately we see that the kingdom is not something which primarily has to do with the nations and people and countries. It is something which has to do with each one of us. The kingdom demands the submission of my will, my heart, and my life. It is only when each one of us makes his personal decision and submission that the kingdom comes.

  "Your will be done" is what we are saying. We are asking God to be God. We are not asking God to respond to our wants and needs. We are asking God to allow us to conform to God’s will and what God wants. We are asking God to make manifest the holiness that is now mostly hidden, to set free in all its terrible splendor the devastating power that is now mostly under restraint. "Your kingdom come . . . on earth" is what we are saying. And if that were suddenly to happen, what then? What would stand and what would fall? Who would be welcomed in and who would be thrown into the darkness of hell? Which if any of our most precious visions of what God is and of what human beings are would prove to be more or less on the mark and which would turn out to be phony as three-dollar bills? To speak those words is to invite the tiger out of the cage, to unleash a power that makes atomic power look like a warm breeze.

  Placing ourselves squarely in the hands of God is difficult because it is so hard for us to give up control of our choices. And we know that submitting to God's will can be a hard and perilous thing! But without our willing submission to him and a ready conference with his will through prayer and meditation, all of our choices fall at last to dust.

Lenten Devotional – Day Six

Q. 7. What are the decrees of God?

A. The decrees of God are his eternal purpose, according to the counsel of his will, whereby, for his own glory, he hath foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.

  “In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will,” (Eph. 1:11, NRSV)

“We seldom realize fully that we are sent to fulfill God-given tasks. We act as if we were simply dropped down in creation and have to decide to entertain ourselves until we die. But we were sent into the world by God, just as Jesus was. Once we start living our lives with that conviction, we will soon know what we were sent to do.” - Henri J. M. Nouwen

  You belong to God, and he takes it seriously. He gave his Son so you could be his. Don't make the mistake of thinking that God's commitment to you is only as strong as your commitment to him! You may fail from time to time, you may have a hard time keeping your promises, some days your heart may be cold and your faith may be weak. The good news is that God doesn't change his mind about us as often as we change our minds about him. As far as he is concerned, you belong to him, and nothing will change that.

  Paul in his writings to the early church piles up words to address God’s eternal purpose addressed in our question today: “predestined,” “purpose,” “counsel,” and “will.” Paul believed and emphasized God’s plan for His creation and that God is capable of fulfilling His plan. One such statement Paul made in Ephesians, “He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will,” (1:5) Paul means that God chose us to obtain an inheritance in Christ. But, Paul’s point is that everything we have in Christ is due to God’s eternal purpose to save us.

  Paul says that the reason we have been chosen to receive an inheritance in Christ is that God predestined us according to His purpose; and, He is the God who accomplishes all things after the counsel of His will. In eternity, before He created the world of space and time, God freely determined His purpose and plan, which is all for His glory. As stated in the first answer of the Westminster Shorter Catechism our chief end is “to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever” and how to accomplish this purpose is further defined in each subsequent question and answer.