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"Your
Will Be Done on Earth….” By
Calvin R. Schlabach This
third petition in the prayer Jesus taught His followers is
easily overlooked or misunderstood, yet when it is properly comprehended, it
serves as an expression of the whole of a Christian's
life. "Father... Thy will be done, on
earth as it is in
heaven." What is Jesus teaching us that we should be praying? This
petition is not an expression of resignation to something
beyond our control, although it is true that a Christian must resign
himself to the will of God. Neither is it a wish that, somehow, everyone might
be made to comply with God's will, even though
everyone who loves God is certainly troubled by the evil that abounds in
the world. Instead, this part of the prayer is an earnest plea for help, for
guidance and strength, for whatever is necessary in order that God's will might
be done by me! This becomes obvious
to us when we observe that Jesus not only taught us this petition, but He
prayed these very words Himself in To
pray this, and mean it, and accomplish it in my life, will require complete
surrender to God. MY HEART - my desires, affections,
attitudes - must be yielded to Him. God will not coerce
obedience from me; I must be "doing the
will of God from the
heart" (Ephesians 6:6). I
must also yield MY MIND to the will of God, and this will require diligent study
of the Bible. I cannot do His will if I don't know it, and I cannot know His
will if I don't study His word. "Your
word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path" (Psalms
119:105). In
addition to this, I must yield MY BODY, my life, my self
to the will of the Lord. "And do not
present your members as
instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being
alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to
God" (Romans 6:13). If
I pray this prayer, "Father, Thy will
be done," and really mean it, it will result in tremendous
CHANGES in my life. The doing of God's Will will produce such profound
transformation in me, that it will be as though I had been born again (John 3:3)
and were now an entirely new person - "a
new creature; the
old things passed away; behold, new things have come" (2
Corinthians 5:17). SIN
WILL BE BANISHED from my life if I am seeking God's will. Peter says that we are
to live "no longer for the lust of
men, but for the will of God" (1
Peter 4:2). Since sin is properly
understood as that which is contrary to God's will (1 John
3:4; James 4:17), it will be the first thing to go when I say, "Thy
will be done." These old things must pass away. At
the same time, new things will come. My life will be changed
from one of rebellion and self-will to one of submission and
THE DOING OF GOD'S WILL. Sin will be eradicated and
replaced with the good things God wants me to be doing. There
would be dramatic changes in my life if I prayed, "Father,
may Thy will be
done by me in regard to baptism, church attendance,
Bible study, prayer, evangelism, helping others in His name, and
a host of other things!"
Jesus said, "I
have come... not to do
My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me" (John
6:38). That same life-purpose must characterize me if I pray, "Father,
Thy will be done." If
we give our lives to this purpose, we have a wonderful hope.
The PROMISE of God is that, "the one
who does the will
of God abides forever."
The one who will be saved throughout all eternity, is not the person who merely
professes Christianity or the one who calls Christ, "Lord",
but doesn't do what He says (Matthew 7:21; Luke 6:46); Jesus says it
is the one "who does the will of My
Father who is in heaven.” Please,
don't pray for God's will
to be done unless you are ready to do it.
Hypocrisy will not win you favor with God. But if you
love the Lord and want to be with Him forever, pray, "Father,
Thy will be done!"
& The
Eating Of Meat By
The
humanist agenda of creating a godless world elevates itself to the order of
animals when they decry the eating of meat. “Eat less animals” was the cry
recently at a PETA convention. The purpose of PETA is to seek “animal
rights” and stop a supposed “unethical” treatment of animals. They say,
“Animals are not ours to eat” and “animals are not ours to wear.”
Humanism has secured a strong foothold in the moral, ethical and social network
of our society. Animals have more rights than humans and are treated as if they
were on the same level of humans. All of this stems from a belief in the nature
of man coming from animals “to which he returns.” It
is clear that PETA and humanists are godless and atheists rejecting the nature
of a divine creator. What does the Bible say about what God has permitted man to
eat and to wear? Prior to the flood of Genesis there was no dread of man upon
the animals. After the flood the world changed in many ways. Moses writes, “So
God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: ‘Be fruitful and multiply,
and fill the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every
beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and
on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. Every moving thing
that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green
herbs. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. Surely for
your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will
require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man's brother I
will require the life of man’” (Genesis 9:1-5). The
Lord permitted man to use animals as food. This has never changed. Under the Law
of Moses certain regulations prohibited the Israelites from eating certain foods
(Leviticus 11). This has changed as the Law of Moses is no longer in force as
law. The killing of animals is not murder because animals are not eternal
creatures. What separates man from animals is found in Genesis 1:27 when God
said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them
have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the
cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the
earth" (Genesis 1:26). When a man kills another man it is murder as the
Lord said in Genesis 9:6, “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall
be shed; for in the image of God he made man.” To
be a vegetarian or vegan is a decision that is compatible with the wishes of
those who choose to do so. Binding this as a principle of God is unfounded. It
is not sinful to eat meat. Jesus ate fish in John 21. Paul exhorted the
Corinthians to “eat whatever is sold in the meat market” (1 Corinthians
10:25). The apostle further warned of those who would command others to
“abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by
those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and
nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving” (1 Timothy
4:3-4). In
the The
Seventy Unnamed
Apostles By
Bob Myhan Jesus
sent seventy apostles on the limited commission, in addition to the twelve. This
commission was limited in that those who were sent were not to go “into
the way of the Gentiles” and were not to “enter a city of the
Samaritans. But [were to] go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Only
Luke mentions the seventy.
Then
He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over
all demons, and to cure diseases. He sent them to preach the After
these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two
before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. Then
He said to them… “And heal the sick there, and say to them, 'The Then
the seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject
to us in Your name."
(Luke 10:17) It is true the seventy are not expressly called apostles; but an apostle is “one who is sent” and the seventy were sent. Therefore, they were apostles. They were sent on the same mission and with the same credentials as the twelve. But unlike the twelve, their names were not revealed. & |