When You Should Pray “IF IT BE YOUR WILL” and When You Shouldn’t
Right before Christ was apprehended, abused and crucified for the sins of humanity, he prayed this prayer:
“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”
Luke 22:42
The Messiah was not petitioning Father God for a financial need or healing here, but rather he was seeking the Father about direction, which involves consecrating one’s life to fulfill the LORD’s will. Christ on Earth was both God and man (Philippians 2:6-8). Being God, the Son, he knew that he was called to die for humanity (John 3:16) and that the next twelve hours of his earthly life were going to be an excruciating challenge, to say the least. Thus, being part man, he understandably sought the Father in regards to the possibility of another way — an easier way — yet ended his prayer with “yet not my will, but yours be done.”
Whenever you are seeking the LORD for direction your flesh is naturally going to want to take the less grueling direction, yet God’s plan for your life may involve challenges and difficulties that your human side is understandably going to be resistant toward. Thus when praying for direction and consecration of your life you can request what you desire, which is usually the comfortable route, but your ultimate attitude must be “Yet not my will, but yours be done.” Why? Because you’re a servant while God is your LORD (Luke 17:7-10 & Philippians 1:1), you are a son/daughter while God is the spiritual Parent (Romans 8:15 & Matthew 23:9).
The prayer of petition, however, is a different matter. Petition refers to requesting something and must be based on the promise of God’s Word, not to mention what you ask for is received through faith:
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
1 John 5:14-15
For instance, we know in the Scriptures that God promises to supply our needs and even righteous desires (Matthew 21:22, John 14:14 & 16:23-24), as well as healing when needed (1 Peter 2:24, Mark 1:40-41 & Matthew 8:1-3), thus we can pray for such things and receive them by faith. Notice how Christ emphasized the importance of faith for answered petition:
“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23 “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
Mark 11:22-24
With the prayer of petition you don’t include the phrase “if it be thy will” because you’re praying based on the promise of Holy Scripture and you receive what you seek by faith. You must be sure it’s the LORD’s will based on the promise of God’s Word because, otherwise, you’ll likely doubt that God wants you to have what you’re seeking and this will hinder faith and sabotage your spiritual warfare. For instance, you’ll be apt to reason: “Maybe it’s not God’s will for me to be healed.” When you think like this you inhibit faith and thus won’t get what you’re seeking.
I should add that I specified righteous desires above to distinguish them from fleshly, worldly desires (James 4:3-4).
If you’re struggling with faith to believe for answers in prayer petition, the answer is to:
- Increase your faith, which comes by drawing nearer to the Living Word in relationship (John 1:1 & 6:51).
- Increase your knowledge of the written word and the covenant promises thereof (Romans 10:17 & 2 Corinthians 1:20).
You can learn more about doing both in this video. Also see the relevant topics listed below.
Allow me to close with this thought: As you grow spiritually you’ll spend less-and-less time on petitioning for needs because such things will automatically be supplied as you put God first in your life — first, not only (Matthew 6:33). This will free you up for other, more important types of prayer, like praise & worship, simple communion, intercession and spiritual warfare, all of which you can learn more about from the links below.
Related Topics:
When You should ASK and when You should SPEAK IN FAITH, aka DEMAND
Should I get the Surgery or BELIEVE for Healing?
Faith — What Is It? Why Is It Important? How Does It Grow?
Spiritual Warfare — The Basics
Spiritual Warfare — Do You know What You’re Fighting For?
Praise & Worship—What’s the Difference? Why are they Important?
Provision, Money and “Prosperity”
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