If It Be Thy Will Now and Not Yet

If It Be Thy Will

Now and Not Yet

“If” a word of uncertainty

Faith is being certain of what we hope for

Don’t let these things make you uncertain

“Now and Not Yet”

God’s will to draw us closer to Him is greater than the “Now” miracle

Our personal will

Even Jesus when faced with personal suffering said

“Not my will but thy will be done”

The Battle

Sometimes the “Not Yet” is to build strength in our mind

And heart so the enemy cannot easily shake us

Now and Not Yet

“If” a word of uncertainty.

Can we be certain of God’s will?

God is sovereign and His

ways are above our ways.

Even Jesus reveals the struggle

between God’s will and His own.

When Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane…

“If you are willing, take this cup from Me;

yet not my will but yours be done.”

He was wrestling with what He knew in His heart

was God’s will, but also knowing that obeying

that will would result in tremendous personal pain.

All of us who love God want God’s will

but have struggled when it costs us personally.

 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

 neither are your ways my ways"

declares the LORD.

 Isaiah 55:8

For the believer, we believe God’s

thoughts, His will, is greater than ours.

From the human point of view

we think differently than God.

There is good reason we are uncertain because our

human will does not always line up with God’s will.

So what do we know about God’s will?

If we were to know what is on the top of

God’s list for us what would it be?

 He…

 “… is longsuffering to us-ward,

 not willing that any should perish,

but that all should come to repentance.”

2 Peter 3:9

God’s will is that no one perish,

that everyone of us draw closer to Him.

There is nothing more important

than drawing near to God.

It is in His presence we gain understanding of who He is…

His love, grace and mercy.

He is our provision, healer, and comforter.

In simple terms, we see God’s will in Matthew 6…

“Your kingdom come,

Your will be done

In earth as it is in heaven”

I have based my prayer life on this verse.

There is no sickness, poverty, or need in heaven.

Why? Because the Lord is there ruling on the throne.

God’s will is to supply all our needs

according to His riches in heaven.

So why would I say “if it be thy will”?

What would make me uncertain?

And would my uncertainty reveal a lack of faith?

The Bible is full of “now and not yet” answers to prayers.

The Great Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11 tells us

some did not receive the promise in this life.

Sandy and I have gone thought cancer,

a brain tumor, and near death experiences.

The one thing we both would agree on is the Lord drew

us closer to Him and each other during these times.

The special time of “not yet” was so much

more wonderful than the “now” healing.

We still pray for the “now” miracle knowing

it is God’s will for us to have what is in heaven.

But we also know that the greatest thing in

heaven is the presence of the Lord and

God’s will is to bring us closer to Him now.

I also know that my ways are not always God’s ways.

So in all my prayers I pray…

Father, if the things I ask for do not line up

with your plans, your will, please

change my heart and will to be like yours.

So I do not pray “if it be thy will”.

I seek to know God’s will and ask Him to

change my will when it becomes different than His…

 

 So that I can continue to pray with confidence

that He hears, and because He hears

I will receive the petition I ask for.

Scripture Reading

1 John 5:13-15 NIV

13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 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.