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
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.
