Msg #2629 Thy Will be Done
What The Bible Says
Good Samaritan’s Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice
Jesus brought his disciples to Gethsemane; then he went a little further and prayed. In that well-known context, he prayed three times, “Father, not my will, but thine be done.” Earlier he taught those disciples to pray, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”
When I was a young teen, some preacher taught in a youth conference that God has a perfect will for my life and a permissive will for my life. If I refused his perfect will, like a calling to preach, I could just hang out in his permissive will, being an electrician. I was young, he was old, but that whole concept never sat well with me, or Jonah. Being lax about what God’s will is, is not conducive to Romans 12:1. I dismissed the preacher and memorized the verse.
God has a revealed will in his Word for all Christians, and an ongoing individual calling for one’s life. Both are perfect, refusing either is rebellion. It is always better to pray “Not my will, but thine be done.” So too when circumstance, calamity, catastrophe, or cancer comes into our lives or homes, we are still to pray, “Not my will, but thine be done, on earth, as it is in heaven.” When we intercede for a loved one or a friend, or for their loved one or friend, when we pray, say, “Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.”
Jesus gave us prayer as a powerful tool to use in our fruit-bearing ministry, saying, “That whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name he may give it you” (Jhn.15:16). We may wrestle with God; Jacob did; Jesus did; but in the end, find the total surrender of saying, “Not my will, but thine be done.”
An Essay for week #29 Jul 19, 2026
Msg in audio at www.GSBaptistChurch.com/audio/gs260719.mp3
12 Systematic Theology Volumes www.GSBaptistChurch.com/theology
A Journaled Tour of Israel www.GSBaptistChurch.com/israel22
Read the Penny Pulpit in a blog www.gsbcpastorrice.wordpress.com
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