21 Days of Prayer and Fasting - 2025 Day 4

Today's prayer focus is God's will. This can be a difficult one. We want what we want and we want it now...hehehe The night Jesus was arrested, He cried out to God asking that if it were possible that He not need go through with the torture and death He was going to endure the next day, that God would spare Him. He knew how bad it was going to be. But then He said a few phrase that stand out. ...not as I will, but as You will and ...Your will be done.

Other passages support the idea that God wants us to ask Him whatever we want from Him. It even often says that God will give us what we want. It's hard to imagine and understand why we don't always get what we want...hehehe But context, as always, is important. The spirit of those passages isn't that if we ask for money or fame, or even healing, that it will just magically happen as if God were a genie in a bottle. I've long seen prayer as a means of communication with God so that our hearts would align with His. Not the other way around.

God already has a heart that wants what is best for us. He wants us to want what is best for us as well. By praying for His will to be done in our prayers, we can begin to focus on attuning our hearts to what He wants for us. Then we begin to pray for things that are good and He will pour out the good in our lives. At least, that is how I have been seeing it lately. And the good doesn't always come in ways I expect. Even in the bad, good comes from it.

This truly is a difficult one. In my simple writing, I may make it sound easy. It most certainly is not. It's hard to see people suffer as I ask for healing. But as I pray for God's will to be done, He shows me that sometimes we must endure because the good comes after the struggle. I've seen this in my own life. And now I can see that there is good in the struggle. That's because God is always there going along with me in the struggle.

If Jesus can pray for God's will to be done and not His, I should have a heart posture of the same nature. God's will and ways are perfect. If I'm ever to be perfect as He is perfect, I must pray for His will and not my own. On this side of heaven, I'll never be perfect in that way. But focusing on His will is the path to get to heaven, where He makes all things perfect. May Your Kingdom come, and Your WILL be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Father God, thank You that I may come to You in prayer. I have a lot on my heart that I ask for in my prayers. I used to ask for things that weren't good for me. I sometimes want what I want and I want it now...LOL But You know what is best and what is actually good for me. So, as I ask for what I want, I also ask that it is Your will that is ultimately done. Align and attune my heart to pray for Your good and perfect will today, and everyday.

I also pray for the church that I'll be attending soon. Just like we as individuals often ask for things, the church also asks for some good and some bad things. The church isn't perfect because it is managed by imperfect people like me. So, I pray for Your will to be done in my future church. Change the hearts, minds, and souls of the people of the church to see and do Your perfect will for the church and community it lives in. Align and attune all our hearts to pray for Your good and perfect will today, and everyday.

Lord, please be with the pastor. I pray that his ear is listening to Your voice. I pray that his eyes are fixed on You. Please bless him and his family today. Just as for myself and the church, I ask that you align and attune his heart to pray for Your good and perfect will today, and everyday.

It is with gratitude and thanksgiving, and in Your Name I pray. AMEN!

This prayer was featured in my blog on January 08, 2025 and is part of 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting - 2025.