Discussion»Questions»Religion and Spirituality» When you pray "God's will be done..." and nothing happens does that mean everything is fine and everything is the way it should be?
No. We live in a world with humans who also have a free will. Everything that happens in this world is not God's Will. We know God's Will is that ALL people accept His as Lord and Savior....not everyone has. So we know everything that happens is not God's Will.
Right perhaps but I think chaos theory could explain how everything is the way it is because that is the way it should be.
If you go back 10,000 years (or 100,000 years or the very beginning) and observe up to the present time that would explain why/how thngs have unfolded to what is- up to our present times.
1- "God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven" is part of the so called Lord's prayer that Jesus taught his followers. There are many interesting facts that can be gleaned from this which are not obvious unless we give it some thought. I'll give a few here and hope I can prioritise according to relevance to your question.
a] God's will means God's ways, rules or laws. There are no beings with free will in heaven. So in heaven it is obviously theocracy that prevails. On earth humans have free will and do replace God's will [rules or laws - theocracy] with their own will [rules or laws - democracy or autocracy]. Christians say this prayer very often, perhaps everyday, yet they probably don't realise that they are praying for theocracy to rule the world as it does the heavens.
b] Notice that Jesus is teaching his followers to pray to the Father, not to himself, the Holy Spirit, a Godhead or trinity.
c] Jesus doesn't even add the words "through your son, Jesus Christ" or any similar words to the prayer. The idea of praying to Jesus or through Jesus is not present in this teaching of Jesus.
2- Having established what that prayer is getting at, we can come back to your question. The fact that God's will [theocracy] is not being done throughout the world, the main point of your question, means that God has continued to give free reign to human free will.
John 16:23In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.24Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete
John 14:13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
1- You said, "Your post #3 implies that Jesus never taught that we are to Ask in Jesus name." - erm not really. You read it too hastily. Here it is again, with the relevant bit highlighted. "c] Jesus doesn't even add the words "through your son, Jesus Christ" or any similar words TO THE PRAYER. The idea of praying to Jesus or through Jesus is not present in THIS teaching of Jesus."
2- I had a look at the article in the link you provided. Note that when the writer says, "Those verses do not say a thing about Jesus' name." he's making the same point as I just explained in my point #1 above.
3- The writer correctly says that "They [Jesus and his followers] had been living under the Law of Moses" but then goes on to add that "that Law would terminate with Jesus' death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. Once all this happened, the day of the Law would end"
a] I do not know of any passage in the Gospels where Jesus clearly taught that.
b] On the contrary, as I have stated before, Jesus clearly warned, in Matthew 5:19, that, “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven"
c] we can clearly see from Acts 21:20, which covers the period after the supposed "death, burial, resurrection, and ascension" of Jesus, that the thousands of followers of Jesus did not just continue to observe the law but they were zealous about it. Here are the words of Peter himself talking to Paul, "Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe (in Jesus); and they are all zealous of the law"
4- The author appears not to understand the meaning of "Your will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." He proceeds in his discussion as if the verse had said it the other way round, namely, "Your will be done in heaven, as it is in earth."
This post was edited by CLURT at December 20, 2016 4:32 PM MST
I keep hearing from Christians that "we are now only under the law of love" but I have yet to find where the Christ taught that and no Christian, so far, has been able to tell me where he did. Perhaps you know. I can tell you where the Christ warned that, “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven" That's in Matthew 5:19
Very true we aren't allowed to continue in sin after we become aware of the sin.
Hebrews 10:26If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,27but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?
indeed, and more than that, my2cents, according to Jesus himself, in Matthew 5:19, “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven" That's a pretty stark warning for those who say the law is not binding anymore.
Since we are no longer under the Mosaic law, the law of love has taken it's place. http://www.phildrysdale.com/2013/10/37-scriptures-that-prove-christians-are-not-under-the-law/
You obviously know scriptures well. Where does Jesus say that "we are no longer under the Mosaic law"
I followed up your link and found Mark 12:31. However, here Jesus doesn't say "There is none other commandment" period, but rather "There is none other commandment greater than these." That means that all the other commandments still apply.
When you surrender like that something always happens. You need to get still within, be patient and see what happens. If it seems like nothing happened, maybe you need to change the way you think about God.
It is like this. Say you pray to God to send you the love of your life and nothing happens. Why? Oh yeah. Maybe He did and you cannot see her for what she is. Maybe you are not ready for the love of your life yet and need to make a lot of mistakes until you can appreciate that gift.
It is like that. You need to have the wisdom to see what the answer is. It may be right in front of you or it may be down the road.
This post was edited by WM BARR . =ABSOLUTE TRASH at December 18, 2016 7:33 PM MST
my2cents 