As You Will

[dave c]

HEALING SHELTER MINISTRIES #132w, Re-Written 24OCT09

The Disciples’ Prayer—Part Twenty Three: As You Will

by rev dave c

Mt 6:9 "This, then, is how you should pray: "`Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one' (NIV).

In First Thessalonians 5:16-18 the Apostle Paul spells out God the Father’s will for, and in, our lives as a kind of “standing order”: Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit earnestly speaks to our hearts that this is not just a platitude, or a fine sounding Christian statement, to be uttered sanctimoniously and followed by an obligatory, “Amen!.” “Be joyful...pray...give thanks—always...continually...and in all circumstances” is literally and specifically the Father’s will for each of His Children (which I pray includes you and me).

The Father’s will is also the subject of the First Chapter of Ephesians: 11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. 13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory (NKJV). While these verses are key in comparative studies regarding predestination and freewill, they also give us a clue as to the nature of God’s will, not just its substance, regarding humanity individually and collectively. In verse 11 there are three words we need to examine: “...The purpose...the counsel...His will…” as prothesis, boule’, and thelema respectively.

On page 1984 of The Nelson Study Bible (New King James Version, Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1997) we read: “(Gk. prothesis) (1:9, 11; 3:11; Rom. 8:28) Strong’s #4286; (Gk. Boule’) (1:11; 1Cor. 4:5; Heb. 6:17) Strong’s #1012; (Gk. thelema) (1:1, 9, 11; 2:3; 5:17; Rom. 1:10; 1Cor. 1:1) Strongs #2307: Three key words, all related conceptually, appear in this verse. One of these words (thelema) has been used by Paul twice before in this chapter (1:1, 9). The word conveys the idea of desire, even a heart’s desire, for the word primarily expresses emotion instead of volition. Thus God’s will is not so much God’s intention, as it is His heart’s desire, for the word primarily expresses emotion instead of volition. Thus God’s will is not so much God’s intention, as it is His heart’s desire. The word prothesis denotes an intention or a plan; it literally means “a laying out beforehand” like a blueprint. This plan was created in God’s counsel, a translation of the Greek word boule, which means the result of deliberate determination. But behind the plan and the counsel was not just a mastermind but a heart of love.” It is this love that is key to the will of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Jesus tells His disciples in John 15:9-14, "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command (NIV). Christ gave us this same exhortation earlier in John 13:34&35, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (NIV). The word command is translated from the Greek word, entole’ (#1785), and means, injunction, i.e. an authoritative prescription, and it emphasizes the authority of the source of the commandment over the commandment itself.

When Christ’s new command is combined with His Matthew 22:36-40 summation of all the commandments and laws, we are presented another triad of how we are to live within the will of God: Love the Lord your God with your whole person...love your neighbor (those who are not like you; ref. Lu 10:29-37) as yourself...love one another (your physical, rational, and/or spiritual family) as I have loved you. As in Ephesians 1:11, the term “will” in the disciples’ prayer (Mt 6:10b: “...Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”) is also translated from “thelema” and refers to God the Father’s heart’s desire for humanity. That heart’s desire is for each of us to “be joyful always, pray continually, and to be thankful in all circumstances in Christ Jesus”...whose will for us, in turn, is obedience to the tri-fold command to love the Father, to love our neighbors, and to love each other through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit brings us to the Son. Jesus Christ points us toward the Father. God the Father calls us to life abundant and eternal through His Son. The Son sends us the Holy Spirit—and we’ve come full circle. Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever (1Jn 2:15-17; NIV). Amen.