The Bible Echo, vol. 13
March 21, 1898
“How Shall We Do His Will?” The Bible Echo 13, 12, pp. 91, 92.
WE pray often, some of us every day, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” But how many have ever taken the time to find out just how His will is done in heaven? Yet where can there be any real point in our prayer, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven,” so long as we do not know how His will is done in heaven? BEST March 21, 1898, page 91.1
Such a prayer is certain to be vague and indefinite, a mere generalization, unless we know how His will is done in heaven. But when we do know that, our prayer can be definite, positive, and full of faith, and thus with the sure result that, so far as we are concerned, his will will be done on earth precisely as it is in heaven. BEST March 21, 1898, page 91.2
What a wonderful thought that is,—that the will of God will be done in us on earth just as it is done in heaven! Yet it is certainly true, or else that prayer is all in vain, and the giving of it to us by him is but a vain and tantalising thing. BEST March 21, 1898, page 91.3
But the Lord does not present to men vain things. It is intended, and it can be so, that that word shall be accomplished as certainly as it is prayed. Though, again, we say, How can this be unless we know how His will is done in heaven, so that this prayer by us can be definite, positive, and full of faith? BEST March 21, 1898, page 91.4
Who are in heaven to do the will of God there?—The angels, to be sure. Then when we know how the will of God is done by them in heaven, and what they do that the will of God may be done in them in heaven, we can know how to pray this prayer so that it shall mean to us just what it says,—we shall know just how the will of God shall be done on earth as it is in heaven. BEST March 21, 1898, page 91.5
What, then, of the angels? BEST March 21, 1898, page 91.6
First: In heaven the angels “do always behold the face of My Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 18:10. BEST March 21, 1898, page 91.7
Second: His angels harken to the voice of His word. Psalm 103:20. And they “do His commandments” through “harkening unto the voice of His word.” BEST March 21, 1898, page 91.8
Third: The will of God, as in His word,—“as it is in heaven,”—is conveyed to the knowledge of the angels by the Spirit of God—“Whithersoever the Spirit was to go, they went.” Ezekiel 1:20. BEST March 21, 1898, page 91.9
Fourth: When the Spirit of God thus conveys to their knowledge the will of God, as it is in His word, to which the angels are “harkening,” instantly their spirit responds, and thus His will becomes at once their will, too,—“Whithersoever the Spirit was to go, ... thither was their spirit to go.” Verse 20. BEST March 21, 1898, page 91.10
Fifth: When, by the instant submission of their spirit to his Spirit, His will has become their will, the thing is done; His word is fulfilled, His will is accomplished, quick as the lightning’s flash—“Withersoever the Spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go.” “And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.” Verses 20, 14. BEST March 21, 1898, page 91.11
That is the way that the will of God is done in heaven. And that is the way that it is to be done in the earth. That is what is in the prayer, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” And that is the way that His will will be done on earth, in every one who, knowing how His will is done in heaven, puts him self in the same attitude with those in heaven, and makes the prayer in an intelligent faith. BEST March 21, 1898, page 91.12
And this attitude of the angels in heaven is precisely the attitude which it is intended that we shall hold on earth. Read, then, of ourselves:— BEST March 21, 1898, page 91.13
First: We are always to behold the face of God, “in the face of Jesus Christ.” “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image.” 2 Corinthians 4:6; 3:18. “Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God.” Psalm 123:1, 2. BEST March 21, 1898, page 91.14
Second: We are to harken to the voice of His word—“Mine ears hast thou opened.” Psalm 40:6. “The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.” “He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.” Isaiah 50:5, 4. BEST March 21, 1898, page 91.15
Third: The will of God as in His word, is to be conveyed to our understanding by the Spirit of God. We are to be ever dependent upon the Spirit of God for this. “Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.” 2 Timothy 2:7. “The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, ... whatsoever I have said unto you.” John 14:26. “He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak.” John 16:13. BEST March 21, 1898, page 91.16
Fourth: When the Spirit of God does convey to our understanding the will of God as it is in His word, instantly our spirit is to respond, and yield submission to His Spirit, that His will may be our will. “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” Romans 8:14, 16. And “the minding of the flesh is death; but the minding of the Spirit is life and peace.” Romans 8:6, margin. BEST March 21, 1898, page 91.17
Fifth: When we thus harken to His word and receive, by His Spirit, the understanding of His will as it is in his word,—“as it is in heaven,”—and our spirit responds to his Spirit so that His will becomes our will, then the thing is done; His word is fulfilled, His will is accomplished, in us on earth as it is in those in heaven: and it is done just as quickly—“as the appearance of a flash of lightning”—in our innermost, secret life, and shines through all time, openly, before those who are without. For “My word... shall accomplish that which I please.” Isaiah 55:11. And the word of God always acts instantaneously—“He spake, and it was.” Psalm 33:9. The leper said, Lord, “If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.” The Lord replied, “I will; be thou clean. And as soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed.” Mark 1:40-42. BEST March 21, 1898, page 91.18
Do you now see more clearly, do you understand better, how the will of God is done in heaven, and how it is to be done on earth? Can you now pray more intelligently, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven?” And will you now pray directly, positively, and in full faith, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven”? BEST March 21, 1898, page 92.1
A. T. JONES.