"Your will be done on earth as in heaven."
In this prayer we acknowledge that there is a will greater than our own. "Jesus teaches us to pray acknowledging that God's will is to be supreme over our human will." (Alicia Vargas) Luther tells us that we are praying that God's will "may also come about in and among us." On the personal level, discerning the will of God for our lives can be difficult. There are so many voices pulling us one way or another. How do we know if what we're hearing is from God, or some other source? That is, in part, why we pray this prayer- to trust God's guidance to help us sort things out. That is why we listen to trusted friends- to receive their counsel. That is why we trust our hearts- to do what we feel is right from within. We also have to acknowledge that we could be wrong, and may have to reset our path if we have taken a wrong turn. That is all part of discerning the will of God. But on a broader level, God's will for us and the world is abundantly clear. It is revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Look at his life, look at his teachings, look at his miracles. There you see God's will. It can be summed up in the two great commandments he gives, to love God and to love our neighbor. When we do so, we can be assured we are acting in accordance with God's will.
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