Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be
thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done
in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day
our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive them that trespass against us.
and lead us not into temptation, but deliver
us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power,
and the glory forever and ever. And that is the
prayer that Jesus taught us to pray. The Lord's
Prayer is the most important of all. all of the
Christian documents carefully constructed by
Jesus with certain very clear ends in view. That's
why, of all of his teachings, it's by far the
best known and the most often quoted. And you
and I have been having some good heart -to -heart
talks in discussing this marvelous prayer. Because
of its importance, we have been taking a little
more time in discussing the real meaning of this
prayer than we usually take. And now we come
to that part of the prayer. Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.
Thy kingdom come. This petition is plainly a
reference to the doctrine which Jesus preached
at this time, which John the Baptist had preached
before, which he afterwards sent his apostles
out to preach. The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
The kingdom of your Father who is in heaven,
the kingdom of the Messiah, which is at hand.
Pray that it may come. It was the Jews' daily
prayer to God. Let him make his kingdom reign.
Let his redemption flourish. Let his Messiah
come and deliver his people. It was the daily,
constant prayer of the Jewish people. Let thy
kingdom come. Let the gospel be preached to all
and embraced by all. Let all be brought to subscribe
to the record that God has given in his word
concerning his son. To embrace him as their savior
and sovereign. Let the bonds of the gospel church
be enlarged. The kingdom of the world be made
Christ's kingdom. And all men become subjects
to it. and live as becomes their character. Thy
kingdom come. Now go a little deeper. Thy will
be done in earth as it is in heaven. I pray that
somehow in the next several minutes, the Holy
Spirit shall make this portion, that prayer,
very real to your heart, that he and he alone
will give you that wonderful revelation. And
I have to pause right here and remind you of
dear old Brother McCloud when I was only a 16
-year -old girl. And I shall never forget it.
So long as I shall live. That marvelous saint
of God in Portland, Oregon, who even as he spoke
to me, was probably well in his 80s. It was one
Sunday afternoon. I can tell you exactly where
I was standing. It was at the close of a religious
service. And he took my hands and held them very
tightly, securely in his hands. bony hands, not
much flesh on his hands. But those precious hands
of his had seen many a long year of faithful
service to his master. And as he gripped my young
hands in his, for I was not more than sixteen
years of age then, and he said, Girl, my life
is at an end. My years of service for the Master
are ending. You're young. You have your whole
lifetime to live before you. And then this was
the advice that he gave to me. Never get out
of the will of God. I had no idea what that dear
old saint of God meant. Never. I was young. The
whole world was mine. I thought that I was going
out and I could lick the whole world for God,
so full of zeal, but such little knowledge. But
today, believe me, lo, after these many, many
years of service, after the hardships, after
the... Tears after the heat of the day, after
the stones have bruised my feet. Lo, after years
of experience, having gone through the valley
of the deep waters, and yet those marvelous mountaintop
experiences, my lord. serving him in the brightest
of the sunshine, and yet following him in the
deepest of waters, but waters that never did
overflow. I know now what dear old Brother MacLeod
meant when he said, Girl, never get out of the
will of God. Thy will be done in earth as it
is in heaven. God has a perfect will for every
man and every woman, and you are no exception.
A perfect blueprint. God is perfect in all things.
He is not promiscuous in anything. And as surely
as God had a perfect will, when he spoke the
world into existence. As surely as God had a
perfect will that he wanted carried out on this
planet when he said to let there be light. And
there was like. As surely as God had a perfect
plan, a perfect will, when he said, let us make
man in our own image and after our likeness.
As surely as God had a perfect will for Abraham,
for Moses, for Elijah, for Paul. As surely as
God had a perfect plan for the saints, the Old
Testament saints. As surely as God had a perfect
blueprint in laying out redemption's plan, so
surely God has a perfect plan, a perfect will,
a perfect blueprint laid out for every person
who is a part of humanity. It is my firm conviction
that when that precious little baby makes his
first cry. God has a perfect blueprint in heaven
in his own plans for that one. I believe that.
You'll never argue me out of it. But we as individuals
are not living in that perfect will. according
to those perfect plans until we accept the Christ,
the Savior, the very Son of the living God, in
the forgiveness of our sins. That's the reason.
There are thousands, yea, millions, who have
lived and died. who have been a part of humanity,
who have never, not even for a day, lived any
part of their life according to the blueprint,
according to the plan that the great creator,
that God had for their lives. They've missed
it entirely. Remember, you were not made for
defeat. No person was ever made for defeat. It
was never in the plan of God that any man should
be defeated, any person who's a part of humanity.
You were not born for defeat. That's the reason
that God has made all the provisions for every
man's success, for every man to live a life of
victory. If you're listening to me this very
moment, and you are living a defeated life, I
can promise you upon the authority of God's word
that you are living out of the will of God, contrary
to God's blueprint for your life. If you are
not a Christian this hour, you are out of the
perfect will of God. Know that. It is his will,
his perfect will, that every man should know
his son as a savior, as a redeemer. Not willing
that any should perish. If you're living outside
of the will of God, if you are living outside
of this wonderful inheritance, this marvelous
relationship of adoption by the Father, it is
because you have made the choice. But God's first
choice for you is a life of victory. Know that.
A relationship, with him. And I repeat something.
Thy will be done in earth. Are you living according
to the will of God here on earth as he wills
that it should be lived according to his will
and blueprint in heaven? That's it. He forces
no man, he forces no person to live this life
in his perfect will. It's so simple. It's so
wonderful. There's something about the will of
man. When you can get to the place, Where you
have no will of your own. And sometimes I think
that's the hardest position to get to. I do not
know of anything that's harder than to get to
the place where you completely surrender your
will. to the will of the Father, to the will
of God. But it's inescapable if you're going
to live your life here on earth according to
the will of God in heaven. When you realize that
even Jesus himself, having come in the form of
flesh, a physical body, had a will separate and
apart from the will of God. And one of the very
last things that Jesus did, for remember something,
Jesus could have exercised his own will separate
and apart from the will of the Father. Even as
you can exercise your own will. Separate and
apart from that of a holy God. And thousands
are doing exactly that today. They are exercising
their wills. Separate and apart from the will
of God. And they're living contrary to the will
of God. Because they are using that will to live
their life. as they so desire delivered. This
is something to think about. But I want you to
know something. And that is that you are not
receiving God's best for you. You are not receiving
all that God has for you if you are exercising
your will contrary to the will of God. Jesus
had to surrender his will before salvation's
plan was carried out according to the plan of
God. when he looked up in the garth and said,
Nevertheless, not my will be done, but thy will
be done. And it's then, remember something, there
are many, many of God's precious children. who
are claiming a promise in the Word of God that
is not rightfully theirs to claim. And here it
is, and I hear it quoted constantly. Oh, you
will mark it in your Bible while you'll take
that little promise out of your promise box and
you have it there above the sink in your kitchen
or you keep it there by the light in your bedroom.
You're claiming it? All things work together
for good. But watch to whom was this promise
given. To those who are living their life according
to the will of God. things will not work together
for good if you are living a life outside of
the will of God. If you are living your life
as you desire to have it lived. Know that. Oh,
it's having to go deep in the word of God. It
is something right here in the heart of the prayer
that Jesus taught us to pray. It's something
that's vitally important. Oh, so important. Thy
will be done. Do you want the will of God more
than you want your own will? Do you want it so
much that you have surrendered your will to the
will of God? Until you've gotten to the place
that you have no will of your own? Then you can
claim that wonderful promise that all things
work together to them that love God, to them
who are called according to His purpose. are
you living according to his purpose you are if
you've surrendered your will to his will and
two wills have become as one oh i'm telling you
i know now what dear brother macleod meant you
may even be living in the perfect will of god
and the waters will still be deep But there'll
be peace of mind, a peace that passeth all understanding.
Oh, a glorious peace. You can smile through hardships.
You can smile even though you do not understand.
You can smile when you're standing at the open
grave. You can smile when the sun has ceased
to shine. You can smile when those stones are
bruising your feet. You can smile when disappointments
come. Because you know that you are in the center
of his will. You know that. Thou hast made us
for thyself, and our hearts are restless until
they repose in thee. We were made for God, made
in his image and after his likeness. And our
hearts are restless until they repose in thee.
Our lives are without meaning until we are led
by the Holy Spirit in the perfect will. of God.