The Will of God

While I was praying the Our Father today, I was wondering if we really know what we are saying when we pray “thy will be done”? What is the will of God?

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

Our Father prayer

I recently did a Bible study with a group of people and one of the questions on the handout was, Why do we get up every morning? Followed by why did Jesus get up every morning?

Why do we get up every morning? What is our purpose in this life? Many people struggle with these questions. I have, too, at various times in my life. We all wake up and start our days ‘doing’ the things we think need to get done. How many of us wake up and immediately think about all the things we have to do today?

I didn’t get the first question, until I read the second question. Jesus’ whole life was to do the will of the Father. That’s a tall order. What does that mean exactly? How do we know what His will is?

Discernment

I think it means to wake up and pray. God should be the first thing on our minds. We offer Him whatever the day looks like. Allow Him into it. Ask Him to cover us with His love. Let us tart our day with prayer.

Here’s what I pray first thing in the morning: Oh my Jesus, (through the Immaculate Heart of Mary) I offer you my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of your Sacred Heart in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world for the salvation of souls, the reparation of sins, and the reunion of all Christians.

This may seem like a lot of words and Catholic mumbo-jumbo, but essentially, I’m offering everything that happens in my day to Jesus and placing it at the altar during the daily Masses said throughout the world. –That’s what I love about Catholicism– the same Mass is celebrated all over the world every day in every Catholic Church.

Action Steps

Doing the will of God, starts with knowing who God is and the one way we can know Him and love Him is to pray and to read Scripture. The Bible is full of ‘who’ God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit are.

One of my favorite quotes from St, Teresa of Calcutta:

God doesn’t call us to be successful. He calls us to be faithful.

St. Teresa of Calcutta

So many times we get up in thinking we have to be productive and successful. We check the boxes, make our lists and just have a doing mindset, when God is calling us to just “be”. Just wake up in the morning and ‘be’ with Him. And it’s in the being, in the silence, if we will listen, that He will lead us into His will.

I hope this helps someone today. Just putting it into words has helped me. May God richly bless you today. I appreciate you.