Praying “…on earth AS IT IS in heaven.” God’s will be done – this way!

Surely, we’d all agree God’s will is always done in heaven. There’s no resistance to him, no disobedience and no disregard for what the Almighty wants. It simply happens.

So it’s no wonder that Yeshua teaches us, when we pray, after we acknowledge the Almighty as our Father in heaven, to say:

“Your will be done, on earth just as it is in heaven.”

Have you pondered that last phrase – “on earth as it is in heaven”. God’s son teaches us that God wants to hear from us, and to hear that we hope his will is as perfectly done here on earth as it is in heaven. The strong implication is that God’s will on earth is NOT always done, and certainly not like it is in heaven, unless God intervenes, and unless we ask for it. Otherwise why do we need to pray for it? And what does all that mean in practical terms?

For example, in the USA election this year, some of God’s children didn’t vote because they’re told by their pastors that it’s like voting against God’s will. They assume that God only puts people into office (Romans 13:1-2) who are always exactly the ones he wants. If only that could always absolutely be the case! In terms of the election, if that were always the case, why bother praying at all then for the election? Of course we could have been praying “may your will be done as to the US President will be; your will be done – not our will, but yours be done, here as it is in heaven.”

Why do I say it that way?

Because people who believe we have nothing to do in terms of politics don’t quote the other scriptures that clearly show God often gives mankind what we WANT – even when it’s not good for us. Even when it’s against God’s own will! Keep reading! You read that right!

An example of this is when the nation of Israel got tired of having judges and wanted a king like the nations around them. God let them have that king- - King Saul – but made it very clear through Samuel in 1 Samuel 8 (please read it) that he was disappointed. God said, “They have rejected ME, that I should rule over them” (1 Samuel 8:7). But then God goes on to tell Samuel to warn the nation of what a king will do, and that God will let them have THEIR will be done. God let them have a king.

And in Hosea 8:4a he says this: “THEY set up kings, but not by me; they made princes, but I did not acknowledge them.”

I have another blog where I show God’s will is NOT always done here on earth. Surprised? For example, Christ said HIS will was to protect Jerusalem like a mother hen does her chicks, “but YOU were not willing” (Matthew 23:37-38). Guess what? God let them have their will, instead of his – and they were not protected when the Romans completely destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD.

Another time we read that God’s will for the Pharisees was that they be baptized by John the Baptizer. Luke 7:30—“But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the will of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.”

Wow! They rejected God’s will for them, and God allowed it.

So imagine that, we can reject God’s will – and God gives in to what we want so many times – to our own hurt, to teach us lessons – and to allow for free moral agency and free choice.

This is exactly WHY we have to pray “Thy will be done” and then make super clear and bold what we mean by adding “Your will be done here on earth, just like your will is done all the time in heaven.”

Another variation of this is found in Mark 6:1-6 where Yeshua himself COULD NOT do mighty works in Nazareth, except for a few, because of their unbelief. They weren’t willing to believe their own home-town boy could heal anyone, so their lack of faith prevented God’s will from being done. And they could say, “See, I told you so. He can’t heal.” What a shame.

So the point of this write-up is that God DOESN’T always do what HE really wants to do, as I’ve shown. Surprised? Well that’s WHY we have to pray “YOUR WILL BE DONE” – because his will ISN’T always done. How else could we also have free choice, free moral agency? Do you see?

But then we are to positively and bravely add, “Do it down here on earth the way you do it in heaven; your will be perfectly done” – and then we add the specific circumstances we mean by that.

So in heaven, is anyone sick? Is anyone in pain? Is anyone dirt poor and hungry in heaven? Is anyone killing anyone or robbing from anyone in heaven? Is anyone suffering? NO, 100% no.

So when I pray “as it is in heaven” – I apply that to prayers for healing and prayers for blessings. I ask God to take care of people we care for here on earth the way you’d take care of them up there in heaven – healed, blessed, pain-free, etc. I add, “If you feel these people need to learn lessons from the fear, pain, agony, disease, etc. they have, then your will be done, but Father – please – be merciful and help them learn those lessons quickly and then heal and bless.”

But I think more often than we want to admit, we don’t have the faith to declare healing, to declare blessing, so we say ‘your will be done” – as our cop-out (if we’re not careful) to avoid the brave, positive statements and definitive declarations of faith to cast out the illness, to command sickness to leave this body in Jesus’ name, or to command the hurricane in Yeshua’s name to immediately move away from the populated areas. Reminder: they don’t have hurricanes and tornadoes in heaven! “As it is in heaven”.

Oh believe me, I have to struggle with this too from time to time. But I hope this article helps you be bolder in your prayers. Some people didn’t ask for enough, remember, and God chastised them for that. Read the story about Joash striking the ground just 3 times and what happened (2 Kings 13:14-20). Please read it.

Let’s become bolder in our prayers and in our faith and declare we want God’s will to be done down here – just like it is up there in heaven.