Thy Will Be Done
Scripture: Luke 22:42Devotional Series: Sovereignty and Prayer
Teaching: Sovereignty and Prayer pt. 1 (WED 2024-11-20) by Pastor Star R Scott
If God is sovereign, if God is omniscient (He knows all things), if God is eternal… Part of His eternal aspect is what allows Him to live—and this probably isn’t the proper way to express this, but sometimes it’s hard to express God’s infinite being. But the fact that God, being eternal—He is ever present now. Ever present now. In every moment of eternity, He is present. There is no time, there is no space with Him. And because of that, isn’t it good to know He’s always near. Well, if He’s omnipresent, He’s always everywhere in toto at the same time. So, God doesn’t travel. He’s not at your house and then comes to my house; He’s at both of our houses at the same time. And He’s there in His totality. You don’t get a finger, and I get a toe. God’s there in His totality, and He can call you by name. As we saw, the hairs on your head are numbered.
Before we were formed in our mother’s womb He already knew us! He knew that we would be here tonight. He knew that we would be as we are at this time in our journey to glorification. Hallelujah! And He’s very patient, because He already knows the end. And what is the end? We are predestined to be conformed to His image (Romans 8:29). Someday, very soon, we’re going to see Jesus, and we’re going to be like Him, hallelujah! For we shall see Him as He is, the Scripture says (1 John 3:2). We read about Him. We, in prayer, experience—we sense His presence. His Word has revealed as well as it can to a finite mind, because a finite mind cannot comprehend the infinite. You’ll never comprehend God, but we know Him. Amen?
We’ll never comprehend the fullness of God, but we do know what He’s revealed to us through His Word. And in His sovereign position, He has a will, a desire, for each one of us. Prayer helps us discover the will of God. It doesn’t allow us to change God’s will for us. When we learn that, we’ll stop praying to give God guidance. “Lord, what I think You should do is this,” and, “Lord, I want You to do this in this person’s life,” and, “I want You to do this in this person’s life.” Jesus taught us how to pray: “Not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42). Amen? He knows the beginning to the end. God has a plan for us.
Well, how does man’s free will, then, enter into this? God, in His infinite being, God in His eternal essence, God in His infinitude, living in the beginning and the end simultaneously—that aspect that we know of Him, called His foreknowledge, because of these other aspects and attributes that reveal Him. He’s already seen the end. He sees the decisions that each one of us are going to make. He’s already allowed—how many times have you experienced it? God has already set up all of these different opportunities to bow our knee and accept His will for our lives. Amen? Oh, we kick some of them down. God will put roadblocks up in front of us, and we’ll bulldoze them.
The Calvinists have so much trouble with free will. They’re so set on the sovereignty of God and their limited understanding of that sovereignty that they’re afraid, somehow, that something will be done outside of God’s control, therefore rendering Him no longer sovereign. God is so sovereign that He can give man free will and not worry about it. Amen? Because He already knows the end. And everything that individuals choose—listen, man’s free will never makes a choice without God having predetermined to give Him experiences that would cause Him to make the right choice if He would. But if he, in his haughtiness, his pride, his self-will, stands and resists God, he’ll suffer the consequences. But God, being love, never leaves us without opportunity to repent, to humble ourselves, and to accept Him as Lord. Amen? That’s good stuff, man!
Before we were formed in our mother’s womb He already knew us! He knew that we would be here tonight. He knew that we would be as we are at this time in our journey to glorification. Hallelujah! And He’s very patient, because He already knows the end. And what is the end? We are predestined to be conformed to His image (Romans 8:29). Someday, very soon, we’re going to see Jesus, and we’re going to be like Him, hallelujah! For we shall see Him as He is, the Scripture says (1 John 3:2). We read about Him. We, in prayer, experience—we sense His presence. His Word has revealed as well as it can to a finite mind, because a finite mind cannot comprehend the infinite. You’ll never comprehend God, but we know Him. Amen?
We’ll never comprehend the fullness of God, but we do know what He’s revealed to us through His Word. And in His sovereign position, He has a will, a desire, for each one of us. Prayer helps us discover the will of God. It doesn’t allow us to change God’s will for us. When we learn that, we’ll stop praying to give God guidance. “Lord, what I think You should do is this,” and, “Lord, I want You to do this in this person’s life,” and, “I want You to do this in this person’s life.” Jesus taught us how to pray: “Not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42). Amen? He knows the beginning to the end. God has a plan for us.
Well, how does man’s free will, then, enter into this? God, in His infinite being, God in His eternal essence, God in His infinitude, living in the beginning and the end simultaneously—that aspect that we know of Him, called His foreknowledge, because of these other aspects and attributes that reveal Him. He’s already seen the end. He sees the decisions that each one of us are going to make. He’s already allowed—how many times have you experienced it? God has already set up all of these different opportunities to bow our knee and accept His will for our lives. Amen? Oh, we kick some of them down. God will put roadblocks up in front of us, and we’ll bulldoze them.
The Calvinists have so much trouble with free will. They’re so set on the sovereignty of God and their limited understanding of that sovereignty that they’re afraid, somehow, that something will be done outside of God’s control, therefore rendering Him no longer sovereign. God is so sovereign that He can give man free will and not worry about it. Amen? Because He already knows the end. And everything that individuals choose—listen, man’s free will never makes a choice without God having predetermined to give Him experiences that would cause Him to make the right choice if He would. But if he, in his haughtiness, his pride, his self-will, stands and resists God, he’ll suffer the consequences. But God, being love, never leaves us without opportunity to repent, to humble ourselves, and to accept Him as Lord. Amen? That’s good stuff, man!