6

“YOUR WILL BE DONE”

Session Topic

When we pray, our wills are to agree with God’s will, and we are to desire for His will to be accomplished throughout the world.

Community Builder (Choose One)

1. How have you tended to see the effects of your prayers: more from the standpoint of your own persuasiveness or from the standpoint of how God answered your petitions? Explain your answer.

2. Describe a recent example of how you strongly wanted your own way in a situation. Did your attitude create difficulties for you or others?

Group Discovery Questions

1. How did David (Ps. 40:8) and Jesus (John 4:34) show that they were familiar with the attitude of the third petition?

2. How would you describe poet Omar Khayyám’s view of God? Think of one or two adjectives that would be appropriate.

3. What does the story in Acts 12 tell us about the vulnerability of the early church’s prayer life? (See esp. vv. 1–17.)

4. In regard to life’s course of events, what tension has always existed between God and man? How have you resolved this tension in your own mind?

5. How and when did Jesus demonstrate a sense of righteous rebellion regarding God’s will?

6. When it comes to seeing a difference or having a change occur, how do most Christians view prayer? What attitude needs to replace this view?

7. What three aspects of God’s will are discussed toward the end of this chapter? Name one or two main distinctives of each aspect.

8. How can prayer be a means of progressive sanctification? Can you think of an example when it worked that way in your life or in the life of a loved one?

Prayer Focus

• Pray and ask God to conform your heart and mind to His will in everything. If you are struggling with His will in a certain situation, pray about that especially.

• Is there a violation against God’s will about which your action could make a positive difference? If so, pray for wisdom and courage to take the appropriate action.

• Spend some time next week thanking God for the many ways His will is being accomplished around the world.

Optional Activities

1. Do some additional study on God’s purposes in permitting evil. Read pages 105–124 of my book The Vanishing Conscience and write down the key points of that section.

2. Read Philip Keller’s A Layman Looks at the Lord’s Prayer. Be alert for topics of discussion that are additional to those covered in Alone with God.

Assignment

1. Memorize Romans 12:1–2.

2. Read chapter 7 of Alone with God.