These verses of Scripture prove a principle that many Christians never get a hold of, and I believe it grieves the heart of God. I have heard some of the Lord's followers say things like, "I don't have to pray for God's will, because if something is His will, it will just happen." If that were true, the Holy Spirit would never have inspired the apostle John to say that "if we ASK anything according to [God's] will, He hears us . . ." and "we know that we have what we ASKED of Him."

The fact is that much of God's will for us is not automatic. Much of the time, He expects His followers to partner with Him for His will to come to pass on this earth. One reason this is true is that the Lord has given us a free will, and He is not in the habit of imposing His will on us. Instead, He constantly attempts to lead us along His pathway of righteousness and abundance. He says to us, "Follow Me," rather than dragging us by the heels to go His way.

Also, let us not forget that we have a formidable spiritual enemy, Satan, who has multitudes of demons at his service. And he is constantly working overtime to lead us away from God and His perfect plans for us. He will tempt us, accuse us, and deceive us as much as he can in order to get us to buy into his dark and destructive ways. The last thing he wants to do is to see us walking in the perfect will of God, where we can do some serious harm to his kingdom.

No, the will of God is not automatic. If it were, Jesus would never have instructed us to pray to the Father, "May Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10 NLT) You and I have a job to do while we are here. And that job includes us getting to know God and His Word so well that praying His will for ourselves and others becomes second nature. When we "approach God" with "confidence" and "ask anything according to His will," He will move heaven and earth to bring His will to pass!

Prayer: Lord, fill me with a desire to study Your Word, and to get to know You better all the time. Do a thorough work in me so that the desires of my heart will never be in conflict with the desires of Yours. Remind me often of the heavy resistance in the spiritual realm to Your plans and purposes in this earthly realm, and teach me to be relentless in prayer. Thank You that as I "ask anything according to [Your] will," You will move mountains for my good and for Your glory!