Beyond Today Daily

Teach Us to Pray - Part 8

"Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

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[Gary Petty] Jesus taught us to pray this way, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:9-10). "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." That's a very powerful thing to pray for.

[Darris McNeely] I think what that says to me, Gary, is that Christ was teaching us as we pray to the Father, to have this concept as He said of the Kingdom just prior to that, Thy Kingdom come. But God's will must be an individual matter that we take very seriously—that we are wanting to do our Father's will in our lives as we understand, we represent the Kingdom of God at this point in time on this earth as ambassadors for that Kingdom.

[Gary Petty] You know, if you look at that, every day you should get up and get on your knees and sometime during that day, and especially at the beginning of the day, and say to God, "Father, today, not my will, not what I want in my life, but what You want in my life today—your will in my life today." And if you do that, God will carry out His will in your life and you'll live a different life.

[Darris McNeely] And what it comes down to is as we really seek to do God's will in our words, in our actions, we're understanding that we have a responsibility and that we actually can make an impact in this life, in this culture as representatives of God's way of life, the Kingdom of God on this earth. We did a program on Beyond Today regarding Daniel living in a modern Babylon and that whole concept. And really one of the points that I made about that in that program was that Daniel reacted in Babylon by living a godly way of life and reflecting God's will in front of everyone and he would not compromise on that. And that's really what it comes down to—living by God's will and making an impact in our daily life. And that's why God has called us. That's in a sense why we get up every morning.

[Gary Petty] And I think the greatest example is Jesus Christ, Himself. That night before He was going to be tortured and crucified, He's praying to the Father, is there a way that Ee don't have to do it this way? And then He says, not My will be done, but Your will be done. And Jesus submitted Himself entirely to the Father's will and because of that, we have a Savior. So that's our example—complete, total, whatever it takes Father, whatever I must go through, Your will be done. I will trust You because I love you.

[Darris McNeely] And that's a prayer to make every day.

[Gary Petty] Yes.

[Darris McNeely] For BT Daily, that's it. Join us next time.

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Gary Petty

Gary Petty is a 1978 graduate of Ambassador College with a BS in mass communications. He worked for six years in radio in Pennsylvania and Texas. He was ordained a minister in 1984 and has served congregations in Longview and Houston Texas; Rockford, Illinois; Janesville and Beloit, Wisconsin; and San Antonio, Austin and Waco, Texas. He presently pastors United Church of God congregations in Nashville, Murfreesboro and Jackson, Tennessee.

Gary says he's "excited to be a part of preaching the good news of God's Kingdom over the airwaves," and "trusts the material presented will make a helpful difference in people's lives, bringing them closer to a relationship with their heavenly Father."

Darris McNeely

Darris McNeely works at the United Church of God home office in Cincinnati, Ohio. He and his wife, Debbie, have served in the ministry for more than 43 years. They have two sons, who are both married, and four grandchildren. Darris is the Associate Media Producer for the Church. He also is a resident faculty member at the Ambassador Bible Center teaching Acts, Fundamentals of Belief and World News and Prophecy. He enjoys hunting, travel and reading and spending time with his grandchildren.