I was listening to John MacArthur and he was speaking about God's will. He said that God's will is not always done on earth, but that it is only done completely in Heaven....which is why we pray that "His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven."
The Plan of Prayer
I'm confused. Can someone explain this please? I always thought God's will was always done?
4 comments:
God has multiple wills. His ultimate will is always accomplished, but not His will of desire or His will of decree. That is, there are things he wills (desires) (like that all would be saved) that don't happen, and He has stated His will when He stated the Commandments (for instance), but those definitely occur.
Interesting. I will look into that one. I'm guessing he might be refering to say, for instance, God wills that someone is healed. That person could be healed on earth - or in Heaven. God wills for that person to be healed but they are not on earth but rather they die and are healed in Heaven. That may not be the sort of thing MacArthur is refering to either, but I think I will read/listen into it more to find out! Also...I agree with Stan. Good comment on his part!
I'm still a bit confused though. I always say in trying circumstances or sorrows that it must be "in His will".
Is that wrong?
Thanks for your thoughts Stan & prayingblogger. :D
You are actually asking about John MacArthur's statement. Understand that, while John MacArthur is a great teacher and has a lot of good things to say, he is fallible (and he will tell you so). So one option is that he's wrong.
However, consider the following:
1. Jesus told us to pray that the Father's will would be done on Earth as it is in heaven. If it is, why pray it?
2. Is it not abundantly clear that God "wills" things that don't occur? Doesn't He "will" that we love Him with heart, soul, etc.? Doesn't He "will" that all be saved? These things don't occur. So there are things on Earth that our outside of His "will" in some sense or another.
Here's what you can know. In the final analysis, "God works all things after the counsel of His will" (Eph. 1:11). That means that whatever happens is ultimately God's will. What I think MacArthur was trying to say is that there are other aspects, referred to as "God's will", that do not happen. God's ultimate will always happens, which gives us comfort in times of difficulties, but the only place that all of God's will will not always occur this side of heaven.
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