Teachings,+praying+according+to+the+will+of+God

Praying according to the will of God
(This post was attributed to 'ChristianOrder' but I believe it was by Kai Stormwalker)

In order to pray according to the will of God you must have truly internalized the following verses.

�You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.� Matthew 22:37

�You shall love your neighbor as yourself.� Matthew 22:39

You need to do more than know these verses, you need to live them.

But how do we come to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind? By learning to trust in his transforming love daily. By abandoning ourselves to him and trusting that whatever happens is his will. By sharing all of our struggles and joys with him as we would with a trusted friend. Afterall, God already knows what we are going through and is just waiting for us to talk to him about it so he can work his will in our lives and be assured that we know he is there.

And how do we love our neighbors as ourselves? By recognizing that God loves all the people that he has created. He doesn�t recognize nation boundaries. He loves all of us regardless of whether we love him in return. He loves Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Athiests, etc. Not just people who claim to be Christians.

But as Christians we have a special responsibility. When we are mistreated or persecuted by others we are never to return this behavior. It doesn�t matter how others treat us, we are to demonstrate the love of God to them. Jesus speaks of this in the Sermon on the Mount

�Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great: for in the same way they persecuted the prophets.� - Matthew 5:11-13

One thing that we need to stop and look at here is the word �righteousness.� It is very easy for us to get caught up in our own self-righteousness, thinking that it is the righteousness of God. Your righteousness needs to be rooted in the love of God and in showing his love to others.

Jesus immediately goes on to tell us how we are to act toward others, demonstrating this love. Culminating with this verse.

�Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.� - Matthew 5:16

However, for this love to be genuine you must possess the characteristics of God. In order to do this you must have dedicated yourself to studying God�s word and therefore allowing God to transform your life

If we demonstrate to God that we truly desire this he will grant it. He will give us everything we need to recognize his truth and to demonstrate his love to others. He will begin to transform us from selfish, greedy creatures into bearers of love and light.

If you truly love God he will create a desire in you to serve others without conscious effort. It will only seem natural. And as you forget yourself and your own personal ambitions your love for God will grow and your love for others will grow.

Anyone can learn this simple truth which is at the very core of living the truly Christian life. How we could truly make an impct in the world if only the entire Church were able to grasp it.