Big Idea: The Bible calls us to pray in accordance with God’s revealed and purposed will. Prayer is surrendering our will to God’s will and embracing all that God has for us unto eternal life.
Romans 8:26–27 (ESV) — 26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
How do we ask in prayer according to God’s will? We ask according to God’s…
__________________________ (Revealed) Will
1 John 5:14 (ESV) — 14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
God’s revealed will is that which God has revealed to us as _______________, _______________, and __________________ to Him in His Word.
When the Bible speaks of the will of God, it does not always mean the decretive (purposed) will of God. The decretive will of God cannot be broken, cannot be disobeyed. It will come to pass. On the other hand, there is a will that can be broken: “the preceptive will of God.” It can be disobeyed. Indeed, it is broken and disobeyed every day by each one of us.
The preceptive will of God is found in his law. The precepts, statutes, and commandments that he delivers to his people make up the preceptive will. They express and reveal to us what is right and proper for us to do. The preceptive will is God’s rule of righteousness for our lives. By this rule we are governed.
It is the will of God that we sin not. It is the will of God that we have no other gods before him; that we love our neighbor as we love ourselves; that we refrain from stealing, coveting, and committing adultery. Yet the world is filled with idolatry, hatred, thievery, covetousness, and adultery. Here the will of God is violated. His law is broken.
Psalm 16:7-11; 119:1-8
We must ask in accordance with God’s…
_______________________ (Decretive) Will
God’s purposed will are all those things that God purposes to come to pass according to his __________________ design for His own __________________ and the ultimate _______________ of his creatures.
Psalm 135:6 (ESV) — 6 Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.
Daniel 4:35 (ESV) — 35 all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”
Acts 2:22–23 (ESV) — 22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
When we ask God in prayer, we must ask in accordance with his revealed will and in anticipation of his purposed will. At the very heart of asking God in prayer is surrendering ourselves to both his revealed will and his purposed will.
Questions to Consider
What is the difference between God’s preceptive will and his purposed will?
How does the preceptive will inform our prayers? How does the purposed will inform our prayers?
In what ways is God calling you to grow in Christ? Are these circumstances hard? What do we know about God and how does this help us submit to Him?
What is God seeking to teach you through his purposed will for your life?
