I just recently made an addition to my prayers because Let Your Will Be Done was Not in My Prayers.

Usually, when I prayed for someone or something, I wanted whatever I prayed for to happen, but I did not give God’s will much consideration. You could say I was selfish, but I did not know any better.

When we prayed for someone or something during our Wednesday night church services, most of the prayers did not include those words in their prayers either, but I am not trying to make an excuse for not doing it. I knew it was in the model prayer Jesus used to teach his disciples how to pray (Matthew 6:10).

Luke 22:42 NIV: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Jesus prayed this prayer just before he was crucified, he did not want to die, so he prayed to God to save him from death, but even in his anguish, he prayed yet not my will, but yours be done.

We have no idea what God’s will is for us in some situations, but we know that whatever we pray for, we want it to happen. Therefore, whatever we pray for, we want it to be God’s will; whether it is God’s or not, we intentionally or unintentionally leave those words out.

For instance, we pray for a loved one to recover from a sickness or an accident; at the time, we are praying that is what we want to happen. But God may know that if that person lives any longer, they will lose their opportunity for salvation, so God takes their life so they can go to heaven when Jesus returns.

A five-year-old ran into a busy street, got hit by a speeding car, and died. The child’s loved ones will probably ask why God did not prevent this from happening or why God took the child at such an early age; they may even get upset with God.

Here is a five-year-old child who probably has never sinned and lost their life, but the careless driver lives on. It is situations like this that make God’s will seem unfair.

My wife died from breast cancer about some years ago. I prayed for her to recover, but I knew my prayers did not count much anyway. But the pastor of the church where we were members, all of the deacons, some of the members, family members, and a host of friends prayed for her to recover, but she died anyway.

I did not have the words “let your will be done” in my prayers back then, but if I did, I probably would have taken those words out of my prayers because my wife died. I wondered if God heard our prayers or if praying works anyway, and maybe I should stop praying altogether.

No matter what happens in your life, do not stop praying. We cannot comprehend God’s knowledge and understanding of how He does things, so let God do God’s stuff, and we do human stuff. We should not even try to understand God’s ways or may distrust God.

No one dies, and God says, “How did that happen?” You can believe God already knows “what, when, where, and how.” We should live our best life and keep Jesus first; He will be there to comfort us no matter what we are going through, whether it be the loss of a loved one, the loss of a home, the loss of a job, or the loss of anything.

We should always keep our faith in God and keep “Let your will be done” in our prayers.