Morning Prayer

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.  Your Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread,  And forgive us...."  (Matthew 6:9-12).   Wait a minute, Lord.  You just said to pray, "Thy will be done."  Seriously, Lord?  If I pray, "Thy will be done,"  there is not much reason to continue to pray.  It seems to me this morning, Lord, that those four words about cover it all.  Maybe I have prayed all that is necessary and I can go back to the sheets from which I have come.  

The truth is my heart tells me there is more.  Before you started this prayer, You said to those who followed you and surely knew about prayer, "Pray then in this way."  (Matthew 6:8).  So, this prayer is not just one directed to the Father in heaven, but also a prayer offered as a teaching tool in our behalf.  After You prayed, "Thy will be done,"  You did not say, "Amen," but went on praying about specific things like daily needs, forgiveness, reconciliation, dealing with difficulties, and struggling with Satan.  Maybe "Thy will be done" appears to say it all, but then again, You obviously did not intend for those words to be a stopping point.  

In fact, I hear You teaching in this prayer that Your will cannot be done if we are not serious about the state of our own heart.  To pray these other things You mentioned points us forward into the unfolding life to which You are calling us.  It points us toward praying for these things to be accomplished in our own life as a way of bringing earth in alignment with heaven's intentions. So, help me Lord, to learn to depend on You, to put my ego aside for Your sake, and to live confident that no darkness or evil can overcome me.  This I know this morning to be Your will for this world around me and for this life You have given me to live within it.  Thank You, Jesus, for teaching us the way. Amen"