Devotions from Haase’s book, Living the Lord’s Prayer

As we pray the Lord’s prayer and say, “Thy will be done”, so we often wonder just what is God’s will for me?  Maybe we have a decision to make and we need discernment to know what direction to take. Jesus found his daily nourishment from knowing that the will of God was being accomplished in his life and ministry.  As we pray for His will to be done, we are also saying we are committed to doing His will and not our own. We need to move beyond the agenda of our own egos with its selfish concerns and desires to do what is good, acceptable and perfect as Paul says in Romans12:2.  1.  To make a faith-based decision we first become aware that we have reached a crossroad and desire to be objective and not give in to our own self-concern, self-image, self-preservation and self-gratification. 2 Secondly, we prayerfully deliberate, reflect and think through the decision. This requires honest self-reflection  and integrity and will harmonize with scripture and our passion and energy. 3 Thirdly, making a faith-based decision is following through with action.  Timing is important. We don’t want to be impatient and make the decision prematurely or wait too long and miss God’s timing.  We shouldn’t make decisions when we are experiencing high and low mood swings but when our feet are firmly planted on the ground. We may get a feeling of peace or a sense that this is the right thing. Sometimes this happens only after the decision is made. But in making faith –based decisions we trust that God, not chance, has the final word.