If it is possible . . . nevertheless. On earth as it is in heaven involves submitting our on earth preferences to His in heaven will. Jesus dealt with sorrow in the midst of God’s will. Just like Jesus, it is possible for us to be right where God wants us, and still experience struggle, anguish and grief. It doesn’t mean God has abandoned us. But it is when we do what Jesus did. Jesus, dealing with the flesh, went a little farther, fell on His face and prayed to God. He gave God His own preference, and submitted and chose God’s heavenly will. Do you have a “nevertheless” in your life that says, “Not what I want, but what you want God?” Are you praying for the will of God to be done in your life, or are you just praying trying to convince God to do what you want done?
John 8:29, Matthew 26:37–46, Matthew 6:5–13, John 4:34
If our prayer time is only trying to convince God to give us what we want, we’re not praying the way Jesus told us to pray. He taught us to pray the will of heaven to be done on the earth, not the will of earth to be done in heaven. His will is transformative and can take something that is and make it something different. God can transform our situations from what it is in the natural to what it can be in the supernatural. Our prayer, our worship and our faith matter.
Matthew 6:5–13, Matthew 15:21–28, Matthew 4:3
Earth is the the transformative object in Matthew 6, and Heaven is the model for earth to become like. Jesus came to be a representative of heaven’s principles and values that we align with. We have a Father in heaven, and He and His Kingdom is our reality that rules over the earth. He is God. He is Holy. Jesus said for us to pray to our Father that His Kingdom (way, system) come & His Will be DONE. Christianity is a Kingdom, and we serve its King. He is King Jesus!
Colossians 1:13, Exodus 33:13, John 5:19, Matthew 6:8–13, Matthew 12:25–26
Like the children of Israel called to a place of promise, everyone of us, by His Word are called to something, and God places each one of us in a calling for a purpose. We cannot let our comfort keep us from what God has for us, but instead be separate from the world and walk in the plan of God for our lives. Everyone of us goes through a time where we don’t feel like we measure up, we’re not good enough, but God’s plan and purpose needs who you are, and where you’ve been placed.
Numbers 13
God is making oil. The Pressing is not your story. Becoming the Oil is your story through the crushing and pressing, just like an olive that first has to be crushed and then pressed. There are two millstones that can crush us. We can choose the millstone that crushes us and turns us into oil that God can come and consume, or we can choose the millstone tied around our neck to be drowned in the sea.
Olives have so much oil to give that they are pressed three times. Many people will be pressed for the first pressing, where we give Him our “Sunday Best.” Many people will be pressed to be useful and serve God. The third pressing is the everyday, who I really am oil. The oil in my home, how I treat my spouse and how I talk to my children oil. The Bridegroom is coming, you have to be pressed yourself. God is calling a people who will not just give them their best, or just serve Him with their works, but who will give ALL that the olive has to give.
John 16:33, 1 Peter 4:12–13, Romans 8:28, Isaiah 53:4–6