The reason there is so much suffering on earth is because people are being allowed to do what they want; they have a God-given free will. And, the reason they want to hurt, cheat, lie, mislead, bully, and gossip is because they don’t have God’s Kingdom attitudes and character inside them. Through all this suffering, God is giving you a complete picture of what life is like when people are free to do anything THEY want. Up to the point where you decided to accept Jesus as your Savior, Lord, and King, you had been running your life with freedom of WILL. You chose the way YOU are, the way YOU think, and the way YOU do the things you do; now you are praying and asking for the way GOD does them.

For most of your life, your WILL has been in charge of your life. Since you have become a Christian, you are gradually learning how to appreciate God’s will. God’s WILL is pure, fair, gracious, merciful, and sinless. When you allow your will to rule your life, you will USE people for meeting your financial, sexual, physical, and emotional needs. But, as you continue to pray The Lord’s Prayer, you will become more and more WILLING to ask your heavenly Father to make these Kingdom changes in your philosophies, thoughts, feeling, words, and deeds. You will stop USING people and start working together with them.

We won’t actually have world peace until Jesus is ruling this world. But, certain parts of this world are already experiencing peace. People all around the world have made Jesus their Savior, Lord, and King. They have already joined God’s family and Kingdom and are enjoying His peace. And, they are learning how to share this peace with those around them. The peace of the Kingdom of God is flowing into more and more people.

We all have wanted peace to come to us; but, a lot of the time we have refused to “do what it takes” to allow peace to flow out of us to others. As we pray these prayers and study the Bible, we start enjoying some of the aspects of God’s Kingdom. Then as we start praying for others and sharing the Bible with them, we start surrounding ourselves with other members of God’s Kingdom. That is bringing God’s WILL on earth as it is in heaven.

You may want to continue to exercise your free will while wanting others to limit their behavior so you can have peace around you. You may feel like your life would be wonderful if people would only do what you want; BUT, that isn’t the way to get peace. Making everyone cater to our will enslaves them. God has a much better way that brings peace to everyone.

Let’s look at Luke 6:38 again: Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Giving people peace shows them how to share peace back to you. Praying for them to have God’s will working in their life puts peace in their heart. Sharing is the answer to peace; in God’s plan, people will have peaceful relationships with many other people.

Mat 7:12 (NIV) So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. As you pray for yourself AND those around you, you will be inviting the power of God to come inside you so you can give OTHERS those things YOU want. Then, because you have prayed for those around you, you are releasing God’s power to help them give out those things you have given them. The Matthew 7:12 and Luke 6:38 principles will transform your relationships with people. Now let’s take a look at how these same principles will affect your circumstances.

Rom 8:28 (NIV) And we know that in ALL things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

You are not only inviting God into your relationships, you are inviting Him into your circumstances. Even those events that happen to you that look bad, God will MAKE them work out for your good. As you and the circumstances of your life improve, people are going to want what you have. You will be able to show them how to make Jesus their Savior, Lord, and King. The more people become Christians, the more God’s will, will be done on earth as it is being done in heaven.