Will

–verb (used with object), verb (used without object)
1. to wish; desire; like: Go where you will. Ask, if you will, who the owner is.


There were quite a lot of definitions for the word, ”will”, but none of them were used in accordance with the Lord’s Prayer except for the one above. God’s desire for us is always what is best for us. How do we know this? Because He tells us so in the way He leads us. He tells us so in the way He teaches us, in the way He loves us and in the way He forgives us. Many times throughout our salvation history God intervened with man by way of holy men. Starting with Adam, moving on to Noah, to Moses, to Abraham, to David, and finally sending His own beloved son as a man, God made specific covenants with us that would lead us to His will. Each time God communicated with us His divine will for us in our lives so that we could eventually get back to Him which is what we all want, whether or not we know it. Each time he made a covenant with us, we would blow it. We could not hold up our end of the bargain. So the Father decided to send his Son to make one final covenant with us. This one could not be blown. This one was for all time. All we have to do is say, “Amen”, and we are His. All we have to do is enter into his will for us. Where do we find out His will? It’s right there in every book of the bible.
Long ago, I wondered why God didn’t just send me a note to let me know exactly what He wanted me to do with my life. It turns out He did. Letter after letter is listed there in the New Testament, letters from Paul to the Romans, Colossians, Ephesians, Galatians, and Corinthians. Letters from Peter, James, Timothy, Titus, and John. And these are not all of them by any means. Through those letters, He sent me note after note. And He sends them to you too. All we need do is begin to read and to study. Then all we need to do is apply this wisdom to our lives, just exactly where we are. Most of the time we won’t have to pack up and move to a new life. No, God put us here in the first place. If we’ve made a mess of things it’s because we forgot to read the note, or the letter, or the plan of His will. Thy will be done!

Thy
thy
–pronoun
the possessive case of thou (used as an attributive adjective before a noun beginning with a consonant sound): thy table.
thou
,pronoun, singular, nominative thou; possessive thy or thine; objective thee; plural, nominative you or ye; possessive your or yours; objective you or ye; verb
–pronoun


Thy will be done……It is a very formal way of speaking. It reminds me a little of the Shakespearean poetry. The old English usage from hundreds of years ago seems to equate more respect somehow, so therefore it remains here in the prayer.
Have you heard the prayer spoken aloud with the word “your” in place of the “thy”?

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done…. Somehow it loses a bit of the respectful nature of the prayer. It seems all of a sudden that the Father is a buddy of ours. Not that that in itself is a bad thing. Familiarity breeds comfort. But sometimes comfort breeds self-ish-ness. It is just lacking a little when it comes to the respectful nature that the prayer has otherwise.

Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done.

It starts to sound a bit like a rap song to me too. It could be a song that others would relate to more readily. Perhaps it would.

As for me, I think I’ll keep the “thy”.

Come
Spelled Pronunciation [kuhm] verb, came, come, com⋅ing, noun
–verb (used without object)
1. to approach or move toward a particular person or place: Come here. Come closer!
2. to arrive by movement or in the course of progress: The train from Boston is coming.
3. to approach or arrive in time, in succession, etc.: Christmas comes once a year. I'll come to your question next.
4. to move into view; appear.
5. to extend; reach: The dress comes to her knees.
6. to take place; occur; happen: Success comes to those who strive.
7. to occur at a certain point, position, etc.: Tuesday comes after Monday. Her aria comes in the third act.
8. to be available, produced, offered, etc.: Toothpaste comes in a tube.
9. to occur to the mind: The idea just came to me.
10. to befall: They promised no harm would come to us.
11. to issue; emanate; be derived: Peaches come from trees. Good results do not come from careless work.
12. to arrive or appear as a result: This comes of carelessness.
13. to enter or be brought into a specified state or condition: to come into popular use.
14. to do or manage; fare: She's coming along well with her work.
15. to enter into being or existence; be born: The baby came at dawn.

How many times have we seen the word, “come”? It appears on every invitation. Come to our party! Help us to celebrate! Come to our open house. Come and join us in whatever endeavor. It appears, not only on an invitation but as an invitation, to welcome others, whether to a party or to a lesson or to a service. Come…It’s an open door just waiting for a response. How is the door to my heart? Is it open, open to the Father’s kingdom? Each and every time we recite the Our Father we invite the Father, come, and enter my heart, Lord God of all. Once the door is opened by us, the Father can work miracles through us, for us, by us. He uses each one of us in marvelous ways. Look around you and behold the people of the Lord. They are there in service to one another in a thousand different ways. Some come as doctors, some come as teachers, some as priests, many come as parents. Once we have opened the door to our hearts, our own wills are cast by the wayside. It is now the Father’s will in which we live. His will is the same, yesterday, today, and tomorrow, that we love one another as He has loved us.

Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Matt 26:34

Kingdom

Kingdom

king⋅dom
Spelled Pronunciation [king-duh m]
–noun
1. a state or government having a king or queen as its head.
2. anything conceived as constituting a realm or sphere of independent action or control: the kingdom of thought.
3. a realm or province of nature, esp. one of the three broad divisions of natural objects: the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms.
4. Biology. a taxonomic category of the highest rank, grouping together all forms of life having certain fundamental characteristics in common: in the five-kingdom classification scheme adopted by many biologists, separate kingdoms are assigned to animals (Animalia), plants (Plantae), fungi (Fungi), protozoa and eucaryotic algae (Protista), and bacteria and blue-green algae (Monera).
5. the spiritual sovereignty of God or Christ.
6. the domain over which the spiritual sovereignty of God or Christ extends, whether in heaven or on earth.

All of the definitions above speak of the meanings of the word, ”kingdom”. Only two, number’s 5 and 6 speak of the kingdom that belongs to God. That is, those are the only two that mention God’s name as the sovereign power.
The other definitions talk about kingdoms governed by man or of kingdoms being separations in science or separations in thought.
If we begin to separate the kingdoms of the earth into animal, vegetable, or mineral, we begin to see the complexity of the creation of the earth. We begin to see the incredible ordering of all the elements and how they work together to cause the changing of the seasons and the cycles of life that abound through them. If you look then, at the classifications of the scientific kingdoms and see the levels of life therein, you can see the mighty power of the creator of all those forms of life. Some of them are not even visible to the naked eye. Some are not visible unless a high powered lens is included the study. Some are too sublime to be understood by the unscientific lay person. Regardless of our understanding, though, they remain an important part of the world, part of the kingdom.
There are countless debates going on today about kingdoms. The obvious debates are the countries who remain at war. There are fights about kingdoms, whose is whose, and what is whose. There are debates about the kingdoms of when life is life and when it is deemed valuable. We, as a people, have a bit of that kingdom over which we lord power too. We get to vote in this country and give voice to the overall governing of our little piece of this kingdom of the earth. With that comes responsibility, especially from those of us who pray the “Our Father”. We pray thy kingdom come, not my kingdom come. He, the Father, has already given us a clear cut set of rules. When next we vote, dear Lord, help us to remember thy kingdom.
When again we look at the definitions, we can see that they are all about God’s Kingdom. Because God’s kingdom is everything and everywhere and everyone, seen and unseen. Thy kingdom come!

THY

Spelled Pronunciation [th ahy]
–pronoun
the possessive case of thou (used as an attributive adjective before a noun beginning with a consonant sound): thy table.
thou
Spelled Pronunciation [th ou] ,pronoun, singular, nominative thou; possessive thy or thine; objective thee; plural, nominative you or ye; possessive your or yours; objective you or ye; verb
–pronoun
Thy will be done……It is a very formal way of speaking. It reminds me a little of the Shakespearean poetry. The old English usage from hundreds of years ago seems to equate more respect somehow, so therefore it remains here in the prayer.
Have you heard the prayer spoken aloud with the word “your” in place of the “thy”?

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done….

Somehow it loses a bit of the respectful nature of the prayer. It seems all of a sudden that the Father is a buddy of ours. Not that that in itself is a bad thing. Familiarity breeds comfort. But sometimes comfort breeds self-ish-ness. It is just lacking a little when it comes to the respectful nature that the prayer has otherwise.

Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done.

It starts to sound a bit like a rap song to me too. It could be a song that others would relate to more readily. Perhaps it would.

As for me, I think I’ll keep the “thy”.

NAME

Name

Spelled Pronunciation [neym]
noun, verb, named,
–noun
1. a word or a combination of words by which a person, place, or thing, a body or class, or any object of thought is designated, called, or known.
2. mere designation, as distinguished from fact: He was a king in name only.
3. an appellation, title, or epithet, applied descriptively, in honor, abuse, etc.
4. a reputation of a particular kind given by common opinion: to protect one's good name.
5. a body of persons grouped under one name, as a family or clan.

Shakespeare says that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, and that is absolutely true. On the other hand, there is such a wide variety of roses. Each one has a unique scent unto itself. Some smell sugary sweet. Others have a spicy scent. Still others give off an air of innocence and mildness. And at the same time all of the roses are virtually the same. Their genus provides that they grow on canes, that they have thorns, that they produce exquisite flora. The rose has long been a symbol for love and friendship and sympathy and many other emotions.
The rose is comparable to the Name of God. He is Creator. He is Wonderful Councilor, Great Protector, Yahweh, and Adonai. He is the Great I Am. He is Jesus, Emmanuel, Savior, Christ, King of Kings, and Merciful Lord. He is Wisdom, and the Word. He is The Still Small Voice. There are countless other names by which we know our God. All of these names tend to our souls in a different manner. When we are lost, we speak to the Shepherd who guides our way. When we are lamenting our sinful natures, the Savior gives us hope. He is the same God, the one God, and the mighty God. But he has many faces for us, His people. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Similarly, our God by any other name, is as awesome.

Thy
thy
–pronoun
the possessive case of thou (used as an attributive adjective before a noun beginning with a consonant sound): thy table.
Three times during this prayer, Jesus uses the word thy. It is of course interchangeable with the word “your” in our current vernacular. He says, “Hallowed be thy name.” And “Thy kingdom come.” And “Thy will be done.”
There is nothing special about the word except in using it we give over our own wills to God. Did I say nothing special? That is an incredibly difficult thing to do for me and for many others. Give over our own power to another. How many of us can do this with ease? Could you give yourself over to your boss? How about your spouse? Let it all go into the hands of a friend? It’s really not so easy.
There’s a common saying in my house, “Don’t tell me what to do!” Have you heard that at your house? Maybe not in those exact words, but I am willing to wager that you have heard it. How many times then, do you think God has heard this same statement? He heard it from Jonah, and Jonah ended up in the belly of a whale. He heard it from Elijah and Elijah ended up tasting a burning coal. He heard it from all of the Israelite people in the desert, and they ended up with poisonous seraphs surrounding them.
No wonder Jesus urges us to say, “Thy will be done.” And what exactly does that mean? God’s will, if we are willing to accept it, is right there in our daily lives. It is exactly the place where we are, doing exactly as He guides us to do. Remember the Ten Commandments? They are still a guide that we should be following. Jesus enhanced these commandments with, “Love God with all your strength, your heart, your soul.” And, “Love one another as I have loved you.”
As long as you put these two things together, that is, your life and His commandments and His guidance, you are giving over the power to Him. It is when we take the power back into our own hands that we get ourselves into trouble. Now, trouble like Jonah’s doesn’t come along too often, but I think you know what I mean.
“Thy” only seemed like a tiny little insignificant word in these three places. On the other hand it is huge. Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done.