On Monday morning White spoke on Matthew 6:5-13 and broke down The Lord’s Prayer verse by verse. White brought new perspectives to each concept in the prayer. The first thing Jesus talk his disciples about prayer was to call God “Our Father.” This alone was a radical statement at the time considering that Jews didn’t even refer to God by name. But Jesus showed them that God cared about them as individuals, just as a loving father.
White used scripture to show that the coming of God’s Kingdom was not only a theme in the New Testament but very important to Jesus. Jesus desires us to live as citizens of God’s Kingdom.
Monday Night, James White took students to a passage at the end of the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus is praying in the Garden of Gethsemane before his arrest (Matthew 26:36-46). White showed that Jesus is praying the way he taught his disciples to pray. Most importantly Jesus ends his prayer with “My father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done,” (Matt. 26:42). This just as he taught the disciples to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
God’s will is perfect and it’s perfectly executed in heaven. Therefore if we are striving for the Kingdom of God to takeover the earth, we should be praying for God’s will to be done perfectly on earth. It’s okay for us to ask God to come up with another paln, just as Jesus asked in the garden, as long as we remember that we want His will done more than we want our will.
Sharee Turpin, a junior at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, NY, realized during the conference that her life is no longer about her, but about God’s will. This is probably one of the scariest but most liberating concepts for a Christian to grasp.
James White is the senior pastor of Christ our King Community Church in Cary, North Carolina, and a former Campus Crusade for Christ staff member.
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