The Best Prayer

“Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” —Acts 9:6

What is the greatest prayer you can pray?  While there is nothing wrong in praying for things for yourself (Phil. 4:6), I believe the greatest prayer we can offer is, “Thy will be done” (Mt. 6:10). This is how Jesus prayed in the garden on the eve of His crucifixion— “Not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42; Mt. 26:42).

When the saints at Caesarea pleaded with Paul not to go to Jerusalem, but Paul could not be persuaded, they simply prayed, “The will of the Lord be done” (Acts 21:14). That is a good prayer to pray at the end of an argument.

Our plans should always be made according to this prayer—“If the Lord will” (James 4:15). When Paul made plans to visit Corinth, he wrote, “I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will” (1 Cor. 4:19 cf. 16:7).

William Barclay once said, the world’s most popular prayer is, “Thy will be changed.” Instead, we should pray as David prayed to God, “Teach me to do thy will” (Ps. 143:10).