Is it God’s Will to Pray “If It Be Thy Will”?

Many Christians pray “if it be thy will,” thinking they are following the example of Jesus. But are they?

Proponents of the “if-it-be-thy-will” prayers, point out that Jesus prayed this way at a very important time in his life. So if he did, so should we.

Furthermore, they tell us, we will never come to a time in life more important than Gethsemane, so surely our prayer requests must not be offered in a manner that has less humility than what Jesus exhibited.

This argument falls apart for several reasons, one of these being: There was no confusion about God’s will in the garden that night. A lack of information wasn’t the issue for Jesus, as we say it is for us whenever we transport these words into our prayers.

Scripture plainly tells us that just before Jesus went into the garden he said, “For this cause came I unto the world.” For what cause? To die a Savior’s death; Jesus wasn’t confused! He knew then, what he had known from eternity past, that his mission was to die to save sinners.

The only reason for praying “if it be your will,” is to gain knowledge from God that will be necessary for a future faith transaction with God. Using Jesus words, “if it be thy will” as a tack-on for every prayer is simply without scriptural warrant. It is a faith killer.

In fact, Jesus never taught us to pray that way. He taught, “Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven,” which assumes enough knowledge of Heaven in order to pray this way.

F.F. Bosworth makes the statement: “… faith begins where the will of God is known.” Without this knowledge, we can hope, we can trust, but we can’t function in faith.

Faith is the victory, I John 5:4 says, and without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Yet, we will vaporize our prayers if we float them in uncertainties or generalities.

Colossians 2:6 says that in the same way you received Jesus, so walk in Him. So how did you receive him? At the time, you thought about getting saved, were you saying, “You just never know … God moves in mysterious ways … whatever the Lord wills …. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

No! You weren’t vague. You weren’t uncertain. You were specific.

You specifically asked for forgiveness. You specifically asked for Jesus to come into your heart. You specifically asked for his assurance about Heaven.

That’s the simplicity of the gospel. In the same way you got saved, live your life.

Instead of this whatever-God-wills approach, just know what the Lord wills is faith! And faith cannot begin until sufficient knowledge is given!

Knowing quite well that faith requires knowledge, even specific knowledge if faith is to progress beyond trust, God has been faithful to reveal this needed knowledge. Scripture declares, “Be not unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:17).

Colossians 1:9 speaks of “being filled with the knowledge of his will.” And the Greek for knowledge here, epignosis, isn’t just talking about spiritual knowledge universally applicable, but may well indicate specific knowledge needed for a decision next Wednesday.

In James 1:5 we are told that if we lack wisdom, God will give it to us. It is in this context where the words, “if it be thy will,” are exactly the right words to pray. The only reason for saying these words is to gain knowledge from God that will be necessary for a future faith transaction with God.

James tells us not to assume too much as we project a far-off future with details that came from our own minds and never came from the Lord. Saying or praying “I’m going to do this, and this, and this” is presumptuous.

To guard against presumption, it is necessary to submit all proposed plans to the Lord before launching in supposed faith.

To caution against presumption is one thing, but we mustn’t interpret this caution to mean what it clearly does not mean: namely, that we can never know God’s will.

What James discourages is claiming to know too much; he does not discourage claiming to know anything. Therefore, allowing God to blue pencil our plans before extending these plans to him in a faith transaction is a wise thing to do.

However, the “if” part of these words has to be resolved or no faith can commence. Addressing this point, Charles Finney wrote:

To put an “if” in God’s promise when God has put none there, is tantamount to charging God with being insincere. It is like saying, “O God, if Thou art in earnest in making these promises, grant us the blessing we pray for.”

R.A. Torrey also cautioned against hedging our prayer requests with “if-it-be-thy-will” postscripts.

If you plead any plain promise in God’s Word, you need not put any “ifs” in your petition. You may know that you are asking something that is according to God’s will, and it is your privilege to know that God has heard you, and it is your privilege to know that you have the thing you have asked; it is your privilege to get up from prayer with the same absolute certainty that that thing is yours that you will afterward have.

Jessie Penn-Lewis fully supported the perspectives of Finney and Torrey. In her book, Face to Face, she writes:

Ignorance of God and his heart and his written Word lie at the bottom of much aimless prayer. How can we say, “if it be thy will,” when he has plainly revealed his will as to much that we ask for? We need but to point him to his Word, and say reverently, and with the boldness of faith, “Do as Thou hast said.”

A.B. Simpson warned, “There is much subtle unbelief often in the prayer, ’Thy will be done.’” An over-usage of the prayer addendum, “if it be thy will,” clearly conflicts with other examples of prayer more frequently taught by the Lord.

Instead of cautioning us not to get too specific with our prayer requests, as many pastors do, Jesus did the precise opposite! In Matthew 21:22, Jesus said, “And whatsoever you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.”

Andrew Murray noted, “The tendency of human reason is to interpose here, and with certain qualifying clauses, ’if expedient,’ 'if according to God’s will,’ to break the force of a statement which seems dangerous. O let us beware of dealing thus with the Master’s words.”

In Mark 11:24, Jesus said, “What things soever you desire, believe that you receive them and you shall have them.”

In John 14:13, Jesus said, “And whatsoever things you shall ask in my name, that will I do ….”

In John 15:7, Jesus said, “If you abide in me, and my Word abides in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you.”

J.A.  MacMillan writes:

Note carefully the significance of the statement, “Ye shall ask what ye will.” How many believers content themselves with a submissive uttering of the words, ’Thy will be done,” in all matters which they bring before the Lord. Their spirits assume a passive attitude which assumes that anything that comes to them comes as the will of the Father. This is not scriptural, and it is very far from the desire of God for his children.

Some of what comes our way didn’t come from God. We have to test the spirits to examine what is and what is not from God and then on that basis determine what we ask God.

The sovereignty of God does not mean, Que Sera, Sera—whatever will be, will be. And it does not mean that God decides everything or that all the details of history, even your history, are like a movie film already in the can.  Sovereignty interpreted this way would sabotage God partnering with us.

In John 16:23, we see this same promise given again: “Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, he shall give it to you.” Again, we are responsible for the way we ask. God doesn’t unilaterally distribute his blessings.

It is true that prerequisite conditions are attached to these kind of prayers—the necessity of believing, speaking in faith, abiding in the Lord, etc.—but notably absent is hedging every prayer with the words, “if it be your will.”

Doing that is not God’s will.