82
Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing
But in heaven, service is not rendered in the spirit of legality. When
Satan rebelled against the law of Jehovah, the thought that there was a
law came to the angels almost as an awakening to something unthought
of. In their ministry the angels are not as servants, but as sons. There
is perfect unity between them and their Creator. Obedience is to them
no drudgery. Love for God makes their service a joy. So in every soul
wherein Christ, the hope of glory, dwells, His words are re-echoed, “I
delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart.”
Psalm 40:8
.
[110]
The petition, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven,” is a
prayer that the reign of evil on this earth may be ended, that sin may
be forever destroyed, and the kingdom of righteousness be established.
Then in earth as in heaven will be fulfilled “all the good pleasure of
His goodness.”
2 Thessalonians 1:11
.
“Give us this day our daily bread.”—Matthew 6:11.
The first half of the prayer Jesus has taught us is in regard to the
name and kingdom and will of God—that His name may be honored,
His kingdom established, His will performed. When you have thus
made God’s service your first interest, you may ask with confidence
that your own needs may be supplied. If you have renounced self and
given yourself to Christ you are a member of the family of God, and
everything in the Father’s house is for you. All the treasures of God
are opened to you, both the world that now is and that which is to
come. The ministry of angels, the gift of His Spirit, the labors of His
servants—all are for you. The world, with everything in it, is yours so
far as it can do you good. Even the enmity of the wicked will prove
a blessing by disciplining you for heaven. If “ye are Christ’s,” “all
things are yours.”
1 Corinthians 3:23, 21
.
But you are as a child who is not yet placed in control of his
inheritance. God does not entrust to you your precious possession, lest
Satan by his wily arts should beguile you, as he did the first pair in
[111]
Eden. Christ holds it for you, safe beyond the spoiler’s reach. Like
the child, you shall receive day by day what is required for the day’s
need. Every day you are to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.”
Be not dismayed if you have not sufficient for tomorrow. You have
the assurance of His promise, “So shalt thou dwell in the land, and