Following God, seeking his will.

As I was reading today’s passage, I thought about prayer.

In this passage, the commander of the army of the Lord appears to Joshua. Most likely, that was Jesus himself, hundreds of years before he came to this earth as a baby.

Anyway, when the commander appears, Joshua challenges him asking, “Are you for us, or for our enemies?”

The commander answered. Neither. “But as the commander of the Lord’s armies, I have come.”

What was he saying? Essentially he was saying, “You’re asking the wrong question. I’m the one in charge, not you. The question is not whether I am for you, but whether you are for me.”

Sometimes in prayer, we ask the Lord, “Are you really for me? Then do this for me. Do that for me.”

But that’s the wrong attitude toward prayer. In prayer, we are not trying to draw God to ourselves and make him do our will. We are drawing near to him, seeking his will.

Jesus said, “When you pray, say, ‘Your kingdom come, your will be done.'” (Matthew 6:10)

So when you pray, remember: We are not seeking to make God align to our will. Rather, we are aligning ourselves to his.”