The little boy was asked repeatedly to sit down. Finally his mother gave him some physical encouragement to obey her request.

Once he was seated he said, "I may be sitting down on the outside but I'm still standing on the inside."

The rebellious attitude of the little fellow illustrates what goes on in the hearts of all of us far too frequently.

We have the teaching from Scripture that we're to bring every thought into conformity to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).

We're not to entertain any evil or rebellious thoughts—but evil and rebellious thoughts will enter our minds.

In Luke 4:1-13 we read about our Lord's temptations by Satan.

There's no question that Jesus understood the three rebellious thoughts uttered by Satan. He knew exactly what sin Satan sought to lure Him into.

Jesus had those evil thoughts in His mind but that did not pollute His perfect moral character.

As soon as He understood the temptation He resisted it totally.

The petition in our verse today is for God's will to be perfectly done here on earth just as the angels in heaven are perfectly and perpetually obedient to His will.

Our Lord's boast—while among us—was recorded in John 8:29 (NIV) "The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.”

Our Lord gave perfect obedience to the will of the Father for His life.

In this life we shall never achieve perfection in thought, word or action as our Lord did (1 John 1:8).

We are, however, to keep trying to attain the perfection that eludes us (Philippians 3:7-14) until we see Jesus (1 John 3:2).

We must not become discouraged when we stumble into some sin.

Instead, take encouragement from the fact there's forgiveness in Jesus—and if we repent and seek to cast off the evil, the Lord will certainly give us both the determination and the power to resist the next time that particular sin comes calling for us (Philippians 2:12-13).

So we go on asking for God's will to be done here as in heaven.

That's the goal of life—to bring all creation into perfect obedience to the Lord.

One author, (C.S. Lewis I believe) has wisely said that there are just two classes of people, those who say to God, "Your will be done." and those to whom God shall say in the end, "Your will be done."

May we have submissive hearts today to invite the Lord to have His holy will done in our lives regardless of the cost to us.