The Will of God

Secundum hanc formam subiungimus 'Fiat voluntas tua in caelis et in terra,' non quod aliquis obsistat quominus uoluntas Dei fiat, et ei successum uoluntatis suae oremus, sed in omnibus petimus fieri uoluntatem eius. Ex interpretatione enim figurata carnis et spiritus nos sumus caelum et terra. Quamquam et si simpliciter intelligendum est, idem tamen est sensus petitionis, ut in nobis fiat uoluntas Dei in terris, ut possit scilicet fieri et in caelis. Quid autem Deus vult quam incedere nos secundum suam disciplinam? Petimus ergo substantiam et facultatem uoluntatis suae subministret nobis, ut salvi simus et in caelis et in terris, quia summa est uoluntatis eius salus eorum quos adoptauit. Est et illa Dei uoluntas quam Dominus administrauit praedicando, operando, sustinendo. Si enim ipse pronuntiauit non suam, sed Patris facere se uoluntatem, sine dubio quae faciebat, ea erant uoluntas Patris, ad quae nunc nos uelut ad exemplaria prouocamur, ut praedicemus et operemur et sustineamus ad mortem usque. Quae ut implere possimus, opus est Dei uoluntate. Tertullianus, De Oratione

According to this formula, we subjoin, 'Your will be done on the earth as it is in the heavens'1 not that there is something preventing the will of God being done and that we are praying to Him for the success of His will, but we seek that His will be done in all. For by a figurative interpretation of flesh and spirit we are heaven and earth, which, even if it is understood simply, still the sense of the petition is the same, that in us God's will be done on earth, that is, to make it possible for it to be as it is in heaven. For what does God will but that we should walk according to His discipline? We seek, therefore, that He bestow upon us the substance and capability of His will, that we may be saved both in heavens and on earth, because the sum of His will is the salvation of those whom He has adopted. There is also that will of God which the Lord served in preaching, in doing, in enduring. If indeed He himself proclaimed that He did not His own but the will of the Father, without doubt the things which He did were the will of the Father, to which things as exemplars we are now called, that is, that we preach, that we do, that we endure even unto death. Things which, if we are to be capable of doing them, we need the will of God. Tertullian, On Prayer 1 Mt 6.10