The Lord's Prayer - Thy Will Be Done

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Matthew 6: 10

I'm not going to touch that "Thy kingdom come" part, because I don't understand it. I've heard that the "Kingdom of God" and the "Kingdom of Heaven" are two different things and that one of them means God's church, which is on the earth right now, and the other one is probably in heaven right now and/or on earth during the Millennium. But since I have no idea what I'm talking about, I should probably just stop talking.

Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

At my first thought, this seems to be a strange thing to pray for. As a request, we're asking God to "do whatever You want," and I kind of figure that He was going to do that anyway, whether we ask Him to (or not to) or not.

For those reasons, I don't think it's a request. I think it's an acknowledgement. God has all knowledge and wisdom, and we don't. What God wants and what we want are sometimes different things. "Thy will be done" could then be an acknowledgement that God's ideas, plans, and desires are better than ours. And rather than asking Him to do whatever He wants, we're telling Him that we're okay with Him doing things His way (and perhaps subtly, subconsciously asking Him to help us be okay with it).

I think there's another aspect to this element of the prayer as well. Perhaps we're not just asking God to do His will or telling Him that we're okay with Him doing His will, but also telling Him that we're willing to do His will. Oftentimes, God's plan requires some work at the hands of His servants (us). This part of the prayer tells God that we're willing to be His servants and to strive to do His will.

Taken this way, this part of the prayer can also be a request for divine favor (including guidance, courage, strength, and if needed, a miracle) to help us to accomplish His will, since we may not be able to do it without His help.

I takes faith to acknowledge that God's ways are better than ours, and it takes humility to be willing to say "Not my will but Thine be done," but we can be certain that if we say that with a sincere heart and act courageously on the impressions we get, that God will accomplish miracles in our lives, and miracles in other's lives through us.