His Will Not Yours

Matt.26:³⁹ He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

The Bible tells us again that in Matt.26:⁴² Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done.” ⁴⁴ So he went to pray a third time, saying the same things again.” After reading this, I remember thinking that if Jesus really wanted the will of God to be done then why was He praying instead of just doing it? But I realized that it was tough for Him. The point is this, you may be at a place where doing God’s will is difficult. It is okay, it does not mean you are a bad person, or that something is wrong with you. Jesus also got to the place where doing the will of the Father was difficult.

This same Jesus that was saying in John 6:³⁸ “For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will.” In Lu.9:²², Jesus said, “The Son of Man must suffer many terrible things,” he said. “He will be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He will be killed, but on the third day he will be raised from the dead.” The Mark account of this same passage states that Jesus said to God, “all things are possible with You…” In other words, Jesus was asking for a shortcut and this was Jesus. Do you feel like you need a short cut from heaven? You are in good company. Do you feel like what you are going through is hard and you are pleading with God to do something, to make it easier? You are in good company.

The same Jesus that said to His disciples in Jn.4:³⁴ “Then Jesus explained: “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work.” But when the time came, He struggled. If Jesus could struggle, Jesus understands your struggle and He really does. So, are you in a place where you can say your soul is crushed, or you are depressed, or you feel extremely troubled? Jesus Himself said in Matt.26:³⁸ “He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death...” It is time to go to Gethsemane. Some of us really need to go to Gethsemane and just pray. Prayer is not bending God’s will to get what we want. Prayer is actually aligning what we want with God’s will. Jesus said to Peter, “I could have prayed and commanded legions of angels to come.” But Jesus said, “I have to go to the cross. Heaven will not answer some prayers because the glory that comes from you going to the cross is far more important than your temporal victory. It is good to have those victories, but some victories God will not give you because of the greater victory that He wants to give you.

Prayer: Father, let Your will and not mine be done, in Jesus Name. Amen!