Not My Will But Yours Be Done

Have you ever heard the phrase, “You just have to WILL yourself to do it?” I know I have. I feel like I have heard it for so many different situations that, as an adult, I didn’t realize how ingrained it was into my psyche as a person.  I kept trying to strive and DO all the things that I thought I needed to do to get me where I thought I needed to be in my walk with Papa God, in my personal life, and honestly every area in between.  Nothing ever worked and I found myself back at square one time and time again.

See, we are made up of three different parts: spirit, soul, and body.  Our soul is made up of our minds, wills, and emotions. If even one of those isn’t in complete alignment with the WILL of our Heavenly Papa than things are really out of whack in our natural lives.  But the thing is, I can’t WILL myself to be inside of Papa’s will.  I’m not strong enough to do something like that, especially since I’m a very strong-willed person (can I get a “whoop whoop” from all my fellow people who were labeled “rebellious children” while growing up out there? Lol.).  But I think we have a pretty good example to follow that shows us exactly what is required of us to truly thrive in this life that we’re living on the daily.

Jesus.

Do you remember, after the Last Supper, where Jesus took the disciples? To the Garden of Gethsemane. To pray. I think it’s kind of ironic in a way that the very place Jesus took the disciples so that He could lay down His will (a garden) is the place where humanity decided that their will was more important than Papa’s (Garden of Eden).  Do you remember what Jesus prayed as He was truly in agony over what was to come, the ultimate sacrifice of love? “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." (Luke 22:42 NIV). Whoa. Talk about laying it all on the line.

About a year or so ago I had pretty spectacular revelation about what laying down my will actually looked like when I did it, finally.  It is perfectly described in the scripture that talks about, "Obedience is better than sacrifice" (1 Samuel 15:22 NLT).  See, Jesus, just like me, had the option of continuing to do things through my own strength and brute will, BUT walking in obedience, and I mean true obedience, means sacrificing my will each and every day.  Jesus, obviously, made the ultimate sacrifice by laying down His life for all of us but I still wanna choose MY will over THAT sacrifice somedays? Why? Do I really believe that MY will and MY ways are better than The One who sees all and created everything in the beginning? I think, without realizing it, most of us live our lives from that exact standpoint because we continue to do things our way (the hard way) versus laying our will down and picking up the cross which is much easier to bear because His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

So today, I challenge you, to truly seek out what it means for you to fall on your face in your "Garden of Gethsemane" and say, "Father, not my will but Yours be done."