Thought for the Day

Luke 22:
41 And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and began to pray,
42 saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.”
43 Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him.

One of the hardest things we ever are called to do is to yield up our will in any given situation and ask God to replace it with His. In this passage, Jesus shows us how it's done properly.

His situation is so far removed from ours that it's hard to imagine. Our Lord, perfect and blameless, willing to take on our sin.....none of us can even begin to perceive how agonizing this must have been for someone who was perfectly pure and righteous.

Yet, Jesus recognizes that the Father's will is far better than any will He may have as a man. Jesus' flesh wants to avoid the cross but His Spirit compels Him to do the Father's will. This is the same Spirit that indwells us.

The only real struggle here is who Jesus will respond to? He rightfully chooses to respond to the will of God instead of His own. In so choosing, he demonstrates to us the proper way to resolve the conflict between the desire of our flesh and our spiritual desire to please God.....yield to God.

Yielding to God is the most pro-active thing we can do as believers. It is not, as the world would accuse us of being, passive. It is dynamic and life changing.

Still, it is difficult.

It is difficult not because we don't believe God.....but because we are afraid that we may not like God's plan. We may not enjoy the outcome God wants us to experience. We feel safer determining our own outcome rather than leaving it in God's hands.

His will is clear, we see it throughout Scripture and the indwelling Holy Spirit, if we are willing to listen, reveals it to us. It is our choice to yield to it or to hold on tightly to our own. When we yield to it.......He blesses, he provides, He loves, He strengthens, He gives beyond our imagination.