Not My Will But Yours Be Done

Luke 22:41-42
41 And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed,
42 saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.”

Jesus knew that He was going to be crucified the next day. This was His intercessory prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. This cup of suffering wasn't an easy one to drink. The pains, the shames, the scorns, the rejections, and worst of all, to be forsaken by God the Father as our Lord took upon Himself the sins of all mankind!

He didn't manipulate the Father or try to change the whole situation. He didn't fight against any demons by calling angels to help Him. He knew the will of His Father, and He was willing to do it! He submitted and surrendered wholeheartedly and completely to the will of the Father!

This prayer of Jesus is a great example for us to follow and learn. Prayer is not about getting what we want. It is doing what God desires. Before we can really pray this prayer, we need to know God. We need to seek His will. And we need to align with His will.

Currently, our prayers are mostly about us. This is very natural when we were young in the Lord. But many of us continue to do so without ever advancing beyond our wishes, wants, desires, needs, ambitions, problems, programs and plans.

Most of our prayers are trying to get God to do what we desire and to give us what we want. When God doesn't do what we want or delays in His delivery, we begin to question His love and speed.

Revelation 4:11
“You are worthy, O Lord,
To receive glory and honor and power;
For You created all things,
And by Your will they exist and were created.”

All things were created by God, and all things exist through Him and for Him. To God be the glory forever!

Christianity is essentially about Christ. But we have turned it radically to become a "Me Religion." Instead of God being the centre of our lives, we have placed and made ourselves to be the centre of our lives! In doing so, our prayer life is often about asking God to solve our problems, and to help us in our self-actualization, self-betterment and self-exaltation. We are more interested in ourselves than in God. That's the exact opposite of our Lord's prayer at Gethsemane.

Some of us are even using chain prayer guides to chant, recite and repeat our prayers. We gullibly believe that by saying certain prayers successively by as many people as possible and repeatedly over and over again, those prayers will be answered! Those answers come not so much from the goodness of God but from the magical or powerful effects of unbroken series of chain prayers or prayer chains.

These chain prayers were once written and printed, but are now circulated widely through social media. They are sent by one person who forms the chain by drafting and writing the prayers, and then persuading others to join in the same prayers, and also to pass on to their friends to complete the chain. The effectiveness of these chain prayers are not in the prayers, but in the power of make-belief and false perception.

All forms of chain prayers are essentially superstitions and thus sinful. It does not matter whether God answers those prayers or not, their main objective is to reach as many people as possible to repeat and chant those prayers! And people become chained as a result!

God is not obligated to do what we pray! Some of us have become prayer warriors or generals, doing aggressive prayers and continuous warfare. We think that we can control and manipulate other people, spirits, demons and even God to do what we demand!

We even use our Bibles, quoting verses after verses and demanding God to do this and that! Our prayers are always about changing other people such as our family members, friends, colleagues, enemies, etc. We pray that they will be nicer and more pleasant to us. We pray that others will do what we want!

Furthermore it feels very good to presume that God is on our side, and we are okay and others are not! Unknowingly, we are being puffed up with pride, becoming arrogant and aggressive as we pray! And very often, we are the ones who are messed up! We are the ones who need to change our hearts and minds! We are the ones who need prayers!

Jesus had taught us how to pray, desiring the will of the Father to be done and not His! He prayed and lived accordingly. He submitted to God the Father!

John 6:38
For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

Jesus also taught His disciples how to pray:

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

Before we can pray that His will be done, we need to know what His will is! What is the will of the Father? It is clearly written, and thus we don't need to make any wild guesses or speculate in the unknown realm what the will of God is.

Romans 12:1-2
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

1 Thessalonians 5:14-22
14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.
15 See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.
16 Rejoice always,
17 pray without ceasing,
18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
19 Do not quench the Spirit.
20 Do not despise prophecies.
21 Test all things; hold fast what is good.
22 Abstain from every form of evil.

2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

Acts 20:27-29
27 For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.
28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with His own blood.
29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.

After knowing the will of God, we need to align our hearts and minds with His. We need to adjust our lives so that we are more Christ-centred and less self-centred! We need to trust and obey Him even though at times, His thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways!

Isaiah 55:8-9
8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.
9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.

As we align our will with His, we often have to first deny ourselves. Prayer is often letting go of our own agendas, aspiring destinies, spiritual fulfillments and enrichments. It is letting Christ increase and ourselves decrease in us. As we do so, we will daily become more Christlike.

John 3:30
He must increase, but I must decrease.

It is not accomplished in a single day or in an hour of prayer. It is a lifetime process! When we begin to let go of our ways and let God have His ways, we will then be able to pray that not our will but His will be done!

This alignment with the will of God will require a lot of adjustments in our lives. As we begin to find out what God desires, we will then become seekers of His heart. Like King David, we will also become men and women after God's own heart who will do all His will! Yes, doing everything God wants us to do!

Acts 13:22
And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.’

In letting go of our control, we begin to see that God is in full control of everything in the world including us! He holds the keys!

The more we pray, the more we will realize who we are, how little we know about God, and how great our God is! He is greater than all our minds can ever conceive or imagine! We don't have to educate God or explain to Him about this and that. He knows it all! We don't have to instruct Him on when and how to do what. We simply surrender ourselves to His sovereignty and timing!

James 4:7
Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Prayer is a conversation with God. It is never about fighting against some devils or demons! When we submit ourselves to God, we will then be able to resist the devil and he will then flee from us! God will do it. The battle belongs to the Lord! Those who spend most of their times fighting the demons have no time left for God!

When we submit to God, we will wise up. When we humble ourselves before God, He will exalt us in due time.

Isaiah 57:15
For thus says the High and Lofty One
Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
“I dwell in the high and holy place,
With him who has a contrite and humble spirit,
To revive the spirit of the humble,
And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

1 Peter 5:5-7
5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for
“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,
7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

Prayer is letting God be God! God does not need to adjust to suit our ways, circumstances and timings! We need to adjust ourselves to His ways and timings! He is the Lord! He is the King! We need to adjust and align ourselves to God. When we do so, we will eventually gain oneness with God.

John 17:20-23
20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word;
21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.
22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:
23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

How awesome and wonderful it will be when we become one with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit! This is what our Lord prays for us! To become one with God and His people!

Even when things are going wrong, and even when our world is turning upside down, we will still remain strong and courageous as we are one in God!

2 Corinthians 4:7-11
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—
10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

Sometimes, trials and tribulations are blessings in disguise. If God does not remove those troubles away from us or give us the wings to soar above those troubles, He will give us the strength sufficient enough to overcome them. They are sent so that we can grow and mature in Christ! Thus we should not pray that the Lord would remove the cup of suffering from us.

John 16:33
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

2 Corinthians 12:9
And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Like Christ in Gethsemane, we can pray, "Not my will but Yours be done." Not knowing what our tomorrows will bring, but we know Who holds our tomorrows and our hands!

Written on: 26 June 2018