Surrendering To The Will Of God
January 2019 |
“And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him. And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow, and said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.” — Luke 22:39-46
The Will Of God Is Rarely Done
In today’s world, the will of God is rarely done. While this may seem an incorrect summation, if you will think about it, the truth of this statement should become obvious. Most of the people on the earth have never appropriated salvation by faith. Very obviously, these are not doing and cannot do the will of God. Christians in today’s world are looking for what God can do for them.
The tendency toward selfishness that exists in all of us often negates the voice of the Holy Spirit even in believers. And by the way, let’s be honest, there is no such thing as a “permissible will” of God. It should be understood that we are either obeying God or we are not. Temptation, in a nutshell, is the desire to leave the revealed Word of God. That may encompass either the written word or the personal revealed word of God to the individual.
The Place Of Surrender
Jesus stands as the great example of one who always surrendered His life to the will and purposes of God. He said that He never spoke unless He received instruction from the Father as to what to say. The only works that He did, either in a natural or supernatural sense, were all done under the guidance of His Father. But even with that said, Jesus experienced great opposition to fulfilling the will of His Father in the garden of Gethsemane.>br>
Gethsemane means “olive-press” or “oil-press.” In the process of producing oil from the olive, it was pressed until the oil was released from the fruit. In some cases the olive was placed under heat and then was crushed again to gain the last remnant of oil. It seems that God may put believers in the place where we experience a “crushing” before accepting the will of God for our lives. While the process might be painful, experiencing abundant life requires that we yield all that we are and have to the will of God. The Father brought the Son to the place of surrender and He properly acquiesced to the Father’s will by saying, “nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.”
Have you arrived at the place of surrender?
The Price Of Surrender
To say yes to the Lord is the price He asks all of us to pay. Jesus paid for every blessing and every benefit that man could ever receive from the Father. He paid this price through His sacrificial atoning work on Calvary. He requires all men to appropriate these benefits by simple faith. However, this does not make one an automaton. Man must surrender His own desires by placing His faith in the above truths and receive the strength and impetus to say yes to God’s will by the strength that faith in the Cross furnishes. The price of surrender is to say yes even when it looks like we will suffer hurt or loss.
Are you ready to pay the price of surrender?
The Peace Of Surrender
The Bible tells us that after Jesus surrendered to the will of the Father, an angel came and ministered to Him. This represents the peace of soul that surrender brings. The pull of the Holy Spirit can be quite strong at times. But when we stop resisting the will of God, the sense of well-being and blessing that accompanies the “end of the war” is a beautiful peace that passes all understanding.
The Power Of Surrender
When we have our faith properly placed in Christ’s finished work and we have said yes to the will of God, this is when the greatest opposition may come to oppose the forward motion of fulfilling God’s will. After Jesus said yes, He was accosted by spiritual forces that raged so strong that it felt as though He might die.
It is never easy to fulfill the will of God. Once we get past the flesh, we can be sure that the powers of darkness will take their best shot at us. But with our faith properly placed in the Cross, the grace of God will always be enough to empower us to complete the will of God. Satan does not give up easily and sometimes there can seem to be a delay in victory. But be assured that “where sin did abound, grace did much more abound.” The power of God’s grace and the moving and operation of the Spirit in your heart will equip you to accomplish what you’ve committed to doing as instructed by the Lord.
Are you experiencing the power of surrender?
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