There is one moment in Jesus’ life that illustrates one of the key natures of prayer: the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus was about to face the cross and the wrath of the Father upon sin, and in such emotional distress, He prayed with such great intensity that He sweated blood. He prayed three times for any other way to be taken. And I do like how The Chosen’s depiction of this scene gave Jesus a brief vision of Abraham and Isaac about to do the same thing, and at the last second, God provided a ram to replace Isaac. I think it’s plausible that Jesus thought about that moment as He prayed. But in the end, each time, He prayed this key thought I want to emphasize here: “Not My will but Your will be done.”
Because we live in an American culture that is obsessed with self and consumption, we treat church and prayer that way. What can the church give me? Our prayers are for our comforts, dreams, and desires. To be clear, there is nothing wrong with praying for our needs and dreams alone; however, God is not a genie whom we go to for our fulfillment. That is why God was so ticked at Israel for their idolatry. They went to the idols so they could have their comforts and desires met. They viewed God the same way: as a means to their ends.
I wrote about praying with importunity last week, and here is the other side of it. We don’t pray to get what we want; we pray to get what God wants. We pray to see God’s will done and in action here on earth. God’s chosen vehicle for accomplishing His will on earth is through praying men and women who will believe Him. Does that mean if we don’t do it, God won’t get what He wants done? No. God is sovereign, and He is going to get it done with or without us. But if we don’t do it, God will find someone who will, and it won’t be God’s loss. It will be our loss, and it will be those whom God wants to bless through us who miss out. Think about it. If you have a gift that is useful to the Church but don’t use that gift, not only do you lose out on seeing that talent grow and develop, but you rob others of being blessed by it, too.
Jesus came for one primary purpose: to do the will of the Father. He purposed to do nothing except what the Father told Him to do, nor say anything unless He heard the Father say it. How did He do that? Prayer. By His lifestyle of prayer, He was able to hear the voice of God and know what to say and do at every given moment. Jesus often paused to pray in ministry. One such example is the case of the demon-possessed boy, and the disciples could not drive out the demon. Jesus watched the boy writhe in pain while the demon convulsed him, asking the father how long this had been happening. Why didn’t Jesus do anything quicker? The answer was simple: He was praying. He wanted to have His orders before He took action. Jesus was a man of action, but He was a man under authority, as a certain centurion recognized, and Jesus took no action without the authority to do it. When Jesus cleansed the Temple, yes, it was a mixture of rage, wrath, sorrow, grief, and zeal, but He had the authority to do that. When Jesus went to the Pool of Bethsaida, He only had the authority to heal one person, not the whole lot.
Jesus made His mission that of His Father. So, His prayer was to seek the will of the Father and to have the strength, power, and authority to carry it out. That is the mindset we should have. God is not a means to our end. We are to pray for the means to accomplish God’s ends. The Christian life is not about how God can give us a life by which we can consume and enjoy, but about a life in which we are to spend it for His kingdom and His glory. I keep saying this, and I’ll say it again: “It’s not about you!” This life is not about you. It is about Christ. It is about God.
Jesus prayed, “Not my will but Your will be done.” Jesus was obedient to the cross. He literally gave up everything, including every drop of blood and life He had. There was nothing whatsoever that Jesus kept back for Himself. We can’t fathom what that looks like. We barely even know what suffering actually is, though I do believe most of you reading this, including myself, are going to experience that in a short time. The time is coming when the stuff I am writing and it gets posted on social media is going to get me jail time. And that’s the start of it. It’s already happening in the UK. And I have to be in a position to accept that. When the Apostles defied the authorities, they were not rebellious. They knew full well the consequences for preaching in the name of Jesus would mean imprisonment and torture. And so when they defied such orders and continued preaching the name of Jesus, they accepted the punishment and suffering. Richard Wurmbrand said that while he was in prison, preaching to the other prisoners would induce a beating. So he would preach, the guards would give him a beating, and both would be happy. And when he got done from the beating, he’d come right back and say, “Now, where was I?” It’s not about our will but about God’s will, and the secret is prayer.
Why do we have the job we have? Why do we live where we live? Why do we have the things we have? Is it because of our will or because of God’s will? I am a teacher because of God’s will. I wouldn’t even know what to do without that. I tried. I could not find anything that “I” wanted to do with my skill set. Teaching was not on my agenda until God put it on my radar, and I can’t think of doing anything else. God gave me the sport He gave me with fencing that I now coach, and it is something I can give back to God. There is nothing more fulfilling than being in the center of God’s will and doing His will and His purpose. The unbeliever will think that God is just some kind of dictator, but no, God designed us to do certain things, and when we walk in that way, there is nothing we’d want to do more.
Pray. Pray for God’s will to be crystal clear and pray for the courage, strength, and power to go do it. For Jesus, that meant a cross, and He lived a full life at age 33. He could have done nothing more. For others, it may mean living to 80-90 years old and being a father, mother, and simply teaching and equipping the next generation. What is God having you do? Pray that it be not your will but His will being done.
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