Not By Our Will

Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accostomed, and His disciples also followed Him.  When He came to the place, He said to them, "Pray that you may not enter into temptation."  And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, "Father, if it is your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not of My will, but yours be done."  Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him.  And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly.  Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.  When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow.  Then He said to them, "Why do you sleep?  Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation."
Luke 22: 39 - 46 NKJV

I've heard the phrase more often than I can count when talking to other believers about the topic of prayer.  For we have heard and have believed that we are only to ask of Christ Jesus in His name, and whatever we ask for in prayer will be ours {Matthew 21:22}.  Of course, this became fodder for each and every "Name it and claim it" prayer warrior out there.  Each one seeking that scriptural reference to back up their point that all we need to do is ask of our heavenly Father in order to receive our fountain of His blessings upon us.  The trouble with this trust in His promise in Matthew 22 is that Jesus went further in what we are to expect as we pray.

So Jesus answered and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, 'Be moved and be cast into the sea,' it will be done.  And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."
Matthew 22: 21-22 NKJV

Yes, right there is the kicker.  For as Jesus Himself states, "Whatever things you ask in prayer, BELIEVING, you will receive."  This is that conscious effort which we make on our own in which we trust that our heavenly Father is able to deliver what He says He will.  Jesus reiterates this point as He tells His disciples, "If you have faith and do  not doubt."  I believe that Gods children are able to do great and mighty things in His very name, if we believe and do not doubt.  However, where does one aquire such trust and faith in our heavenly Father?  The difficulty I've had in this area is that God was someone I could not physically see.  And how could I trust in someone I could not see?  The funny thing about that is, growing up, I had a pretty good fear of ghosts and the dark.  More than likely due to watching far too many horror movies.  To this day, I am fascinated by TV shows of ghosts among us.  So, I am ready to accept the reality of ghosts and spirits, which are largely unseen, but I had difficulty coming to grips with trusting in my heavenly Father, who is also unseen.  Does anyone but me see something wrong here?  I guess that blows the theory of not being able to trust in something unseen out of the water.  The bottom line is, yes, we are to come to God with our needs, but we must keep a few things in mind here.  First, when we bring before our heavenly Father requests for our very needs, we can trust that He already knows that what we need {Matthew 5: 34}.  Second, we must trust in Him we are seeking.

Then Paul stood in the midst of the Aeropagus and said, "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very righteous; for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:

TO THE UNKNWON GOD

Therefore, the one whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you:  "God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.  "Nor is He worshipped with mens hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. " And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundries of their dwellings, "so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each of us; "for in Him we live, move and have our being, as also some of your poets have said, 'For we also are His offspring.'  "Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man's devising.  "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, "because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in rightousness by the Man whom He has ordained.  He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead."
Acts 17: 22-31 NKJV

In His prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, Christ has requested His Father to "Take this cup away from Me."  He is in agony and anguish, for He knows what he now faces ahead of Him.  I have no doubt that, had He wanted to, Jesus could have called upon a legion of angels to deliver Him from such a fate.  However, even in His anguish, Jesus does notmlose sight of His what is most important as He prays, "Not of My will, but yours be done."  It's pretty easy to see just what our heavenly Fathers will was that night in the garden, that His only Son should be given up to sinful men and crucified.  This was the plan all along.  However, just how is it that we ourselves can be assured that we are in our Lords will?  For when we are, we are in step with our Lord and all He desires for us.  It is my belief that the holy Spirit will indeed direct us to that place where our own will and our Fathers will become one.  It is in these moments where we can be assured that whatever we ask will be directed from Him.

~Scott~