e-votional
a message to encourage and uplift from College Heights Baptist Church
Wednesday March 4, 2009
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Also, you can check out my blog at www.docdeer.wordpress.com. It has several posts each week designed to help us grow in our walk with Christ. You can also find more articles designed to help you grow at www.rekindledliving.wordpress.com.
“Pray, then, in this way:
‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name. 10 ’Your kingdom come.
Your will be done, – Matthew 6:9-10, NASB
Good vs. Evil. North vs. South. Ali vs. Frazier. Ohio State vs. Michigan. Heat Miser vs. Snow Miser. All are epic struggles. All depict the tension that comes when two sets of values and desires clash against one another. Perhaps one of the greatest struggles in all of history takes place every day in our lives. It is the struggle between our will and God’s will. Our way and God’s way. What we want versus what God wants.
As Jesus teaches us to pray, He encourages us to seek God’s will in our lives. It’s not an easy thing to do. So often, what we want is 180 degrees away from what God wants. But, if we stop and think about it, we know that our loving Heavenly Father always knows what’s best for us. His will, therefore, is always in our best interest. Even when it’s not what we want. So we pray for His will. As a matter of fact, John tells us that God really only responds to the prayers that are in accordance to His will. The apostle writes, “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us” (1 John 5:14, NASB).
Jesus practiced this same principle in His own life. The night before His crucifixion, we see Him praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. He is agonizing over the next day. As a matter of fact, we read that He is under such great stress that He literally sweats drops of blood. Nevertheless, He prays, “not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42, NASB). He incorporates the same principles in His prayer life that He encourages us to.
You see, we pray not so much to change God. God really isn’t the one who needs changing. We pray so that He can change us. That’s why seeking His will is so important. If it were up to me, I would always get my way. I like what I want to do. Stay up late. Eat whatever I want. Watch whatever I want. Do whatever I want. Buy whatever I want. Qdoba for dinner every night. Ohio State always wins. Another perfect season for the Dolphins. Cold and snow only at Christmas. But my desires are corrupted by sin. I’m selfish. I make bad decisions. God never does. That’s why He changes me. That’s why He lines my desires up with His. He is the plumb line. I am the crooked wall. I don’t know what God knows. I only know what I know. He knows more than me. He is better than me. He is wiser than me. Thus, His will be done.
Pastor Darrell
