Key Passage
Jesus prayed, "Abba, Father! You can do all things. Let me not have this cup {of suffering}. But do what you want, not what I want."
— Mark 14:36 ERV (Read Full Text)
Key Thought
Jesus recognizes two crucial realities. First, God can do anything he wants to do; he is God, the Sovereign ruler of all things. Second, Jesus knows that his life must be governed by God's will and not his own. The whole of human salvation history hinges on one heart-felt phrase from Jesus' lips: "I want your will, not mine." In a parallel way, our future is also determined by our following our Savior's example and saying, "Father, I want your will, not mine."
Prayer
Father in heaven, I want so much to mean the following words. "Not my will, but your will, dear Father, be done." In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Related Scriptures
Some of you say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to some city. We will stay there a year, do business, and make money." Listen! Think about this: You don't know what will happen tomorrow! Your life is like a fog. You can see it for a short time, but then it goes away. So you should say, "If the Lord wants, we will live and do this or that." But now you are proud and you boast. All of this boasting is wrong.
— James 4:13-16
Also, the Spirit helps us. We are very weak, but the Spirit helps us with our weakness. We don't know how to pray like we should. But the Spirit himself speaks to God for us. The Spirit begs God for us. The Spirit speaks to God with deep feelings that words cannot explain. God can see what is in people's hearts. And God knows what is in the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit speaks to God for his people in the way that God wants.
— Romans 8:26-27
So brothers and sisters, I beg you to do something. God has shown us great mercy. So offer your lives as a living sacrifice to God. Your offering must be only for God and will be pleasing to him. This offering of yourselves is the spiritual way for you to worship (serve) God. Don't change yourselves to be like the people of this world. But let God change you inside with a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to decide and accept what God wants for you. You will be able to know what things are good and pleasing to God and what things are perfect.
— Romans 12:1-2
Devotional provided by Heartlight®
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