April 17, 2014
“IF THOU BE WILLING (PLEASE) REMOVE THIS CUP FROM ME”
Though an army may encamp against me, My heart shall not fear; Though war may rise against me, In this I will be confident. One thing I have desired of the Lord, That will I seek. Ps. 27:3-4 (NKJV)
“If thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” Luke 22:42 (KJV) I am a man, but I can only imagine that at times a woman having a baby, has screamed the words
“IF THOU BE WILLING (PLEASE) REMOVE THIS CUP FROM ME”or some semblance of, as you let anyone who will hear. I’m in pain! why did I agree to this! If this is the beginning of BIRTH PANGS, what lies ahead!
My friends I need you to focus today on the last few words of the text where Christ says “NEVERTHELESS NOT MY WILL, BUT THINE, BE DONE.” Life can seem so overwhelming at times, certain moments in our life we have second thoughts about the JOURNEY Christ has placed us on.
“Three times Christ has uttered that prayer. Three times has humanity shrunk from the last, crowning sacrifice. He sees the helplessness of man. He sees the power of sin. The woes and lamentations of a doomed world rise before Him.
He has left the courts of heaven, where all is purity, happiness, and glory, to save the one lost sheep, the one world that has fallen by transgression. And He will not turn from His mission. He will become the propitiation of a race that has willed to sin.
His prayer now breathes only submission: “If this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, THY WILL BE 
DONE.”(E.G. White Desire of Ages) How many times are our prayers unheeded by God in so many situations and circumstances of our life?
Family, sickness, death, marriage, money, job, school. If you have lived in this world any length of time we have all been there but then, at that moment “Does God then forsake just those who serve Him best?
Well, He who served Him best of all said, near His tortured death, ‘Why hast thou forsaken me?’ When God becomes man, that Man, of all others, is least comforted by God, at His greatest need.
There is a mystery here which, even if I had the power, I might not have the courage to explore. Meanwhile, little people like you and me, if our prayers are sometimes granted, beyond all hope and probability, had better not draw hasty conclusions to our own advantage.
If we were stronger, we might be less tenderly treated. If we were braver, we might be sent, with far less help, to defend far more desperate posts in the great battle.” (C. S. Lewis) My friends life is a mystery at times that just can’t be explained as our faith is stretched to the limit.
But “without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Heb.11:6 (ESV) So as our Faith Grows our responsibility grows, our endurance grows.
It grows to a point that God can say as He said of Job “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man or woman, one who fears God and shuns evil?” Job 1:8 (NKJV)
We are in a war, a war that was won on Calvary. But the god of this world continues to fight. That is why we must continue to fight for God. As we use God’s Son as our example. So we must keep fighting, and praying until we can claim victory to all the universe.
So each day we must go out on the battle field of this world with prayer, God’s Word and his Spirit, as we tell God “NOT MY WILL, BUT THY WILL BE DONE” because we “are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that (we) may proclaim the praises of Him who called (each of us) out of darkness into His marvelous light;” 1 peter 2:9
So my friends today. Stay focused, remain faithful, love one another and endure till the end and never forget to STUDY&PRAY
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