Thy Will Be Done On Earth As It Is In Heaven

This was a hard one. How do you talk about God's will. It is a great thing when you are benefiting from God's blessing. But, how about when you are going through a time of suffering. We then question God's will in our lives. It is as though we believe we deserve his blessings and nothing else. This state of mind can be confusing causing us to stumble and believe that we are somehow out of God's will if any suffering at all takes place.

My heart was drawn to the thought that Jesus followed God's will unto death. I came upon a fellow blogger who I thought wrote most eloquently what was in my heart. He had taken a trip to the Holy Land and was brought face to face with the place Jesus was obedient to God's will.

"In the garden I reflected on the fact that by the time Jesus arose from his knees and surrendered to the kiss of betrayal and the soldier's military might -- Jesus had settled the matter of the cross in his heart. The will of that Father had become the will of the Son. It was here that Jesus accepted the Father's will and faithfully chose the way of suffering.

In choosing the will of the Father -- his atoning death on the cross Jesus agonized in prayer. Luke's gospel specifically mentions Jesus' "anguish" or "agony" (using the Greek word agonia, which can also mean "struggle"). In the other Gospels Jesus explains that He is "deeply grieved, even to death" (Mark 14:34; Matt 26:38). Those gospels also show Jesus as praying more than once before He was ready to accept the Father's will. His prayer time at Gethsemane was anything but peaceful and serene.

Throughout this journey through the last days of Jesus on earth we will see and feel the struggles, the agony and the humble surrender of our Savior. In this way we experience a deeper appreciation for the complexity of Christ's nature as both God and man. In Gethsemane, perhaps more than in any other scene of the Gospels, we see the fully human Jesus, the One who "in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15).

I am blessed by this reminder that Jesus understands when we are tested, when we are weak, when we aren't sure we want God's will for our lives. I am encouraged to know that Jesus knows our every weakness, and He is there to help us in our time of trial."

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God's will being done on earth as it is in heaven means God's will is complete. It has eternal ramifications. The benefit of God's will being accomplished is that glory focused on God through both thanksgiving and suffering.

Thank you Jesus!!