Not My Will
It is written in Luke 22:42, Jesus prayed "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done."
Even Jesus, who had lived a sinless life, poured Himself out for His disciples, and performed numerous and spectacular miracles, continued in His perfection by surrendering His will to the Father's here, knowing it would result in His sacrifice for us. Today, we'll look at where and how we can surrender to the Father's will in our finances.
First, realize that our flesh will always "speak" to us in opposition to God. Galatians 5:17 states "For the desires of the flesh are opposed to the [Holy] Spirit, and the [desires of the] Spirit are opposed to the flesh (godless human nature)." Areas of money and indebtedness are just another part of our lives where the flesh tries to steer us towards disobedience from God.
Look at the boxes below, where it is showing the difference between the thoughts and impulses coming from our flesh (our will), then the Word of God showing us the path to obedience (His will):
Our flesh will usually be coming at us with those thoughts from above on the left, so how do we address it? God shows us in 2 Corinthians 10:5, "Casting down the imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."
Just as quickly as the spark from an advertisement or seeing something that tries to ignite us, we need to douse that and replace it with what God's Word speaks to the situation, before it grows into us attempting to rationalize a way around His will.
Each one of those major areas in the boxes above carries an oncoming loss from following the thoughts on the left, and latter regret - while God Himself promises to send blessings to those who are obedient to His will on the right.
Lastly, as our initial focus was on Jesus surrendering to follow His Father's will, in going to the cross, it was later written in Hebrews 12:2 - "For the joy that was set before him endured the cross". Jesus was not focused on his suffering, neither should we be focused on what our flesh says "we miss out on" by being obedient. Jesus was seeing the joy of obedience to the Father and the resulting lives of ours that would be save. We too should set our sights on the blessings from the Father, to make that the joy set before you, for your obedience to His will.
God Bless you and may He show Himself greatly to you,
Paul
