FFT – 01 – Understanding ‘Your Will Be Done’

hey guys, guess who’s here?

justin wooooo! haha i’m glad you guys so warmly receive me into your cg, and though i’m not exactly integrated into being part of this cg yet, i hope this addition (me hurhur) would become permanent, eventually. and well it seems like many people still don’t know who i am, and vice versa. is this blog for ALL cgs or just this cg (you get what i mean haha)? oh anyways, when lum told me about you guys having a blog i was kinda amazed and cool-ified (oh well). it’s sort of a great place and avenue for exchanging and sharing of ideas and thoughts regarding issues we all face in life at this age.

by the way, i was just thinking we could start something called the ‘Food For Thought’ (or FFT), comprising articles or thoughts of our own we want to or can share to others within, and possibly also outside, the cg. I believe this can construct a form of sharing which can be encouraging and enlightening at the same time. any responses to this idea?

so maybe we could take our sharing to a deeper level, and i apologise if this post sounds so self centred with ‘i’s perpetually being littered all over the previous paragraphs.

anyway, i could start with one. i got this from a friend’s blog and i think it allows us to re-evaluate our perception of ‘Your Will Be Done’ when we pray. anyways, here goes:

—

Gethsemane

Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”

When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.

- Matt 26:36 – 44

We often place lots of value on what we want. Whatever it is, we want it done our way. We have learnt to request in such a way that ‘if it is God’s will it will be granted’. But how often do we mean it? When we have prayed in that way, and not received what we asked for, we still feel disappointed and angry that we did not have our way.

But what Jesus showed in his life was submission. His faith prevailed over his senses. When he prayed “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”, he meant it. And by meaning what he said in his prayer, he was submitting himself to God’s will, obedient to death, even death on a cross.

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‘Your Will Be Done’.

the intention and meaning of this quadruplet of words can be undermined many times, so i guess it’s rather important to understand the difference of ‘i want what i want at the end of the day’, and ‘what God wants’.

this actually brings to mind how prayers are being made before we consume meals. do we really embrace the spirits of thanksgiving and sincerity when we say, “Lord, I thank You for the food,’ or do we just make such statements for the sake of saying it, yet being relatively ignorant towards bearing such an attitude?

i think it’s important to keep our attitudes in check, be it in the carnal or spritual aspect. it is not uncommon that people think they feel what they feel and they’re so sure of it, yet hidden somewhere in the subconscious is the question, ‘is it really as i feel and think?’

~ by dacell on July 21, 2008.