Praying for the Will of The Lord

Then He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and began to pray, ⁴² “Father, if You are willing, take this cup away from Me—nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.” Luke 22:41-42

This note is not a note of instruction but more of a reflection. This is something that I have been wrestling lately in understanding what it truly means to pray for the will of the Lord. When I reflect on the moment of Christ in the garden of Gethsemane, I consider greatly that He prayed for the will of the Lord. I can tell by Christ’ experience that praying for the will of the Lord goes beyond praying for our own desires, but more so praying for the desire of the Lord to be revealed.

If Paul himself says “Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1). Then it would be fair to say that one would do better in praying for the will of God, rather than own desires. But in the moment of being conformed to the likeness of Christ, requires a transformation.

 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:2)

So one would do better not simply to pray for the will of God, BUT that the will of God is marked as their desire as well! To please God within the sovereignty of His will (as prayed for) and being content, filled with joy and abound with hope regardless of the situation one is in! If the will of God is a far greater thing to be praying for (and once again, we can see that by Christ’ example), then we ought to be praying for the will of God.

In doing so, we should consider surrendering our desires, our fleshly passions and consider Christ to be our very first thought of the morning! For He has given us as great example, that to consider the will of God greater than our desires may even mean we should face sufferings of various kinds, perhaps to the point of death.

But the will of God is greater, greater than that of the cup being removed from Christ! We should be a people who are passionately seeking the will of the Lord, even if it grinds against our own desires! Pray that God would make your desires parallel with His, pray for the will of the Lord, but consider Christ who prayed that very prayer and gave His all in honour of the Will of the Father.