GUIDANCE AND THE WILL OF GOD

 In my 35 years of pastoral ministry, probably the most asked question of me was, "How do I find the will of God for my life?"

In Matthew 26:36-46, we find Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (the last time I was in Israel I shared from this passage with our group), and He is struggling with the will of the Father. He prays to the Father, "if possible, let this cup pass from me". It's comforting to me to know that Jesus Himself struggled with God's will.

This passage of Scripture gives us great insight to understanding Divine guidance:

1-It all begins with prayer ( verse 36 ). Prayer was the way Jesus processed things internally.

   We all pray every day, but there has got to be those seasons of intense prayer in our lives

    before making decisions.

2-It will challenge your emotions ( verse 37-38 ). Jesus thought He was going to die! Have you 

   ever felt like that? Your emoting crop-up. Your back is up against the wall, and if you don't

   deal with your emotions, it will cause you to recant. We tend to cave in to our emotions. It's

   the battle of the soul.

3-It will result in surrender ( verse 39-42 ). The best thing to do when struggling with the will of

   God is to give up and give in. It's called "surrender".

There will always be a conflict between the spirit and the flesh ( verses 41 ). Jesus says, "I understand that your spirit is strong, but I also understand that flesh is weak". Jesus tells us that watching and praying is the key to overcoming the flesh. The way to keep the flesh in check is to say, "I delight to do Your will, oh God".

That's what I'm thinking about today.