Dangerous Prayers Part 1. Not My Will, But Yours Be Done, By Pastor Rob Ketterling.
Well, we are starting a new series called Dangerous Prayers, and I do want to let you know I'm not exactly sure how long the sermon will last because I just moved to 14 font size. As I age, I refuse to wear bifocals and reading glasses, and I moved from 10 to 12 to 13 to 14. So a little personal just revelation there. Man, if I have to go like this (holding notes) we're in trouble.
But anyway, I'm excited for this series, Dangerous Prayers. And we called it that, and after we named it Dangerous Prayers we realized it would be dangerous not to pray these prayers. These prayers are prayers you need to pray. And even though we are calling the series Dangerous Prayers, I think we can call them adventurous prayers. Maybe we are using reverse psychology, thinking that if it's dangerous, you'll actually pray it. I don't know what we were thinking there. But these are prayers you need to pray. And as we look at this series, my hope and prayer is our prayer level will increase and we will pray these dangerous prayers.
There will be one week, however, one week in the series that it really is a dangerous prayer. It's for husbands, and the Bible talks about if you're praying this way, it's a dangerous prayer and you're in trouble, and you need to realize that you need to wake up. So that week I'll let you know. Wives will be sure to get all their our husbands here for that one. But the rest of them are going to be ones that we should be praying.
But my prayer is that our prayer level will go up at River Valley Church. We are known for a lot of things, but we're not known as a church of prayer. Okay, not that we don't pray. But that's not one of the defining things. People say River Valley Church; relevant teaching, kids ministry, youth ministry, Kingdom Builders, worship. There is a lot of things; missions, global. There is a lot of things they talk about, but this is not one of them. Again, it doesn't mean it is not being done, but it is something we need to increase. And in my prayer for depth in this year, this is something that I want to see us add more depth. I want to see us have more of an emphasis on prayer, more of a desire to pray. And I think because things are going so good in our church, sometimes we have a tendency not to be as urgent with prayer because things are going so well. And because it is going well, let's not ease up on it. Let's not ease up and let off the throttle of prayer and realizing that God is doing all this anyways, and we need ask for his help and his guidance and his hand on this. Let's not ease up and start running on empty and then need to get to a spot where we are in trouble and then ask God for help. Let's keep asking God for more. Let's keep asking God for help. Let's keep asking him to increase our prayer. Let's give him the thanks and praise that he deserves, and let's grow as a church. Kind of reminds me of Change Before You Have To. Let's not wait for a crisis to change. Let's do it now. So let's add to all the things that we are known for, let's add prayer. Let's just decide right now we are going to be known as a place that believes in prayer, is a place of prayer, encourages prayer.
I'm praying for a greater anointing in our prayer teams at the end of service. And I will tell you this, if there is one thing we could do, I pray that we'll take advantage of our prayer teams in this series. We should be doing it all the time. But let's let it reawaken within us the desire to pray with prayer team members, that they are here ready to pray with people. I would just encourage you, if you come with a need, here and at all of our campuses, pray with the prayer team members. I don't want to walk by them and say, "Hey, thanks for being faithful. If they came for prayer, you were ready." I'd rather have them with lines of people waiting for them to pray for, and us taking advantage of that. Even after service at all of our campuses, just take that moment to pray. Seal with whatever God is going in your life and make sure prayer is part of your life.
Now, if you miss a week in this series it is going to run for quite awhile. If you miss a week in this series, let's just make this commitment, too, that we are going to go online, we're going to go to Twitter or Instagram or the website and find out what the theme was for that week. Because I desire that each of us would be praying that theme for the week, but then making it part of our life. So each week all of us together will be praying the same thing, asking God to deal with us in the exact same way, and I think it will also be a unifying thing that will help us to pull together.
But we need to pray. We need to be people of prayer. Jesus told his disciples, in Luke 18:1, a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He told them, "You should always pray. Don't give up."
And He taught them about prayer. He gave them the Lord's prayer. They are like, "Lord, how do we pray?"
And he said, "This is how you should pray. These are the things you should put in a prayer. These are the components, the things you should do when you're seeking God and you're bringing these things to him in prayer."
In 1Thessalonians 5:16 18, it says, Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. We should be people of prayer. We should be people that are praying all the time, always able to breathe up a prayer. Doesn't matter where you are. Doesn't have to be out loud. It can be under your breath. It can be anywhere. There is no place they can ban you from praying. Because you can pray under your breath anywhere. You know, they can't ban prayer in school. If you're in school, you can pray underneath your breath. Prayer can go anywhere.
I've prayed all over the earth. As a matter of fact, I remember one day I was scuba diving. It was one of our anniversaries, and we went to Hawaii, and I was scuba driving. I was 70 feet under water and I prayed, "God, this is amazing. Thank you for your creation." And then later that day we took the road up to the top of this volcano, and I was at the top of this mountain. I was like, "God, thank you." I prayed under the see, I've prayed on the top of the mountain. I will pray anywhere. I felt like Dr. Suess in a hat, with the cat, with a dog. I was just praying everywhere. You can pray, we can pray, we should pray. We should pray all the time.
And I was encouraged, one man of God that just impacted me so deeply, and I've shared about him before, but some of you are new. Mark Buntain was such a man of God. And he prayed in India and he had an amazing ministry. And you would have to interrupt him from prayer. He would be praying all the time, and you'd have to interrupt him to tell him that we needed to get moving or whatever. I was on an elevator once, and he was praying and he had his eyes closed, and he was just thanking God. He'd always hold his hands like this, and he was praying, and we got to our floor and I was like, "You need to get off. Sorry to interrupt you, Lord," you know.
Man, that's my challenge. That's our challenge. We do a lot of things well. Let's up the prayer level. Let's up our commitment to this and let's say, "God, we will be people of prayer." So right now here and at all of our campuses, I want us to pray for a moment. Let's start a series on prayer with a moment of prayer. And right now wherever you're at, you can pray. You can ask God, you know, to speak to me. You can say, "God, I'm committed to this. Whatever you want me to do in this series, I'm ready." You can bring up a need. Maybe there is something heavy on your heart. You need to let it go, and then we can move on in this sermon. But right now, let's do what we are talking about, and let's just take a moment of silent prayer, pray under your breath. If you want to pray out loud, use like an indoor voice. So let's just pray and seek God right now. So, thank you, Lord.
Lord, my prayer is that our church really would grow in this area. This has been a year of growth in so many areas and in so many ways. And I don't take it lightly that our church isn't known for this. And I know you can't be known for everything, but I would desire that people would say God answers prayer at River Valley Church. When the people of that church gather together, things happen. They get ahold of God and heaven is moved and things change and lives are changed and prayer makes the difference.
I'm praying that in this series we grow, we be obedient to whatever you speak to us. There is going to be a lot of things we need to discover and uncover in our lives. And I pray we would be willing to say yes to whatever it is you're speaking to us. I pray we take advantage of the prayer teams, we take advantage of the time in prayer, we'd really do this and seek you. I'm praying people would grow in their prayer. Even now in that moment where we just prayed in our campuses, for some that was awkward, they didn't even know what to say. I pray they'd just know they can express what's on their heart to their loving Heavenly Father and you would communicate to them.
I thank you for people that will pray in this series for the first time out loud in a group, even though that may scare some. I think of our Lifegroup one time when a guy just said, "I've never prayed out loud, can I do that at the close of this Lifegroup?" and that growth moment for him to pray out loud and the rest of us just cheering him on. We are cheering on the growth of prayer in every person here. We're cheering on the growth of prayer for all of us in this church.
And I just pray that we'd hear your voice, we'd pray, we'd spend time with you, we'd talk so conversational just sharing our needs, not trying to make it big and fancy, but just baring our heart to you and saying, "Here is what it is, Lord."
So thank you that you hear prayer, you answer prayer, and we can hear you in prayer. Thank you. Blessings on this church.
In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen.
All right. Well, we are going to get started with a very dangerous prayer. It's a dangerous prayer not to pray. And it's this. Jesus prayed this, and we are going to find it in Luke Chapter 22. He said, Not my will, but your will be done. Not my will, but your will be done. And he's talking to his Heavenly Father.
And it is a very dangerous prayer not to pray because the exact opposite would be to pray, "My will be done, not your will be done." How horrible would that be to say to God, "I don't want to do your will. I want to do my will."
But instead Jesus prays, "Not my will, but your will be done." And I want to put it in context and then we will read the whole passage. This is towards the end of Jesus' earthly ministry. He has just finished the passover meal. He is with his disciples. He is now going to the Mount of Olives. He's going to the Garden of Gethsemane. If you ever get a chance to go with us to the Israel trip, we will take you to that spot where Jesus went and prayed right in that same proximity with olive trees that are over 2,000 years old that they believe were there when Jesus had his prayer meeting. It's pretty cool to be there in that exact location.
So Jesus is there. He's praying. He's about to be betrayed. He is about to be punished. He's about to be whipped and beaten, a crown of thorns put on his head. He is about to be crucified. He is about to have the sins of the world placed upon him, and he's feeling this heaviness and he's in this agony. I want you to know that when he prays this prayer, so you fully understand, he's saying, "Not my will be done, but your will be done." It is not the physical pain that's bothering him, although that's very real. The thing that is weighing him down is the fact that he knows it's God's plan to put all the sins of the entire world on him and the punishment for all the sins of the entire world onto him. And so that is weighing on him. That is crushing him. Because he has known no sin. He has never sinned. And yet all the sins of Hitler and Stalin and Genghis Khan, and you fill in the blank, your sin, my sin, everyone's sin. There is over six billion people on this planet right now, let alone all of history, that are going to be placed on one person who has never known any sin. And so the tension, the depth of pain that is there, the agony that is there, this is what he's struggling with. This is the moment that is going on. So it is not anything light.
That's why Isaiah 53:4 5, it says, Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
So in the context of all this that's going on, we read in Luke Chapter 22, starting in verse 39, it says, 39 Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him.
Now interesting, just for a moment, it was his usual pattern to go and pray. Could we say about us it's our usual pattern? Is there anything usual and normal about our pattern of prayer, or are we haphazard? Whenever we have a crisis, then I'm sure to go to you. But Jesus was always in a place of prayer.
40 On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” 41 He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” 43 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.
45 When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. 46 “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”
And right after that Jesus is betrayed and the whole scene takes place leading to his death, burial and resurrection. But in this moment all of this is just coming down on him. Again, we have no clue about the intensity that's going on. Other gospels tell us that he went and checked up on them. And he went and checked up on his friends, and like, "Oh, you're sleeping. Great, I'm struggling over here, deep moment, and you guys are sleeping."
If you're wondering why in prayer meetings I walk around, if you've ever been in a prayer meeting with me, it's because when I sit down the spirit of slumber comes on me. Okay? So I just found if I walk and keep things moving, you know, I stay more alert, more focused. As soon as I sit down, then just whew. And I think that's what happened to them. It just kind of hit them. They were tired, they had just eaten a meal, they had celebrated passover. All this stuff was going, and they are just whew, down they go.
But his intensity was so strong, and he said if there is any way for this cup to pass from me, that's what I want. Now, I want you to understand what he was saying. The cup was symbolic of God's wrath, of his anger, of his punishment. So he realized this cup was about to be poured on him, that he was going to be forced to drink it. That all of this was going to come on him. That was the punishment. He's saying, "God, if there is any other plan. I know this is where we have been moving toward, but I understand what's next, and if there is any way to do a different plan, I'll take that option. I'll take that option. Because I know what's about to happen, and it's not good. It's ugly, it's painful. It's going to separate me from you. We've never been separated. This is not good. If there is any other plan." But there wasn't. There was no other way. And that's when he says, "Okay, then not my will, but your will be done."
And it really shouldn't surprise us, because Jesus lived a life of doing whatever the Father said. Whatever God said, that's what he did. As a matter of fact, John 6:38. Jesus speaking, he said, For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. Okay, so his whole life he has been living this way. John 8:29, The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.
"I always do what pleases him." He's saying, "I always do his will all the time. I'm always doing whatever God wants me to do." So in this moment he's just realizing this is the biggest task, this is the biggest separation, this is the biggest pain in all of his life, and he's saying, "If there is any other plan, I'll opt for that." But then when there is no other plan, God is like, "This is the plan," he said, "Okay, not my will, let your will be done. Your will. Your will."
I mean, again, that is a dangerous prayer not to pray. Just imagine as a follower of Jesus Christ to say to God, "God, I don't want to do your will." How is he God then if we don't want to do his will? How is he Lord of our life if we don't want to do his will?
And it is interesting that when we give our life to Jesus Christ, you're really saying, "I don't want to do my will anymore, I want to do your will. I don't want to live for myself. I want to live for you. I realize that Jesus Christ took all that pain, all that suffering, all that punishment, and now I want to accept that free gift, and I'm no longer going to live my will, but I'm going to live your will." And if that wasn't clearly explained to you, I apologize. But you were called at that moment to live for God and to live for his will and to bring glory to him. He is now in charge of your life.
And I think a lot of us are very sincere. In that moment of commitment when we give our life to Jesus Christ, wherever you were, in church or in a park or at your home or in a car or at a restaurant, wherever you were when you gave your life to Jesus Christ, in that moment you're like, "I want to do your will." How many know what I'm talking about? You're like, "I'm living for you. I pledge to live for you all my life every day."
How many know as soon as you leave there, your carnal nature and the enemy of your soul just starts saying, "No, no. You didn't mean all things. Let's just ease into this." How many know what I'm talking about? "Let's just ease into this. Let's not be fanatical. It's good enough that you did that, but let's not be fanatical. You are not like one of those crazy guys. Come on, settle down. Let's ease into this and let's not go too crazy with this." And he starts lying to us. He starts saying, "You can't do this, because if you do this, it is going to lead to trouble."
And the enemy starts to give us all sorts of lies, and I want to address those lies for a minute. He starts to say, "If you pray this prayer, you have no idea where that will take you. You have no idea. You won't control where you live, where you go. You can't pray this prayer because you have no idea where that will go. If you pray not my will, but your will, you know what? God is going to send you to a country that doesn't have a Starbucks."
This last week I was preparing this sermon, and I was in the other countries with our youth global teams, and I was praying, God, anywhere, your will, not my will, your will, your will, wherever. And I'm telling you, that was a real thought. The enemy said, "What if he sends you to this country? They don't have a Starbucks. You're addicted." That's real.
I was like, "That's ridiculous. People could ship me Starbucks. I'm okay." All right, good to go. Not my will, but your will. I don't control where I'm going to go, but I've got to tell you this, God does, and that's the best place to be. That's the best place.
We think, "Okay, but what if I do just half hearted obedience? What if I work a deal?"
The enemy will start telling you, "Do a deal with God. Don't say not my will, but your will. Give him a suggestion and negotiate. Let him start high, you start low, meet in the middle."
I remember doing that one time. God said, "I've called you to be a pastor."
I was like, "Well, Lord, you know I want to be a doctor. I'm going to school, I'm getting good grades. I want to be a doctor."
He said, "No, I want you to be a pastor."
I said, "Well, you know I want to be a doctor. So how about this? How about if I give half my vacation to going on global teams and helping the poor and hurting, and I give more than ten percent and I give a lot of money, because I can make a lot of money as a doctor. That's what I want to be. I want to be a doctor, and I can do that for you."
And he's like, "No, you are not going to be a doctor."
Now there is nothing wrong with being a doctor, but for me he said, "You're not going to be a doctor, you're going to be a pastor."
And I'm telling you what, my carnal flesh, the enemy was like, "Make a deal. Make a deal. Don't pray not my will, but your will. If you do that, you're going to be, you know, a pastor and you're going to be stuck in some small place somewhere. Don't do that. You want to be a doctor. You're never going to get the Maserati if you're not a doctor." That's what my carnal nature was.
My dad was a car guy. My dad I grew up around cars. It was cars, cars, cars. He worked for Cadillac, so it was cars, cars. And God was like, "This is the deal. This is what I want you to do. This is my will. What are you going to do?"
I can tell you this, as soon as I submitted, as soon as I submitted... I had to call college. I had to call the college I was accepted at and say, "I'm not coming there, I'm not going to be a doctor. God called me to be a pastor. I'm going to Bible college."
They are like, "Okay, Crazy. Bye."
But I tell you what, it was the happiest I felt, because it was not my will, but his will.
So the enemy lies and says, "You don't know where you're going to go. You have no idea. You have no idea where you're going to go. You just control where you go. Don't say not my will, but your will, or he'll send you somewhere. Don't do it. Don't do it."
Say, "God, it is your will. I'll go anywhere you want me to go."
Another lie the enemy says, "As soon as you pray that, God is going to take everything you have. He's going to take everything. As soon as you pray not my will, but your will, you know what he's going to do? He's going to make you sell that, that, that, and that, and take that from you and you'll have nothing. You'll have absolutely nothing. Don't do it. Don't do it."
Can I tell you this? If God takes it, you don't need it. If God asked you to sell it, you don't need it. Okay? Here's the other thing. He does ask some people when they follow him, they say not my will, but your will, Lord, and he may say, "Sell everything you have." He may say that, and he has the right to say that, and you should be happy saying, "Yes, Lord."
But I want to let you in on this, and it's not like I'm saying, "Okay, come on, really be obedient." I'm just letting you know how God does with most people. You say not my will, but your will, and then with everything you own, God says, "Okay, now take care of everything I've given you. It's mine, now take care of it. When I need it, I'll ask you. When I need it, I'll ask you. But I want you to steward it. I want you to take care of it." And mature followers of Jesus Christ understand that what you have is his, and you're taking care of it. And if he says he needs it, you let him have it.
In Brazil this teaching caught on. They are like, "It is not my will, but your will. Lord, you own it all. You own it all." So they brought all their cars, all their boats, all their motorcycles, and all the titles to their homes. They brought them to the church. They said "It's all God's. Not my will, but his will be done." And they gave everything to the church.
And all of a sudden the church said, "What are we going to do with all these cars, boats and houses, and all that?" And they are like, "Everybody wants to sleep at the church and have a sleepover. Let's give them back their cars, their houses, their boats and tell people only to give when God tells them." He wants them to take care of it. He doesn't want them to sleep in the nursery, okay? That's what they said. They said, "Let's give it back to them, and then let's let them obey God individually and realize it is all his, it is all his."
But even if he does say, "Give it all, it's not yours to keep anymore. I want you to sell it. I want you to part with it. It comes, it goes. It's not yours. You are just a steward."
Anything you have on this earth you can't take with you anyway. So why sit there and worry about it? Why stress about it? Why think like, you know, "If I'm here and I say not my will, but your will be done, God for sure is going to crash me down here." Again, that's very real to us.
Just let me give you my own illustrations. I know my own life the best in this. As I was praying this again this week, I'm like, "Okay, God, your will, not my will. Whatever you want."
And then the enemy just said, "Well, what if he sends you to Nowhereville, USA? What if he takes you away from this great church that you've got here right here, and you've been working so hard? What if he says, 'My will is not for you to be there anymore. You're going to Small Town, USA.'"
I said, "If that's where he wants me to go, that's where I'm going." I'm just telling you, it is very real. And then the flesh goes, "No way! No way!" And it's that battle. Whose will is going to win?
And I can tell you very real, a couple months ago Becca and I were assessing just our future. Okay, the kids are graduating. Logan graduated and we are going to be empty nesters, and, God, is this where you want us? Is this a new step? God, what if you just called us here, what if you did that? And we were in a restaurant and we were weeping. We were weeping. Not because of what we could lose, but because we are, like, we're open. It's like we recommitted again. Not my will, but your will be done. And we heard him clearly say, "This is where I want you. This is where I want you. I've planted you here. You're going to take care of this church right now. Stay here."
But I'm telling you, it wasn't like we were like, "Okay, we're not ready to leave it!" It was just like, "God, whatever it is that is your will, that's what we want."
And, again, the enemy is like, "Oh, why would you do that? Why would you do that? You worked so hard."
I'm doing it for his glory. And I wrote this down: God, I don't want a position of greatness, I want a position to meet great needs. I don't want a position of greatness, I want a position to meet great needs. And if God says Nowhereville, USA is, where you're going to meet the greatest need, then that's where I'm doing. Don't believe the lie that if you pray not my will, but your will be done, God is going to take it all away and make it the worst. If he's sending you there, it's the best.
Another lie we think is our will is better and our thinking is better than God's, so we won't pray the prayer. How dumb is that?
Isaiah 59:9. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Okay? God is so much smarter than you, that's even a ridiculous thought to think, "Well, I know better to do with my life than God does." The Bible tells us in the New Testament that the foolishness of God is smarter than the smartest things that man can come up with.
And I was just thinking about this, if Einstein is in heaven I don't know where his faith was but if he was in heaven, I mean can you imagine that? God's like, "Tell another one. That was awesome. Great joke. E=P22. That's so good. All right." I mean, think about it, our smartest is like his foolishness. His thoughts are so much higher. So why would we never want to pray, not my will. We should be praying it, not my will, your will be done. Your will be done.
Here is another lie that we believe. If God is happy, you can't be. We think if you pray that, not my will, but your will, we think it's a win lose. Can I tell you this? It's a win win. If God's happy with what you're doing, you're happy with what you're doing. Does it mean it will be easy? No. But you will be happy. You will be full of joy. You'll have the peace of God. You will understand that he's smiling on you.
And Hebrews 12:2 says this about Jesus and him being obedient and saying not my will, but your will. It says, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. It said there was joy set before him. There was something that God said. "If you obey me, it will bring joy to me and it will bring joy to you. My plan is for you to do this."
And there is a thought here, because the Bible says in the passage we read an angel came and ministered to him. Jesus is praying not my will, but your will be done. And then Hebrews says, For the joy set before him, he endured the cross. It's thought that that angel came to him because angels are messengers of God that that angel came to Jesus and said, "Jesus, the Father has sent me with a message. There's no other way. But guess what? The joy that you're going to bring to him, the peace that you're doing to bring with mankind, you're going to break down the wall. There is going to be peace with God. Sin is going to be taken care of. The perfect sacrifice will be given. So many more will come to faith. This message will go to the Gentiles and to all the world." Who knows, maybe the angel started listing names and saying numbers from countries that would be changed for eternity.
And the joy that was set before Jesus, all of a sudden he's like, "I'm doing it. I'm doing it."
When you obey God, it is a win win, not a win lose. And the joy that will flood you will be just like the joy that started to flood Jesus. And then it said he prayed even harder. And I believe this. I believe this is why he prayed harder, not like, "Please, please, please, let it go, please, please, please." I think at that moment, once the angel ministered to him and he realized the joy that was set before him, the joy that he would bring to his Heavenly Father, he started praying this, "Father, don't let my flesh fail. When they whip me, don't let my flesh fail. When they beat me, don't let me collapse, because I have to get to the cross so you can put all this on me. When I get to the cross, don't let me pass out from the pain, because I have to endure this. This is your will. Don't let me fail you."
Notice the difference. Before, he's like, "If there is any other plan, help me." "Okay, this is the plan. Make me get through with it."
That should be our resolve. Not my will, but your will. And, Father, help me to get to that country. I don't want to I need to get to that country if that's in your will. God, help me to give that much to Kingdom Builders before I die. If that's your plan, don't let me fail. Let me get there. God, whatever it is, let me teach, let me raise those people up, let me mentor. Let me do that. God, don't let me fail. Let me get to the spot. I've got to get to the spot. That's what I believe Jesus is praying. God's plan is best. God's will is best. It is an amazing journey to follow him. Do not believe the lie that it's a dangerous prayer to pray not my will, but your will be done. It is a dangerous prayer to not be prayed by you.
How can a church that says they love Jesus, that he is our Lord and Savior, not want to pray that prayer? How can we shy away and believe lies where people are like, "No, don't say that. You'll never do that, because then you'll get sent there. Oh, no, don't do that."
That's ridiculous. We ought to say, "God, wherever you want to send me, yes. Whatever you want me to give, yes. Wherever you want me to lead, yes. Wherever you want me to teach, yes, yes, yes. Not my will, your will. If I'm here and you want me here, yes. If I'm here and you want me here, yes. If I'm here and you want me there, yes. Yes, yes, yes."
That ought to be our answer. That ought to be our prayer. Not my will, but your will be done. I will tell you this. If you pray that prayer, get ready for a surprise ending. Get ready for a surprise ending. You say, "Well, this is my plan that I have with my life," and you say, "Not my will, but your will be done," it will be a surprise ending that will bring joy to your Heavenly Father, joy to you. It will be worth it to pray not my will, but your will.
So, Lord, I pray that right over our church and in my own life. Not my will, but your will. Not our will, but your will. If we need to lay it down, let us lay it down. If we need to let it go, help us to let it go. Whatever it is, Lord, not our will, but your will.
And I come against the fear and the lies of the enemy that say we can't pray that way, we can't do those things, you're never going to do good by us. Yes, you are. If it's pain and suffering for your glory and for your honor, then that's what we say yes to. If it's selling all for your glory and your honor, we say yes. Whatever it is, we say yes. Not my will, but your will. May that be the type of follower that we are. Not my will, but your will be done.
In Jesus' name I pray. Amen, amen.
