“When God Has His Own Way”
John 6:38 / Matthew 26:39
David P. Nolte
It is a human tendency to want to be in control. We want to be right. We want our own way. We want to win. We want to be in charge.
But there is risk in that because the Bible says, “There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” Proverbs 16:25 (NASB).
In the days of the Israelite Judges, before they had a king, the people had a tendency to idolatry and immorality so God would discipline them by foreign nations oppressing them. They’d repent and cry out and He would send a Judge to rescue them – that cycle of sin, punishment, repentance, appeal and deliverance was repeated over and over again.
In Judges we read, “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” Judges 21:25 (NASB).
If any man ever had a right to His own way, it was Jesus. Yet He declared, and demonstrated, His complete surrender to the will of the Father.
“For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” John 6:38 (NASB). And, in the garden, “He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.’” Matthew 26:39 (NASB).
Corrie Ten Boom said, “The center of His will is our only safety; let us pray that we may always know it!”
In 1902, Adelaide A. Pollard learned that lesson. She was hoping to go to Africa as a missionary but found herself unable to raise the needed funds to make the journey. Greatly discouraged, she attended a prayer service and she overheard an elderly woman say "It really doesn't matter what You do with us, Lord, just have Your own way." The elderly woman inspired Pollard and upon her return home that evening, wrote all four stanzas of the great song Brenda sang.
“Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.”
God’s will is good, acceptale and perfect – but not necessarily cozy, comfortable and cushy. In fact, when God has His way in our lives it means a cross! It means change! Consider the implications of God having His own way:
I. IT MAY CHANGE OUR PLANS:
A. We all make plans – short term plans like a Saturday picnic and long term plans like a career or education
B. Here’s what the Bible says about human plans:
1. “Mortals make elaborate plans, but GOD has the last word.” Proverbs 16:1 (MSG).
2. “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will be established.” Proverbs 19:21 (RSV).
3. “And now I have a word for you who brashly announce, ‘Today—at the latest, tomorrow—we're off to such and such a city for the year. We're going to start a business and make a lot of money.’ You don't know the first thing about tomorrow. You're nothing but a wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing. Instead, make it a habit to say, ‘If the Master wills it and we're still alive, we'll do this or that.’ As it is, you are full of your grandiose selves. All such vaunting self-importance is evil.” James 4:13-16 (MSG).
C. Not all our plans go down the tube – often they may align to God’s will for us. But when they are amiss, “Have Thine own way” means, “Change them as you want to!”
1. God changed my plans. In 1960 I began studies in the field of Electrical Engineering at New Mexico State University. There was a program in which I worked 6 months for the army at White Sands Missile Range and then attended classes for 6 months, repeating the rotation until graduation. In 1963 the Lord laid His hand on my life and changed my plans. I enrolled in classes at Northwest Christian College and graduated in 1965. He changed my first plan but confirmed the second plan.
2. If you truly want God to have His way, it might upset a your apple cart but He will replace it with an entire orchard.
D. Since
1. We cannot see tomorrow, let Him Who does guide you today!
2. We cannot control the future, let Him Who does control today.
3. We cannot see all unknown details, let Him Who can be in charge of each one.
4. We don’t always know what is best, let Him who does decide for us.
E. Let me illustrate how God changes plans. During the 1915 massacre of more than a million Armenians by the Turks, a military unit attacked a village, killing all the adults and children and took the young women as hostages. An officer led a raid into a home in which he shot the parents, gave the younger daughters to his men, but kept the oldest daughter for himself.
After months of captivity and unspeakable abuse, she escaped. She decided that one day she would get revenge. She planned to find a way to kill her captor. But over the years she rebuilt her life, and she became a nurse.
One night while on duty in a Turkish hospital, she recognized the face of a desperately ill, comatose patient in intensive care. It was her captor and abuser, the murderer of her parents. He was unconscious and required constant care to survive. He was too ill to recognize his surroundings. But she recognized him and all the old pain and hurt swept over her. Revenge would be easy and pleasant.
But one day after he was almost well, the doctor said to him, “You are a very fortunate man. Had it not been for the devotion of this nurse, you would never have made it, you certainly would be dead.” The officer looked at the nurse a long time. ”I’ve wanted to ask for days — we have met before, have we not?” “Yes,” she replied, “we have met before.”
The man knew instantly who she was and what she meant. “Why didn’t you kill me when you had the opportunity? Or why didn’t you just let me die?” “Because,” the nurse replied, “I am a follower of one who taught, love your enemies.” The Lord had His own way and her plans changed. It may change our plans, too. And:
II. IT MAY CHANGE OUR PRAYERS:
A. Sometimes our prayers are
1. More like a shopping list or a requisition slip: One man prayed“Lord bless me, my wife, our sons, we four, no more!”
2. Skeptical and doubting: A woman lived in a small house built at the foot of a tall mountain. The mountain obstructed her view and made the inside of the house dark. She had read Jesus' promise about faith moving mountains. Taking it literally, one night she prayed that the Lord would remove the mountain. The next morning the mountain was still there. "Humph!" she replied. "Just as I expected!"
3. Tedious and theatrical: “Oh Thou Who sittest on the periphery of the universe, doest Thou according to the dictates of the panoply of Thine Beneficence!”
4. Repetitive and redundant: “Dear Lord, we thank You Dear Lord, and Dear Lord we ask your blessing Dear Lord and Dear Lord, forgive us, Dear Lord, for we, Dear Lord, have sinned.”
B. Understand that:
1. Prayer is not a string of religious words, however well arranged.
2. Prayer is not an effort to bring God into our service.
3. Prayer is not an attempt to manipulate God to our own ends.
4. Prayer is not a ploy to bring God around to our way of thinking.
C. Understand also;
1. Prayer is more seeking God’s will than it is to inform Him of our will.
2. Prayer is sharing a dialogue with God in which we make our requests known and wait for His reply.
3. Prayer is spending quality time with our Father, maybe in silence, maybe in tears, maybe in laughter.
4. Prayer is immersing ourselves in His peace, power, promise and presence.
D. How might our prayers need to change?
1. Less griping and more gratitude.
2. Less selfish demanding and more self denial
3. Less repetition and more reality.
4. Less rushing and more resting.
5. Less “Me” and more “We.”
6. Less bargaining with God and more blessing Him.
E. Spurgeon once said: "There is no need for us to go beating about the bush, and not telling the Lord distinctly what it is that we crave at His hands. Nor will it be seemly for us to make any attempt to use fine language; but let us ask God in the simplest and most direct manner for just the things we want...I believe in business prayers. I mean prayers in which you take to God one of the many promises which He has given us in His Work, and expect it to be fulfilled as certainly as we look for the money to be given us when we go to the bank to cash a check. We should not think of going there, lolling over the counter chattering with the clerks on every conceivable subject except the one thing for which we had gone to the bank, and then coming away without the coin we needed; but we should lay before the clerk the promise to pay the bearer a certain sum, tell him in what form we wish to take the amount, count the cash after him, and then go on our way to attend to other business. That is just an illustration of the method in which we should draw supplies from the Bank of Heaven." When God has His way it may change our praers,
III. IT MAY CHANGE OUR PERFORMANCE:
A. Mere behavior modification does not produce Christian life, but Christian life produces behavior modification.
1. When John the Baptist saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” Matthew 3:7-8 (NASB).
2. As Paul testified, “So, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision, but kept declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance.” Acts 26:19-20 (NASB).
B. When God has His way
1. We talk differently.
2. We walk differently.
3. We think differently.
4. We respond differently.
C. Cases in point:
1. Zaccheus who changed from greedy tax collector to benevolent giver.
2. Peter who denied Jesus became the bold preacher and defender of the faith.
3. Saul the persecutor became Paul the apostle.
D. Belief determines behavior.
1. If what we believe is wrong it will lead to wrong behavior. And if our behavior is wrong, our belief cannot be right.
2. Right belief issues in right behavior.
E. An example of bad behavior issuing from wrong belief is the Jonestown mass suicide. A religious leader named Jim Jones founded a cult called the People’s Temple based in San Francisco. Through a variety of methods he persuaded people to join and reprogrammed them to abandon their former lives and recognize his supreme authority. There came a time when Jones decided to move the community from San Francisco to Guyana. A congressman named Leo Ryan visited them to investigate charges of undue influence. Members of the cult killed him and his entourage as he was leaving. This was Jones’ cue to implement a ritual suicide in which close to one thousand people died by drinking poisoned kool-aid. They believed a lie and acted on it.
O Conversely, a 12-year-old boy named Roger, whose parents had died from a drug overdose, illustrates positive behavioral change. He was placed in a minister’s home and they decided they’d just raise him as if he were one of their own sons. At first it was quite difficult for Roger to adjust to his new home—an environment free of heroine-addicted adults, one that had definite guidelines.
When necessary, the foster parents patiently reminded Roger: "That’s not how we behave in this family." "You don’t have to scream or fight or hurt other people to get what you want." “ Roger, we expect you to show respect in this family."
He accepted Jesus as Savior and began to change. Now, did Roger have to make all those changes in order to become a part of the family? No. He was made a part of the family simply by the grace of that home. But did he then change his behavior because he was in the family? For sure!
Are you willing to let the Lord change you? Do you want His way in your life? There’s only one way to experience that and it is to trust Him enough to obey Him.
He loves you just as you are but He loves you too much to leave you as you are. THIS THANKSGIVING THANK HIM BY MAKING HIM LORD OF LIFE!
This can be a day of new beginning – you can be more than you are – He can change you for the good if and when you trust and obey.
