LIVING WORD DEVOTIONAL
By Pastor Mensa Otabil
Monday 14th April 2025
CHOOSE GOD’S WILL
And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” Luke 22:41–42
The choice that ended up in the fall of the human race took place in a garden – the Garden of Eden. The choice that led to our salvation and restoration also took place in a garden – the garden of Gethsemane. In the Garden of Eden, Adam used his will to override God’s will. In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus submitted His will to that of the Father.
In the garden of Gethsemane, we see the epic battle for the soul of the human race. That battle was not between God and Satan or Man and Satan. The real war we have fought since God created us is between our will and God’s will. Adam and Eve’s sin was not so much about how Satan tempted them as about how they turned against the will of God. As the last Adam who came to right the wrong of the first Adam, Jesus was faced with whether He would choose the Father’s will or His will.
Standing as our representative, Jesus made a choice that eventually made it possible for all human beings to be reconciled with God. Christ knew of the enormous price He had to pay for people who did not even appreciate what He was doing for them. He knew of the spiritual weight He had to carry when He took on the sin of the whole world in all times and places.
In Gethsemane, Jesus was committed to God’s will, even above His own. That meant separation, suffering and death. Almost as if in answer to the prayer, an angel appeared to minister strength to Jesus.
Already committed to God’s will, Jesus continued to pray with even more intense emotion. He prayed so earnestly that His sweat fell ‘like drops of blood falling to the ground’. Such sweating indicated the intensity of Jesus’ feelings and condition. In a literal sense, the shedding of blood was already beginning. A deep dependence on the Father sometimes comes with great pain.
In Gethsemane, Jesus chose God’s will and went on to pay the price for our salvation.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, I surrender my will to you. I am totally yours. Do with me as you desire. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
