# Accepting God’s will when you don’t like it

Key Passage: Matthew 26
Date: June 7, 2024

Turn your Bibles, if you would, to Matthew chapter 26. Matthew chapter 26.

Just briefly tonight, I feel like the Lord would have us go this way: accepting God’s will when you do not like God’s will. Accepting God’s will when you do not like God’s will. Usually, that is a temporary thing. God can give you the desire, but sometimes life just brings about things that, at least at the moment, seem very—and it is not palatable, if you will—very tough to face. Accepting God’s will when you do not like God’s will.

Matthew 26, of course, we are using our Savior here as our example. It is amazing how God gives us a look into His prayer life of a man—yes, God, but as a man that is about to be killed. He knows that. He lays down His life; He allows that. It gives us a glimpse into His prayer life right before He is going to be tortured, mocked, and spit upon. He knew all this was going to happen, and He had read the prophecies about it.

But right before that, the Bible gives us a glimpse into His prayer life. That night, right before the Lord’s Supper has already happened—the Last Supper—He is in the garden. He has His apostles there, and there are three there, and He is praying. We get a little glimpse into that right before Judas meets Him and betrays Him, and then the soldiers and so on.

Let us take a brief look at that, and then we will look at Paul for a moment regarding this thing of accepting God’s will when we do not like God’s will. Just briefly tonight. Would you please stand and read God’s word together? Matthew 26, starting in verse 39. Matthew 26, verse 39. If you are there, would you say amen?

Good. Verse 39 says, “And when he went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed, saying…” Now, I want you to notice—look—I want you to study this prayer here three times. The first two times it tells us very specifically what He said. Then the last time, it just says He said the same words as the second time. So here is the first one, verse 39: “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.”

He came unto the disciples and found them asleep and said then to Peter, “What? Could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

He went away again the second time and prayed, saying, “Here it is, watch it: ‘O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, Thy will be done.’” He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. He left them and went away again and prayed the third time, saying the same words.

Then cometh He to His disciples and saith unto them, “Sleep on now, and take your rest. Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. Behold, He is at hand that doth betray Me.”

Would you pray with me that God would apply this truth—maybe in a big way in your life, maybe a little way in your life, about a little thing in your life—but just that God applies this truth to your life and my life as a preacher for just a bit tonight? Father, Lord, we come. Lord, I believe You have led this way. Lord, I do not know all the reasons, all the situation, but of course, You do. So, Lord, where needed, would You apply this truth? Thank You, Jesus, for being our example. And, Father, would You send Your Spirit teaching us, applying this truth? Lord, we will thank You and praise You and brag on You for what You do. Father, asking in Jesus’ name for these things. Amen.

Would you look back at those exact words I am told about? If you have a red-letter edition Bible, just look at the prayer, the words of Jesus when He is praying, verse 39.

Verse 39, a little bit down there. He says, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” Twenty-two words. Now look in verse 42. Verse 42: “O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me except I drink it, Thy will be done.”

I want you to think about these things. I want you to study them. Let us go back. Let us get the twenty-two words from the first time. By the way, if they were the same words, He could have just said, “They prayed the same thing all three times.” He did that for the second and third, but He did not do that for the first and second. There is a difference here. He is telling us that for a reason. Look at it again. Verse 39: “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” Verse 42: “O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me except I drink it, Thy will be done.” Now let us do this: Both prayers, both of them, have “O my Father.” So let us take that out, all right? We are trying to study this and try to get something to learn from what we are taking out of the prayer.

Verse 39, the first time He prayed: “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” Verse 42: “If this cup may not pass away from me except I drink it, Thy will be done.” Did you notice the first prayer? The emphasis, if you will, the asking, if you will—the first thing is, “If it be possible, let this cup pass.” Not my way, but that be done. Nevertheless, not my way, but that be done. But the emphasis is just, “If it be possible, let this thing pass. Let this cup pass.”

Now, verse 42. It is almost as if God has led Him. I am not trying to take away from the deity of Christ, but He is praying here as a man—still God, but He is praying as a man here. It is almost as if the Father has led already in His heart, and if you will, He is beginning to feel the leadership of the Holy Spirit. He kind of knows it is not as well for it to pass. Do you get that feel? The first one there: “If it be possible, let this cup pass… But Thy will be done.”

But look at this second way: “If this cup may not pass…” Notice how he is beginning. “O my Father,” both of them. But now, “if this cup may not pass,” it is almost as if he already has some leadership. The Holy Spirit has begun to give His illumination—the subtle leading of the Holy Spirit, the still, small voice speaking. And he is changing, just ever so small, but he is changing his prayer. It is not the same. Verse 39, verse 42. Verse 42: “If this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, Thy will be done.”

Isn’t that the way it is? Someone said, “The more I pray, the clearer it becomes.” It is so typical of God’s leading, especially during tough times. Look over in 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Apostle Paul, he is facing the will of God for his life that was not very palatable to him. In fact, he listed it as a thorn. A thorn? You say, “Well, there are little bitty things. Let a thorn be in your foot for a couple weeks, you know, and see how easy it is to walk.” Or have you ever had a thorn in your thumb? You know, I crack myself up even when I am not trying to. That is the problem. But you ever get a thorn in your thumb? Not that one, amen, then this one there. And let us stay in there for a while. At first, no big deal. After a while, it becomes a big deal. And things get infected. And occasionally they will…

My son, when he was a boy, we were walking on a wooden dock, and you know how boys will run wherever they go. He was barefoot, and he ran, and as his foot was coming down, there was a splinter sticking up, and that splinter went all the way up in there, man. We tried to get it out. We got the exterior part of it out, but it closed over. You say you should have manned up and cut it yourself with your pocket knife. I thought about it a little bit. But we went—eventually, we went to the hospital, ER, you know—and they numbed it, and they took a razor blade, literally a razor blade type thing, and they cut it. When they did, boy, just kind of pop, and all that pus and infection and a thorn or a piece of wood came out of that thing. So, thorns. Get a thorn in your thumb. How about that? See how that does for you.

That is what Paul describes. Look here, if you would. We will get a full description. Look at verse 7. 2 Corinthians 12, verse 7. He says, “Unless I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelation, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh.” Watch this: “The messenger of Satan to buffet me.” To buffet means to beat the tar out of, amen. That is exactly what it means. The messenger of Satan—I mean, that is God—Satan’s messenger coming. God allowed it. And then he is beating him up, beating the tar out of him, as someone said. “The messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest that I should be exalted above measure.” For this thing, “I besought”—I begged—“I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me.” Took him three times, too, kind of like Jesus, three times, if you will.

And He said unto me, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Watch this: “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” It took Paul a bit, but he got to the point where he said, I am going to accept the will of God, even though originally he did not like it. But it got to the point that he said, I take pleasure. I take pleasure in that.

Now, friends, sometimes things come in your life that God has allowed for whatever may be, and it is just not pleasant. It is a thorn. You see the storm coming, and there are going to be problems, and they are going to pluck His beard out, and it is going to be suffering and mocking, and people are going to talk about you, make fun of you, and spit upon you. Sometimes God is leading you there, and Jesus knew what was coming, and yet He prayed. Part of accepting the will of God, even when we do not like it, prayer must be a part of that. It must be. It needs to be bathed in prayer. This was not just a casual prayer Jesus made.

Look, if you will, same situation, but another parallel gospel. Look over in Luke chapter 22, would you please? Let us just see. By the way, it took Him an hour. We are not sure about the last two times, but this first time, an hour. I want you to see what this hour of prayer was like. Look in Luke 22. Luke 22, would you look in verse 42? It describes what is going on here, this first hour. Many times we think three hours of prayer, maybe so, but we know the first one for sure. Look in verse 42, saying, “Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from me.” By the way, you do not like this thing coming up, this storm coming? Nothing wrong with asking God, “Would You take it away?” Philippians says, “Let your requests be made known unto God.” That is not bad. Of course, Jesus is our example. “Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not My will, but Thine be done.”

“And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.” Wow. Much need for that. Look at the next verse. “And being in agony, this is not a casual prayer meeting.” Being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. So earnestly, watch this: “And His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” Medical doctors tell us you get so intense that the capillaries underneath the skin can burst. You are so intense, and you can literally sweat blood, mixed with your sweat.

Friends, I am saying Jesus, when He was going through this, especially this first hour when the Spirit began to guide and say, “It is God, it is Father’s will”—and maybe He went through a lot of that that has been an example to you, and I have not been going through these times—but when He was going through that, that was an intense time. So intense that He sweated great drops of blood. It is not always so easy just to accept. Well, it is easy to accept the will of God when we go through some tough times. In fact, Jesus prayed through this prayer time three times, maybe three hours. I am not sure about the others, but we know the first one was an hour. And Paul, I do not think he was talking about three times just casually. I think maybe three seasons of prayer that Paul spent. Maybe three times he fasted, I am not sure, but three major times that he went to God about this storm: “Lord, would You do something about this?” Meaning says his eyes—we do not know for sure. Maybe it was his eyes. I understand about the big writing and all those other people wrote for them. I understand all that, but we do not know if it shows his eyes. There is a thorn, a thorn in his flesh. And at three times, oh, friend, it is so vital that you and I, with these tough things to accept that are in our life, that we bathe them in prayer. Bathe them in prayer.

The more I pray, the clearer the leading becomes. The more I pray, the fainter my voice becomes and the clearer His voice becomes. The more I pray, the greater the desire to do His will becomes and the weaker the desire to do my will becomes. It takes time in prayer, my friends. The more I pray, the firmer His will becomes and the more pliable my will becomes. The more I pray about it, the greater and the more important His agenda becomes and the less important my agenda becomes. Friend, bathing this thing in prayer. When is the last time we have agonized about truly accepting, “All right, God, You are allowing this thing in my life? I know You have a reason, a purpose in that”? So vital, friend. So, so very, very important. Let me say this: “Not my will, but Thy will” must be a part of it. Must be a part of it. Oh, the first time, I do not think it is real easy to say that, but He said it, amen. It must be a part of that.

That is why He has in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.” Prayer is not you and I. The prayer closer is not you and I twisting God’s arm trying to get Him to do what you want. Oh, no. I would like to see how you are doing trying to twist God’s arm, amen. Let us see how that works out for you there, friend. No, it is us getting in tune with God and then walking with God in prayer. Often the greatest thing that gets changed in prayer is our heart. Prayer. It is so vital. It is the time to get our will in tune with His will. And then we ask according to His will, we have confidence that helps us. See?

I think of it just with my mind, and I read and I talk about a point like that, my mind goes to a man I love very much. But I think of years ago, he just had to—had to have this one woman, and there already had been—it had already been burned. We will just say it that way. And he said, and he said, and he wanted to meet about, “Do I have to put in there,” you know, basically, “Do I have to put in there, knock on wood, but Thy will be done? And if God has given us all these promises, prayer, problem, and I am claiming it all, and God has got to do this.” And I said, “You might not want God to do that. And you better put that in there, knock on wood, but Thy will be done,” you know. And boy, just, “I am claiming these promises.” God has got to honor His word. And I said, “Well, there are other parts to His word. You understand that. And you better put it in there. You better…” And just, “I am going to claim these promises of God.” Can I be honest with you? God has answered that prayer more than once for that man’s life, and his heart has been crushed more than once also by the same person. Friend, you better have it in there: “Not my will, nevertheless, not my will, but Thine be done.” That must be in there. Must be in there. God gives His best to those that leave the choice to Him. Very, very important.

Now let us just try to bring it into 2023 for just a moment here. Let us try to make it personal. I do not know what is going on for you. But sometimes it is hard to accept health problems, ongoing. I do not know. You know, every sickness in our day and time was autoimmune, you know. That is terms used often with the—I was speaking with one of our men yesterday, and he said, “Pastor, my arthritis is getting so bad.” And he said, he went to the store. He was going to change some pants. They were too big or too small, I do not know. And he said, I went there, and he said, I tried to get out of the car several times. Could not even get out of the car. And finally told my wife, “Let us just go home. The pain is too bad.”

Sometimes that is hard to accept. And sometimes it is not so easy. You just say, “Well, you know, not my will, but Thy will be done.” But, oh, my friend, it is so important. You know what? This is what God is giving me. I am going to accept it. Now it takes time. And it is right. He said, “Hey, would You let this thing pass? I do not like. I do not want this thing.” That is right to do, friend. But there does come a time of God’s leading that He may say, “Hey, this is My will.”

And all that is easy to do, well, maybe if it is your heart for the rest of your life, it is not so easy to accept. Ongoing sickness can be such a tough battle. And whatever the disease may be, it is not always easy to accept that. But sometimes, you know, instead of fighting against it for the rest of your life, spending a season in prayer and saying, “All right, God.” No, I would say, hey, spend seasons in prayer and seeking God’s will. But there comes a point—I think about somebody who says, “Well, my maid is gone,” or “I have never had a maid”—and there comes a time, “Lord, I am seeking for a maid. I would like to have a maid. I like to have a maid.” I am not trying to say this for every individual here, but it may come a time after seasons of prayer. You say, “All right, God, I am going to accept it.”

It is not a fair analogy because God did not go this way with me. But I was in Bible college, and I dated and dated and dated and dated, but none of them were God’s will. And I said, “All this ain’t right.” In fact, I could have finished in four years in Bible college. You say you are sure about that? I think so. I was doing good; I would get good at cheating on my test. I mean, I was passing all, you know. And I decided to take my last year in two years because it really was not dating anybody seriously.

And I came up to graduation, and I was not dating anyone seriously. And I wrestled with that thing. And I finally said, “Lord, it is going to kill me, but if You want me to be single, I am going to accept it.” And God did not want that for my life, but He wanted me to surrender.

And just accepting God’s will—I do not know for you. It may be your job. “Well, I want a better career. I want a different career.” It may be that. I do not know. And it is right to seek God and beg God and plead with God about that; that is right to do, friend. But it may be after three seasons of prayer, God says—and it is right to say—“All right, therefore I will take pleasure in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

You know, it is Paul that said the fellowship of His suffering. Sometimes you get closer to God by going through the fellowship of His sufferings. I do not know what it is for you. You say, “Pastor, you do not know what my marriage is like. I wish I was in a different relationship with my spouse and this and that, another.” And friends, sometimes you say, “You know, I am married. This is God’s will. I am going to accept it.” No biblical grounds. I am here, and I am not going to fight against them. I am going to accept it. By the way, you know, if we get those that are lonely and those that we get them together, you know—I mean, I tell you what, I am joking about that, you know—but I do not know what it is for your life. Maybe you say, “We want children, but God is not giving us them.” I am not saying that is it, but I am just saying maybe just seasons of prayer. And it is saying, “All right, God.”

When I lost my fingers, you have heard me tell about that so much. And I do not want to be redundant in it, but at first, everything was all right. I mean, it was last year, and so I was still single. You just heard me talk about that. And so I met a lady, and I am a single guy, lost my fingers in college, and, you know, a couple thousand people there, you know, whatever. And boy, so I was having food brought in. Somebody say amen right there. I was all right for a bit there, you know. But the old month or so afterwards—I do not know, maybe somewhere along there, maybe a little bit later than that, maybe a couple months after—but I tried to get back into life, the routine of life. And I never forget, one of the most embarrassing things: playing basketball, I was adjusting. And that part did not bother everybody; you know, everybody knew it was going to take a lot to learn how to play basketball like that now. But the problem was, my shoestring was untied in the middle of the game. Now, friend, it is embarrassing to stop and tie your shoe for five minutes in a basketball game. You understand what I am saying? And who wants to get the guy next to you to tie your shoestring in front of everybody? No, you know.

If I ever do lose my salvation, I am going to lose it over buttoning that button right there. I tell you what. And I was in the dorms. And who wants to go to your roommate and say, “Would you button my button for me?” That just does not work. And it kind of came to that time where I realized, “I am stuck. I am going to be like this for the rest of my life.” And that is when you kind of start battling this thing: “Lord, is this…” There are prosthetics out there, you understand? And you kind of have to go through that. Maybe an hour, maybe two, maybe three, just getting along with God. And it was a good day for me. My way of accepting it was more like thanking Him for it. It was not, “God, I like this,” but it was, “Lord, I do not know why, but I know You have a reason, but I am going to thank You the best that I can.” That was my way of accepting this is God’s will. Friend, I do not know what it might be for you, probably something I never even dreamed of. But it is a good day when you—and maybe it is something that has already happened in your life that was for me. Maybe it is the passing of one you love so very much, and it is just hard to accept it. Something—it was already done on my hand, but it was a little while later I had to accept it. But Jesus here, He is praying, and it was so intense, so much so that He is sweating drops of blood. You are talking about intense? But you see the shift as He prays.

And also very, very important. But let me say this: Is it not amazing, out of Jesus accepting the will of the Father? Yes, He was still completely God. Yes, He knew. But yes, He has been your example, my example. And out of Jesus accepting the will of the Father for His life, the greatest blessings ever happened to all mankind came from that.

Oh, and I just accept: “All right, God.” It may take seasons of prayer. I think about Paul and Silas. It took until midnight, but they prayed and sang praises. That was them accepting God’s will. By the way, after they prayed and sang praises—I think that order is very, very important—it took some, maybe that hour in prayer, if you will. And after they prayed and sang praises at midnight, then God began to do something, and great victory! Oh, I love it. I love it when you… I had the privilege of leading someone to my Lord Monday in my office, and I saw just the clearest thing in all the Bible: “What must I do to be saved?” Well, that is pretty clear, you know. “I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and I shall be saved.” In that house, wow, I love that. That came from Paul and Silas praying and singing in praise, accepting the will of God. Oh, yeah.

I thought about Jeremiah, that great prophet, that… Oh, it would have been nice if Jeremiah could have been like Daniel: “Let me go over there to Babylon. Maybe God put me in the Magi there, and boy, I will be second in command or third in command, and everybody will know about me in the kingdom.” That was not Jeremiah’s lot. He was to hang out with the—oh, I am using this term lightly—with the nobodies and the rebellious people. And God kept giving them chance and chance, but they kept rebelling against God. And Jeremiah, it was his job to minister to them, even into Egypt. Oh, my goodness, poor Jeremiah. But Jeremiah accepted God’s will for his life, and God made Jeremiah into the great weeping prophet. He realized how much—if you just take the words and verses—Jeremiah maybe penned more of the Old Testament than just about any besides Moses. Jeremiah accepted God’s will for his life. And oh, I thought about Joseph.

And maybe, maybe as his brothers were lowering him in that pit, I am sure he had to battle that, friend. And then they pulled him out and sold him to the Ishmaelites and ended up over in Egypt. And then at Potiphar’s house—well, things are going good. “I am rising up in Potiphar’s house. I am in control around here,” you know—until Potiphar’s wife lied about him, and he backed down to the bottom in prison over there. And then, rising up in prison, he is the keeper of the president. And then, boy, what about that? The butler and the baker. And the butler, “Hey, do not forget, remember, hey, mention me to Pharaoh.” And the butler forgot about him. I think maybe it took all of those, what, thirteen years or so for Joseph to accept, “All right, this is my lot and life, if you will. This is God’s will for me.” Psalm 105 talks about how his feet were in fetters, and it showed he left marks. And, oh, Joseph, I am sure he agonized over this: “God, what are You doing?” By the way, his family—his brothers hated him. It is very interesting. Even after they came over to Egypt, he nursed them, took care of them. Dad passed away. He realized he never really was close to his family again. Even after Dad died, they said, “Well, let us say Dad told us these things.” And Joseph said, “You do not have to lie to me.” That is where that famous phrase from Genesis, chapter 50, comes from: “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.” Joseph says, “Hey, I have accepted God has a reason. I have accepted—I do not like it—but I have accepted God’s will for my life.” And through that, of course, our Savior and that lineage there in the children of Israel, God kept them living through that.

I think about a little mother years and years and years ago back in the day. She lost her child at birth. That happened a lot back in the day. And she said, “I am going to accept the grief of this.” And she turned it into ministry. People would come from miles and miles away to get some comfort from that lady, especially if they had lost a child. But she accepted it. And agonizing over it, praying—and I would say this, I would say this: Pray until God either gives you what you are praying for—let your request be made known of God—or He changes your heart. Keep praying until He does one of the two. Paul, he kept praying, he kept praying, and God said, “No, no, no. My will is for you to have that thorn because I need you to weep, because My strength is made perfect in weakness.” And Jesus, you can tell the shift there in the beginning: “Hey, if it is possible, take this cup away.” Second time, He said, “Look, if it is not possible, all right.” And accepting… I think of a lady whose husband was a hard worker, an honest man, hardworking man, but he did not go to church. He was not a church attender; he drank. And he would go to work, work hard, come home. And he was not the father they ought to be, not the husband they ought to be. But he would come home and kind of sit in his chair and drink, take his boots off, and just sit there in a chair. And that lady, that lady, she did not get mad and bitter and complain to lead all her daughters. Just to try to be the best Christian wife and be a godly lady to the man and to her daughters. And she accepted, “All right, God has got me here.” Not that it was God’s will for that man to do that, but God allowed that. And today, I think all of her—if I remember—all of her daughters are in the full-time ministry today. And one that I know very well, her husband is a pastor, doing an incredible job for God. That lady accepted, “All right, it is my lot in life.” And not the most glorious, but I am going to accept it. God has a will. He has allowed this to happen in my life, and I am going to stay faithful to Him.

I think about Joni Eareckson Tada. How many of you know Joni Eareckson Tada? You have heard her on the radio or something like that. As a young lady, she had an accident swimming. If I remember right, she broke her neck, paralyzed from the neck down, just in a wheelchair for the rest of her life. And she could have battled that and said, “You know, fight against this, can’t believe it.” But she accepted it. God has a reason for allowing this. And God has used her testimony and her life around the world, literally. Ministry to handicap and getting wheelchairs to other third countries there. And God has just used her. He has used her in my life before, listening on the radio. And God’s—it is amazing. She has accepted it, and she is trying to do the best she can where she is at now. She even paints sometimes, and they put a paintbrush in her mouth. And she is somewhat of an artist, painting with a paintbrush at her mouth because she cannot move her hands and whatnot. And she has literally a worldwide ministry.

Sometimes we just say, “Lord, I do not necessarily like this cup. I do not like the will,” but I am going to pray about it and seek. I am asking, “If it is possible, Lord, would You let this cup pass? But not My will. Nevertheless, not My will, but Thine be done.” And the Holy Spirit gives leadership. It may take three times. Maybe He will give you what you want. I hope He does. But sometimes God says, “No, this is My will. This is My will. I am allowing this for a reason.” And out of those tragedies, sometimes the greatest blessings, the sweetest blessings, the most comfort to others, the joy, the ministries that are birthed out of people saying, “All right, God, I am going to accept Your will.” I have prayed over it. You have weakened my desire for what I want. You strengthen my desire for what You want. “Hey, apostles, let us go do it. Let us go. Let us go.”

Would you bow your head and close your eyes, please? Our heads are bowed, eyes are closed. You are here tonight. I am just going to ask a couple questions very briefly tonight. You said, “Preacher, there is a thing in my life, a cup, a thorn, and I need to bathe that in prayer.” Maybe it is fasting, I do not know, but I need to take this to God in earnest. And I need to go to God about this situation, about this thing. I need to seek Him. “Lord, if it be possible, I need to—I am going to take this matter to God in a serious manner in prayer. And I will be spending time in prayer about this situation.” If that is you tonight: “Preacher, I am going to just slip up my hand. I am going to spend some time with God about this thing in prayer.” If that is you, just let me see your hand. God bless you. God bless you. That is good. That is good. That is the right thing to do. Pray until He answers—either gives you what you want or changes your heart. Pray about that thing. Seek His leadership over that. God bless you.

Maybe you hear yourself say, “Preacher, God spoke to my heart. I believe He has already given leadership, and I need to accept it: ‘Not my will, but Thine be done.’” I need to include that in my prayer life. I need to include that in my heart, the best I can. “All right, God, I am not going to twist Your arm. I am going to have that in my prayer life also. Nevertheless, not my will, but Thine be done.” I need to include that more in my prayer life regarding this issue in my life. God spoke to my heart. God spoke to my heart. If that is you tonight, slip up your hand. “Preacher, I need to get that in there. I need to have that in my heart.” God bless you. Oh, God bless you. That is good. He loves you, friend. He wants what is best. And it is so right. “All right, Lord, I want Your will more than mine. I want You to have Your way, whatever it may be. I want You to have Your way.” Would you let Him know that? Maybe here tonight you say, “Preacher, I just honestly—I just need to make peace. God has let me know. He showed me clearly. This is His will. I need to accept it.” Maybe something has already happened, and I just need to accept this thing. Maybe it is the passing of a loved one, if you will, lost. I need to just accept. I need to make peace with this thing God has allowed in my life. And, preacher, God spoke to my heart about that. “I am going to make peace with that situation in my life. I am going to make peace. I am going to make peace. I am going to make peace.” God bless you. God bless you. That is so important. God bless you. God bless you.

Would you please stand tonight? I am going to have a word of prayer. Would you spend some time with the Lord? Maybe praying about that: “Lord, hey, would You, would You, would You, if it be possible, would You let this pass? Nevertheless, not My will, but Thine be done.” Would you do that tonight? Father, thank You. Thank You, Lord, for Your word and the leadership it brings. Father, would You help us? Give us grace. Send the angel, if You would, strengthening us. As Lord, we ask, we send our hearts and our requests that we pour our hearts out before You. Then, Lord, give us grace to accept Your leading, Your still, small voice, Your will for our life. Father, would You give us strength to make peace with the lots in life You have given us? Bless our people here. Lord, I do pray. Would You bring peace, joy, and birth great victories out of our accepting Your will for our lives? Bless our people tonight, Lord. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Would you spend some time with the Lord? Follow His leadership. Maybe come seek me out. Would you do that as our instruments play? Would you do that? That is right. You need to come. Would you come? Seek His leadership in your life. Would you do that? It takes a lot of faith. “It is all right, Lord, You have a reason for that thorn being there. You have a reason for the suffering that is coming.” It takes a lot of faith. And yet that is what pleases God. Just imagine God looking down and smiling when we say, “All right, God. I do not understand all this. I do not like so many different things.” It may be your child did not grow up and turn out quite like you wanted to, and it would be so tough to accept. I am not saying God wanted that, but God allowed it. And the child is making its decisions. And there is so much—maybe one of the greatest heartbreaks in the world. I said, “All right, Lord, all right, You have allowed it, and I am going to accept it.” And all of those are so important. Just, “All right, Lord, I am going to pray about it and do all I can, but as You lead, I am going to make peace with my lot in life.” And Jesus, what a great example. I mean, in every single area, He is just an amazing example.

Original File: Accepting Gods will when you do not like Gods will - Pastor Paul Chisgar Sunday PM 08272023