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Listen while you read: "My Saviour's Love"1 (Lyrics) |
Luke 22:41-42 – And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. (KJV)
During Lent, I meditate on the prayers that Jesus prayed for us before He went to the cross. The Charles H. Gabriel hymn My Saviour's Love drew my attention to Christ's prayer in Gethsemane.
- I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene,
And wonder how He could love me, a sinner, condemned, unclean.
O how marvellous! O how wonderful! And my song shall ever be:
O how marvellous! O how wonderful! is my Saviour's love for me!
For me it was in the garden He prayed, "Not my will, but Thine."
He had no tears for his own griefs, but sweat drops of blood for mine.
I used to believe that Christ prayed, "Thy will be done," in a grudging, under-compulsion attitude of "Oh, all right, if I have to", as He anticipated His death on the cross. Recently, when I sang My Saviour's Love in church, I saw those words in a whole new way! Yes, He agonized as we agonize over the toughest of choices. Then in worship, in trusting response to His Father's gentle, cherishing, tender revelation of the big picture, Jesus agreed, seeking the best for creation out of compassion. I believe that He gladly gave His own will into His Father's will.
All of creation received and continues to receive the benefit of Jesus' prayer of worship and dedication, "Not my will, but Thine". Now I understand better how Christ's redemptive work of making all things new only continues in me and through me as I happily imitate Jesus in worship and act like Him to give myself out of compassion. The sentence in the Lord's Prayer, "Father, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" became so much more personal in worship that day.
Will you join me glad surrender to our Father's will, and in multiplied, marvellous, wonderful joy at what Jesus accomplished through His prayer of worship and dedication?
Prayer: Father, we ask You gladly, please, in the name of Christ Jesus our Lord, work in us "to will and to act in order to fulfill [Your] good purpose". (Philippians 2:13 NIV 2011) Amen.
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Thanks Pat for a good reminder.
Dear Pat,
I loved your devotional from today.
Another wonderful, inspiring devotion, Pat! May God continue to bless you as you use your gift to glorify Him. Have a blessed Easter!
Dear Pat: What a wonderful thought provoking, Devotional this morning!
Have a wonderful Easter.
Pat, again! This was awesome of you to share this with us today. Thank you and may God continue to bless you. May you have a Blessed and Happy Easter.
Yes Pat how truly amazing was His love for all of us at the cross. Thank you for sharing and for including the beautiful words to My Saviour’s Love. I shall have tears of joy when I behold him by an by. Happy Easter.
(B.C.)
A beautiful message Pat! I think “Thy will be done” are hard words to pray sometimes but when we stop and realize that God’s will is always in our best interests, then we can accept what He has planned, hopefully with faith instead of fear.
Happy Easter to you and yours!
Dear Pat,
The agonizing time in the garden is where our Lord knew what sorrow was to befall Him, yet prepared Himself to go to the Cross to die for our sin. Thank you for bringing us close to our Lord in a real, thoughtful way. May you receive His blessings during this Holy week.
Hi Pat,
No Christian can ever really even imagine the love that took Jesus to the cross. Nor could we ever contemplate the anguish God must have endured to have to turn His face away from that greatest travesty of justice by people who were supposed to uphold the law. We cannot but stand amazed.
Thank you for writing this devotional.
Blessings.
Good Morning Pat:
I too believe Jesus gave His Life willingly and in love and compassion for those He loved. I am sure He looked into the far distant future and saw sinful you and I, along with so many others, and willingly said to His Father, I love Pat and all your children and I will willingly give my life that they might enjoy an eternity with US forever.
I love the words: “For me it was in the garden He prayed, “Not my will, but Thine.”
He had no tears for his own griefs, but sweat drops of blood for mine.”
He indeed is a wonderful savior and Lord and I count it a privilege to join you in glad surrender to our Father’s will, and in the marvelous, wonderful joy of knowing Christ as my Savior and Lord.
I seem to note the presence of the Holy Spirit even deeper in your latest writings. How blessed we are when we are touched “By The Father’s Hand.”
Have a beautiful Easter. Thank you for your fine writings.
Thanks Pat
So often as I pray especially when It is I who really wants my will to be done — and suddenly in prayer I am sort of haunted with the thought that it is Thy will be done.
The reading from Philippians 2:13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. (NIV)
I found this refreshing and had to look it up in my commentary which read-
-Now Paul reminds them that it is possible for them to work out their salvation because it is God who works in them both to will and to do for His good pleasure. This means that it is God who puts within us the wish or desire to do His will in the first place. Then He also works in us the power to carry out the desire.
Here again we have the wonderful merging or the divine and human, In one sense, we are called on to work out our salvation. In another sense, it is only God who can enable us to do it. We must do our part, and God will do His.
(However, this does not apply to the forgiveness of sins. Redemption is wholly the work of God. We simply believe and enter in.
This is from Believer’s Bible Commentary William MacDonald.
Pat: Thak you for your encouraging devotional. My worry is that I will not understand what God says to me as he leads me. I am blessed by all the encouragement in the devotionals as they almost bombard me, but I can’t count all the blessings I receive. I have found it easiest to relax and “wait on the Lord”. This is the Day of Preparation, and I pray that God will lead me to prepare for my Saviour to appear.