“I’ll do what I want, the way I want, when I want!” Wow! What a picture of a proud and stubborn self-will. To be fair, it is sometimes wise and prudent to follow your will above someone else’s will. The Christian, however, is led by and interested in God’s will. But even saying something is “God’s will” can be used as an excuse for man to have his own way. Paul E. Little in his sermon entitled “Affirming the Will of God” states “It sounds terribly spiritual to say “God led me”, but I am always suspicious of a person who implies that he has a “personal” pipeline to God. When no one else senses that what the person suggests is the will of God, they had better be careful. God has been blamed for the most outlandish things by people who have confused their own inverted pride with God’s will.” Remember, God’s Will is found in God’s Word.
II Peter 3:9 states “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
Willing means pleased to or desirous, consenting with pleasure without reluctance. Remember your wedding vow? Will you take this woman…will you take this man… Your vows made were definitely consenting with pleasure! A chaplain was speaking to a soldier on a cot in a hospital. “You have lost an arm in a great cause,” said the chaplain. “No,” said the soldier with a smile. “I didn’t lose it – I gave it.” Being willing is not tied to circumstances. The husband gained a wife, the soldier lost an arm. Both were willing. Jesus was willing to die on a cross for you. He suffered the shame of the cross for “the joy set before him.” He delighted to do the will of the Father! Concerning giving His life, Jesus says in John 10 :18 “No man taketh if from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.” Mark 1:40-42, “And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed.” What a great combination! If you want to be cleansed, Jesus wants to cleanse you. If you want to be saved and forgiven, Jesus wants to save and forgive you. What a great combination.
John Powell wrote, “I have a sign in the mirror of my room I see it every morning in my groggy condition, when I first wake up: WHAT HAVE YOU GOT GOING TODAY, GOD? I’D LIKE TO BE A PART OF IT. THANKS FOR LOVING ME.” He went on to say “That’s the condition of successful prayer.”