In week three of our series, I wanted to share with you what The Great Revivalist- Jesus taught me about having the right attitude when you seek God’s will.
All throughout the Gospels, we keep reading these words Jesus said:
“I did not speak My own words, but the Father who sent Me commanded Me to say all that I have spoken.” (John 12:49)
In a world of “tolerance” that encourages us on a daily basis to “speak our own truth and be true to our self”, I found the words of the Lord very interesting. His words were screaming one thing to me - humility.
Jesus didn’t speak His Truth, He spoke what the Father told Him to speak and He knew what the Father wanted. Not only because He was the Son, but also because He took time to go on His own and spend time with the Father. How do I know that?
I encourage you to study Matthew 26:36-46. I love this paragraph, because nowhere else in the Gospels does Jesus look so human to me. And more than that through this paragraph, Jesus taught me how to overcome emotional torment and anguish. Firstly, He encouraged me because He showed me He felt them also. Secondly, He showed me that the only way to overcome them is to trust the Father above my own will, and to tell Him that out loud. I dare you to try it for yourself every time you feel like your emotions are overwhelming you - Father, right this minute all I want is to run as fast and as far away as possible from all this, but I trust You and Your plans. So, I will stay put,
Your will be done.
Something else I saw in this paragraph, was that Jesus goes to pray three times. First, He asks to be spared, but in case the Father wants something else, He asks for the Father’s will to be done:
“My Father! If this is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from Me. Yet, I want Your will to be done.” (verse 39)
The second and the third time though, Jesus already knew what the Father wanted, because when you allow humility to do its work in you, the anguish is gone and things become clear:
“My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, Your will be done.” (verse 42)
This is the attitude I was talking about in my third devotional “The Great Revivalist”. Tell God what you want, as you do a loving father, for as long as it is clear in your heart that whatever His will might be, you seek that above your own desires. I love the story in Gethsemane, because through it, Jesus allowed us to see inside the relationship He has with the Father.
Apostle Paul talks about the very same attitude in Philippians 2:5-7:
“have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.”
So, when you ask for revival have this mindset in you. Don’t shy away from telling God what you dream in your heart to see. He actually loves that because that’s relationship. But don’t love the dream or idea more than the relationship itself. Allow Him room to show you His version of what revival means and what part He wants you to play in it.
Emanuela Robinson
PS - the digital kit can be found here for you to download at home.