Thursday, June 15, 2017

Even Unto Death

Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me:
nevertheless not my will, but thine be done. 
Luke 22:42

What does the innermost sanctuary of Gethsemane tell 
us about redemption? It opens up the inner meaning 
and power of the visible suffering and sacrifice on the 
cross. And, of all the suffering of Gethsemane, "Not My 
will, but Thine be done" was the key. It shows us which 
sin it was that made the great sacrifice a necessity--our 
self-will. It reveals the humility which gave the sacrifice 
its value--surrender of the will to receive God's will. The
redemption it affected was the conquest and atonement 
of our self-will. And, the salvation it actually brings is 
the impartation of a will entirely given up to God. 

Believer, is this the very Christ you delight in, seek to be 
conformed to, and long to know more fully in His indwel-
ling power? In Gethsemane, He entered into the very 
deepest and nearest fellowship with you in surrendering 
His will to death. Enter into the deepest and nearest fel-
lowship with him in surrendering your will as He did. 
Pray for the Holy Spirit to show how self-will is the root 
of all sin and temptation and darkness. Pray for the 
knowledge of how the will of God can come in, cast self-
will out and live in you. Learn how faith in Christ, who 
died to conquer our self-will now waits to dwell in us, 
can make you a partaker of His death and victory. Learn 
the lesson that death to self-will just means a quiet bow-
ing before God in utter poverty and helplessness. It is 
simply trusting in the blessed Lamb of God--who passed 
through death as the only way to perfect surrender of His 
will to God's will--to breathe His own Spirit, and the very 
will of God, into us. Andrew Murray

Reader, I only touched the outside of this chapter. I have
not studied or taken into me, the great truth of this chapter:
"Not my will, but thine be done."

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