Words of Faith: Acceptance of God’s Will

Luke 22:42 (NIV): “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” 

When being a Christian gets tough, it is hard to accept God’s will for our lives especially when it involves death, sad conditions, and feeling helpless, but we are reminded that God knows what is best for our lives.  

God is our creator and knows every facet of our being. We want to pray for our entire community and surrounding counties for the death of love ones and senseless killings. Even in our on small town it seems like things are getting worse than getting better. This is not the time to give up but this is the time we draw closer to God.  

Reestablish your relationship with Jesus Christ and watch Him move on our behalf. This is the time when ministry becomes active and not just lip-service because things have just gotten real.  

One of my favorite verses reminds me that God cares about me and has my best interests at heart: “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jer. 29:11). Being assured of God’s love for me enables me to trust Him with the outcome of my prayers and accept whatever He chooses for me. Understanding that God knows what’s best for me frees me up to pray, just as Jesus did, “Not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). Once I’ve accepted God’s will, I can begin to submit to His plan, allowing Him to mold me into the person He meant me to be when He created me. Submitting to Him involves recognizing that His plans for me are superior to my own: “’For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.(Isa. 55:8). 

As I submit to His plan, I can begin to relinquish more and more control over my life and surrender to God’s sovereignty. I know that it is easier said than done. Surrendering to my loving Father allows me to set aside all my fears and anxieties and live by faith, just as Paul encouraged us to do in his letter to the Romans: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God this is your true and proper worship. Don’t let the world take the God out of you.  

We all suffer because of demonic attacks. Our church has been vandalized and robbed a week ago, by the Lee gang I like to call them, but everyone knows who does but no one says anything because our crime element overrides the way that we should live but God’s allows sunshine and rain because it is His world and not ours.  

Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will isHis good, pleasing and perfect will” (Rom. 12:1-2).  

It all comes full circle: Accepting God’s will allows me to submit to His plan; submitting to His plan enables me to surrender to His sovereignty; and when I surrender completely by offering my life as a holy sacrifice, I am able to “test and approve” His perfect will for me. But this process rarely happens all at once. For me, it often feels like I’ve taken two steps forward and one step back.  

One day I think I’ve got this surrender thing down, but the next day I take back from God what I like to think of as “control” over my life. But that is when our faith and longsuffering takes place and grows within us. We are under construction, but we must all accept God’s Will. 

Earl W. Hughes Jr. is Director/Founder of Works of Faith Ministries.