Wednesday, October 14, 2009

What to Do When Things Don't Go Our Way!


What to Do in Critical Moments of Tough Times
Matthew 26:36-46

36Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." 37He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me."

39Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."

40Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter. 41"Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."

42He went away a second time and prayed, "My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done."

43When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. 44So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.

45Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46Rise, let us go! Here comes my betrayer!"

I loved this study I just completed on Sunday. It is about dealing about what to do when things don't go your way.

It's how we handle things that demonstrate who we are and what we are made of. Its what we do in times when we must make a decision in the face of difficulty will lead us to our own gardens of Gethsemane, will it be my will or God's will?

Life is full of those decisions and opportunities through our life. Do we get a divorce or ride out the storm and stay committed to God and our marriage? Should I take this job that requires me to travel so much and pays more or keep a lower paying job closer to home?

In the above scripture we find that Jesus repeats His request in prayer to God three times. This is rarely ever done anywhere else in the Bible.

Here are the three steps we much do when faced with a decision in a critical or tough time.

1. Involve Seeking the Will of God ~ Jesus prayed for the same thing three times and only one thing remained on His mind, the will of God. His supreme concern for his entire life was always about the will of God. "For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me." ~ John 6:38 NIV

The will of God was never forced on Jesus. Let's compare the two gardens of the Bible, the Garden of Eden and the Garden of Gethsemane.

Garden of Eden

Adam and Eve were the occupants.
They ruined life for all of us here on Earth from the way God intended it to be.
They were broken in their relationship from God.
They hid from Him.
The sword was shown to keep them from returning to Eden.
Their decision was made by using their own will and sin came upon the world.
Not thy will but by my will.


Garden of Gethsemane

By Jesus being in the Garden of Gethsemane, He healed us.
Our relationship with God was restored.
Jesus bared His soul in this Garden.
The sword was put away when Peter cut the ear off the guard. Jesus told him to put it away.
Jesus showed us it was not His will that was being done but God's will.

Our plan and purpose should be that we are seeking, finding and doing the will of God everyday.

How can you know the will of God?

Spend some time with God, read His word daily and pray. He will reveal it to you. The closer you are to God the more you will understand His will for you.

2. Doing the Will of God ~ Some times we can struggle with this. Jesus did. He was taking all the sins of man on him.

You know what you should do but you don't want to do it. This is what we all face. This is where the struggle lies. Your stress is nothing compared to what Jesus faced that night in the Garden. There has never been a greater suffering than that which takes you to the brink of death. His sweat become blood. There is a medical condition known for this called hemotrodosis, which is when stress is so bad due to tremendous stress and anxiety that the capillaries below the surface of the skin break. Our heart rate and blood pressure go through the roof.

So what was Jesus so stressed out about? A cup. What is that cup? It is the wrath of God that would be poured out on Jesus as punishment from his father. He is facing the judgment from God for something that He didn't do. He only knew of God's love up to that point.

So the cost for doing God's will ~ Jesus understands more than you know. When we are struggling, begging God not to allow us to go through it, and it's not always easy to do Gods will. If it were easy, everyone would be willing to do it. Jesus was willing to go to Hell if it meant He couldn't save us, but because he knew that it would mean saving all of us so we could have an eternal home in heaven, He did God's will. The war was won at the cross but the battle was taking place in the Garden.

3. Surrender to the Will of God ~ Jesus calls God, My Father or Abba, which means Daddy or Poppa in Arabic. The only place Jesus prays to His father like a child would.

The thing to remember that if we defy God's will, the cost will be too great for you! You have to looks at the cost versus benefits of doing God's will. Benefits = approval of God. Cost = Saved us from living forever in Hell based on our sinful life. I think that the cost will always be worth it in the end. Who would ever chose otherwise?

31 comments:

RCUBEs said...

You had me at the picture! How many times do we want things to go our way, forgetting that we must seek the Lord in everything that we do? We forget that we don't get it sometimes because maybe that's not what He wanted for us in the first place. I liked it that you brought up the differences in the 2 gardens. May we all continue to have a prayerful life to help us with our daily battles - of making decisions...done God's way...Love and blessings.

Greg C said...

I no longer pray for better days I now pray that God's will be done. I have learned that I will never know what God's plan is so I just pray to be part of it. Better is usually our plan but that may not be God's plan. Grat post today Kat.

the wild raspberry said...

very well said....i don't see how people can reject HIS will when they know what the outcome will be. So sad.

Still Learning said...

I too loved the photo. Very funny but so so true. I fear I have made that face at God a time or two, ha ha. I enjoyed the two garden comparisons also. I never thought about comparing them before.

I enjoyed reading this very much. Thanks for telling me about it as it has been a major focus for me for quite awhile now.

Jenn

christy rose said...

The picture is hilarious. I just picture that same expression on my children's faces when they haven't gotten their way at times. And then I remember that I have probably looked the same way when I haven't gotten my way either. If we could only see ourselves sometimes and realize how rediculous we look when we are throwing our fits, maybe that would help us a little too. HAHA

Help me Lord!!!! LOL

Great post Kat,
Love,
Christy

Amy said...

Thank you for these reminders.
Blessings,
Amy

Thena said...

And we are one miserable person when we are out of His will.

Andrea said...

I wish I could say I always handle things the way GOD would have me. Too often I try to fix things on my own, first. BIG, BIG, BIG, mistake. You would think I would have learned by now. Thank you for the kick in the pants, today. Right now, I am praying about a situation I want to just reach out and fix. Of course, I can NOT fix it...only GOD can.

Blessings, andrea

PS: Urgent prayer request on arise 2 write.

Debby@Just Breathe said...

I have fallen to my knees many times and He always picked me up.

Deborah Ann said...

Love this. Especially the part that says we don't have any kind of stress that comes close to what Jesus had. And I never noticed before that He prayed 3 times for God's will. That really strikes me, I think there's even more to that, though I don't know what.

Have a blessed and 'fast' week!

Mich said...

It is always important to remember that God sees the big picture.

Andrea said...

Kat,

My brother in laws name is David. i abbreviated BIL and confused everyone. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS!
andrea

Darcie said...

Those 3 steps...are just what we need to do. Sometimes we seek, but we don't follow it up with the 2 other steps.

Thanks for sharing!

Daveda said...

I am so thankful that the Lord not only makes His will clear to us as we rest in Him, but also gives us the desire and the energy to do His will.

A Lady Called Amy said...

Amen! :-)

Grandma Elsie said...

How goodly and timely is this post for me.To trust in God and seek his will always brings peace and things go good.
Seems I am learning this over and over.

Heidi said...

Kat, I've been reading you, but haven't been commenting because I thought I couldn't. I'd click on "leave a comment", but then couldn't get transported in to the comment hall. This time I decided to wait longer and just see. Sure enough, I wasn't waiting long enough. It didn't used to take so long- not sure what changed.

Anyway, this sounds like a good study on prayer. I've been reading what Henri Nouwen has to say about prayer- that is also interesting.

christschild said...

Hello I'm Elizabeth and I love your blog...very inspiring. I'm so thankful to the Lord that there are other brothers and sisters in Christ out there and that we can be connected and worship Him together. Have a blessed day.

Samantha said...

Amen.
Thanks for always being a blessing to me.

Loren said...

Great post today sister!

May we stay smack dab in the middle of HIS will listening to HIS voice, seeking to know and to hear what HE wants us to do, understand, and may we be obedient to HIS voice!

love you!

He & Me + 3 said...

This could go along with my cake post the other day...we cannot see the whole picture at the time we are going through the tough situations and sometimes they are hard but when the situations are all done and put together God has made something beautiful but we have to TRUST him and count the cost for doing His will so we can view that masterpiece.

LV said...

How pitiful is that picture of that little fellow. If we all would follow the steps you outlined, what a better person and world this would be.

Mimmy said...

Thank you again for sharing with a great deal of insight these precepts from God's word. As I'm beginning to learn that I cannot read everything on every blog I want to follow, I must choose and I most always choose to read your posts when I have the computer in frong of me. Your last two posts, both dealing with prayer from different aspects. Only someone who has a true belief in prayer can look at the subjects from many different points of view. Without prayer I do not know how I would survive from one day to the next. Thank you for sharing.

God Bless,
Mimmy

Mary Moss said...

Hmmm . . . is that MY picture? This is a wonderful post. Very thought-provoking:-)

I'm trying to find more time to make the "bloggy rounds" especially to you and others who have been so faithful in following me and commenting over the past months.

Blessings

Denise said...

Very inspiring, bless you.

Edie said...

This was really great Kat. It is so easy to think I will do the will of God but when put to the test sometimes I do find it so hard. Compared to Jesus my struggles are nothing.

Kelly L said...

Great post - Praying for God's will to be done always turns out the way as it should... I am recently learning more about the power of prayer and I'm getting so blessed.

Love to you and blessings.
Kelly

Chel said...

Kat~ wow~ timely for me! I am dealing with something specific, a thorn so to speak. But yet the thorn was shot out from someone else's war but the casualty, me, continues. Thank you for being Nathan even though we have not met. You and one other friend confronted me with God's truth today!
God Bless You and thank you for coming so often to my blog! I have set aside time tonight to read, read, read, and I am so grateful I did!
Chel

Collette@Jesuslovesmums said...

This sounds like an amazing study Kat! You have written really well on this subject and certainly got people thinking! Fantastic.
Love Collette xxx

Kat said...

This photo is so awesome! For one thing the child looks so much like my Aedan. Only Aedan would never make such a face. For another thing, that face sums up some of my bad attitudes perfectly:)

Love,
Kat

Roxanne said...

What an awesome post and advice. In this stage of our life and the journey we are living which I didnt want or expect it is so nice to have such a great reminder.

Roxanne

http://ourjourneyoftheunknown.blogspot.com/