THE GARDEN PRINCIPLE

At some point most of us are called to make decisions that I call the ‘Garden Prayer Principle.’ It is so easy to quote familiar Jesus lines and yet they might be rather unfinished phrases. I know it is a good line and sounds rather spiritual to say, ‘Not my will, but thy will be done.’ I may say this and internally want to believe this… but my human element and flesh are saying something different… ‘Not your will, but my will be done.’

I don’t think for a moment that this was not going on inside of Jesus in the garden… or any of us in our Garden experiences. It is the human response. The fact is… and Jesus knew it… and we know it… the Father’s will… will be done… whatever we may desire or think about it. I am not nihilistic in this, but realistic and full of faith. We are trying to come into alignment with the will of the Father for our sake, not his. Yet we pray for what we believe and desire from the Father. It seems rather obvious that we might want healing over illness, prosperity over poverty, joy over sorrow, etc. But, we are not puppets… we are taught to ‘ask, seek, and knock’ and believe the Father hears us through Jesus. He heard Moses and Abraham … ‘and changed his mind.’ Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:27-30)

It is not, ‘I want to be in the hand of God’ … We are in the hand of God… and that is what is best for us.

“My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” Jesus