Will – Light from the Word

A Heart That Is Willing

“Nevertheless, not My will, but Your will be done.”

Satan’s opportune time had come to confront YAHSHUA with torment of soul in the garden of Gethsemane- the garden of suffering. In a few hours, YAHSHUA was going to face the most challenging experience of His life on earth: the sacrifice of His body on a cross. He was going to take the curse upon Himself and free us from it. Men, in his sinful estate was going to humiliate, dishonor, mock, reject, betray, and turn His body into a disfigured body and after that, hang Him on the cross for all to see. He died the death of a criminal, although, He was sinless. In spite of all that, He still remained faithful to the plan to save humankind. “Not My will, but Your will be done.” There is no human heart so willing with such sacrificial love for the world as the heart of our Savior and Lord, YAHSHUA. When God’s plan was established to save the humankind, YAHSHUA said, In burnt offerings and sin offerings You have taken no delight. Then He said, Behold, here I am, coming to do your will, O God what is written of Me in the volume of the Book (Heb. 10: 6-7). From His willing heart overflowed love which closed the gap between God and men, making it possible for us to have a relationship with God. YAHSHUA performed then the work of reconciliation. Salvation of the human race was the ultimate result of His willing heart.

The willing heart of Peter and John when YAHSHUA told them to lower their net for a catch of fish, they, in spite of toiling all night for a catch without success, said, on the ground of Your word, I will lower the nets. They were amazed with the great number of fish they caught without breaking the net (Luke 5). The heart that is willing will be blessed in the end. When that happened, the disciples were then introduced to the Son of God. Peter, perceiving that He was not one of them and convicted of his own sins, fell down at YAHSHUA’S knees, saying, Depart from Me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord (Vs.8). After they had experienced this amazing miracle, they left everything and joined YAHSHUA to be His disciples (vs.11). And this marked the beginning of their new life; no longer fishermen, but followers of YAHSHUA full time. A willing heart that bends toward the will of God will experience His amazing love and blessings in his or her life time. A man covered with leprosy, hopeless and rejected by family, friends and society, found hope when he saw YAHSHUA. His heart broken and contrite, humble and in very need of the Savior’s touch, falling on his face, he implored Him, saying, Lord, if You are willing, You are able to cure me and make me clean. YAHSHUA reaching out His hand, touched him, saying, I am willing; be cleansed! And immediately the leprosy left the man (vs.12-13). Isn’t God’s willing heart always ready to heal our infirmities spiritual and physical ones? Look at His hands and feet, His head, His side, His body scourged beyond recognition; why do you think He took all the beatings upon Himself? Because of His willing heart to save and to heal men, not wanting that they would perish eternally. He invites all who are weary and restless to come to Him to receive rest; to receive His peace.

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Let Your Gaze Be Straight Before You

(Prov. 4:25-27; Heb. 12: 1-2; Luke 9:62)

Let your eyes look right on and let your gaze be straight before you; consider well the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established and ordered aright; turn not aside to the right hand or to the left; remove your foot from evil (Prov. 4:25-27).

The eyes are light to the body. They open the soul to the wonder of the world and silently they perceive and come to understand many things with the help of the mind. It is an amazing part of the body created for purposes useful to make life wonderful and exciting in the presence of the beauty of creation God designed for us. Its anatomy and functions have many parts contributing to the working together with the purpose to produce vision. In addition to that, the eyes also provide depth perception and aid in the body’s balance. The eyes are the entrance to the soul; it is not only what we see, but how we perceive that will make a difference between godliness and ungodliness. As YAHSHUA said, the eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is sound, your entire body will be full of light, but if your eye is unsound, you whole body will be full of darkness, If then the very light in you is darkened, how dense is that darkness (Matt. 6:22-23)!

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Wilderness, a Place For Temptation

(Luke 4)

Then YAHSHUA, full of and controlled by the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led in [by] the [Holy] Spirit for during forty days in the wilderness, where He was tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they were completed, He was hungry (Like 4:1,2). The devil came to YAHSHUA at the point of His need – hunger. Forty days and nights without eating can starve the body and lead it to death, that is, for some people, depending on their health factors. Forty days is long enough time for the body to have used all the resources it had to be sustained. YAHSHUA, as a man, was subject to the weakness of a human body, but not to man’s sinful nature. He was led to the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted in preparation for the ministry He was going to fulfill. Like us, He was also subjected to temptations, and to the extent of sufferings that we experience. So after fasting forty days and forty nights, His obvious need of that moment was hunger. Hunger and thirst in the desert are something hard to overcome without having knowledge of how to survive in such environment which lacks everything that benefits the body. The Bible does not say if He went without water however, I assume so. Whatever the situation, He went hungry after forty days.

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Nevertheless, Your Will Be Done

After eating His last Passover with His disciples, YAHSHUA led them to the Gethsemane Garden. It was night. The darkness of the night could not hide the agony expressed in His voice saying, Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done (Luke 22:42). What was He expressing in that hour, fear? Hardly. He, for a moment of His earthly life, was going to suffer as a human being in the fire of hell, when He would break himself away from Whom He was in the holy trinity- the Son. How hard it was going to be for Him, Who knew no sin! We can never understand how God in three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit would condemn Himself in the person of the Son to hell. But this is for another time. My point here however, is that even to the point of His death His prayer remained embedded in the will of the Father, as He had been teaching: “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

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