"The Lord's Will Was Last"
By: Bro. D
Acts 21:14 – Since he would not be persuaded, we stopped talking and simply said, “The Lord’s will be done!”
This is the last statement in the dialogue between Paul and the Christians at Caesarea. It had been revealed by the Holy Spirit that Paul would be put in prison if he went to Jerusalem. So they were trying to talk Paul out of going. It seemed like the correct thing to do. If you knew someone was in harm's way, wouldn’t you do all you could to get them out of the way? Paul wouldn’t change his course and the last statement they made was, “The Lord’s will be done!” Aren’t you surprised like I am that this was the last statement instead of the first? After all wasn’t it Christ who prayed in the garden, “Not my will, but Your (Father God’s) will be done.” Yet it was the last statement made and I believe that in the lives of many Christians today it is still the last statement made. We think we know what is best for our own lives and we skip the truth of Proverbs 3:5, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding.” Many are still relying on their own understanding and therefore they complain and argue about everything that doesn’t happen just the way they think it should. There is no place in our lives for “The Lord’s will be done!” Instead, we live by “Our wills be done!” Thank God Paul didn’t surrender to them. Like the time Jesus rebuked Peter with the words, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me because you’re not thinking about God’s concerns, but man’s.” So Paul could have said to the Christians here, “You have missed what God wants to do in and through my life, because you are more concerned about my safety than about God’s will for me.” What they were doing seemed right, but it was wrong. They weren’t focused on “The Lord’s will be done!” Listen friend, the Christian life isn’t lived for safety and comfort; we live for the will of the Lord. Stop trusting in your owning understanding and return to the place where you can say above everything else, “The Lord’s will be done!”
(PS - The picture is called "Gethsemane's Prayer" by Brian Jekel and you can get it at Christ Centered Art)
Acts 21:14 – Since he would not be persuaded, we stopped talking and simply said, “The Lord’s will be done!”
This is the last statement in the dialogue between Paul and the Christians at Caesarea. It had been revealed by the Holy Spirit that Paul would be put in prison if he went to Jerusalem. So they were trying to talk Paul out of going. It seemed like the correct thing to do. If you knew someone was in harm's way, wouldn’t you do all you could to get them out of the way? Paul wouldn’t change his course and the last statement they made was, “The Lord’s will be done!” Aren’t you surprised like I am that this was the last statement instead of the first? After all wasn’t it Christ who prayed in the garden, “Not my will, but Your (Father God’s) will be done.” Yet it was the last statement made and I believe that in the lives of many Christians today it is still the last statement made. We think we know what is best for our own lives and we skip the truth of Proverbs 3:5, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding.” Many are still relying on their own understanding and therefore they complain and argue about everything that doesn’t happen just the way they think it should. There is no place in our lives for “The Lord’s will be done!” Instead, we live by “Our wills be done!” Thank God Paul didn’t surrender to them. Like the time Jesus rebuked Peter with the words, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me because you’re not thinking about God’s concerns, but man’s.” So Paul could have said to the Christians here, “You have missed what God wants to do in and through my life, because you are more concerned about my safety than about God’s will for me.” What they were doing seemed right, but it was wrong. They weren’t focused on “The Lord’s will be done!” Listen friend, the Christian life isn’t lived for safety and comfort; we live for the will of the Lord. Stop trusting in your owning understanding and return to the place where you can say above everything else, “The Lord’s will be done!”(PS - The picture is called "Gethsemane's Prayer" by Brian Jekel and you can get it at Christ Centered Art)
posted by OKpreacher at
10:15 AM
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