“To fulfill My plans, all of your dreams, hopes, and desires must die. There is no room in My economy for someone who will not lay his every desire at the foot of the cross and take up My desires. The closer you get to My heart, the more that truth becomes evident. The closer you get to My heart, the more your own desires become pale and unimportant. For all the days of your life with Me, I have been shaping your spirit to conform with Mine. I have allowed circumstances to take place in your life that have caused you to make either My kind of choices or choices that favor your heart. As you grew with Me, as you have submitted your will to Mine, you have gained insight and wisdom to make choices. Little by little, you have seen the wisdom of My ways. Your heart and your desires have become more and more like Mine with each submission to My will.
"Soon, those of you who have understood the need to function in complete union with Me will understand why it is necessary to do so. Normal wisdom and logical choices will not be the criteria for proper decision making. The untrained heart will be unable to find peace, as difficult decisions will be needed to survive. Only the ones, who know that they are exactly where I desire them to be, will be able to rest in the days ahead. To know where I want you to be and what I want you to do will be simple to the trained, obedient heart that desires only My will. I will be able to guide, direct, and position you, who listen and obey, for specific tasks and optimum impact, even when others, who call themselves Mine, are unable to make any decisions because of fear and confusion. You will be able to discern My will and move in perfect unison with Me. You will care for the things I care about, when the only thing that others care about will be their personal comfort and safety.
"When others move, you will be free to stand still. When others stand immobilized, you will flow in My Spirit, accomplishing My perfect will. We will trust each other completely and move in complete unity. That is the way I have planned it. That is the way it should be. Nothing will be able to hinder you as We move in perfect harmony.”
Exodus 33:13-16 NIV
13) “If I have found favor in your eyes, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is Your people.”
14) The Lord replied, “My presence will go with you, and give you rest.”
15) Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.
16) How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
John 10:17-18 NIV
17) “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again.
18) No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
Hebrews 5:8-9 NIV
8) Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered
9) and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.
No command of the world could touch Jesus. Its dictates, laws, and rulers had no hold on Him. All His authority came from His Father and was returned to His Father. He had learned complete obedience by laying down His every desire in favor of His Father’s desires long before we see His impact on the world as a grown Man.
There is no mystery to doing our Father’s will. We must simply lay down our every desire and commit to function only for His purposes and desires. That freedom, however, does not happen all at once.
The above portion of Scripture, “once made perfect”, used to astound me. In the Amplified Bible, it reads, “And, [His completed experience] making Him perfectly [equipped,” which gives us clear insight. Jesus learned obedience through suffering while growing up, and when his flesh man was perfected, God used Him.
We know that He was completely obedient from the time we are able to observe His life, so the “suffering” that is talked about in these verses could not mean the time on the cross or in the garden. It must mean a suffering that He went through before His appearance. That “suffering” infers the continual choice of the death of His own will as man and the acceptance of His Father’s will. He was sinless throughout His life, so He must have been obedient, even while His Father’s perfect obedience was being worked “in” Him. So it must be with each of us.
Not my will, but Yours, Lord,
Jim Corbett