Not my will, but yours.

The biggest barrier to the experiencing the fullness of God is our stubborn human will. When we are honest, we realize that even our pursuit of God can be a selfish desire for power or glory. Selfish ambition can disguise itself in holy robes. But God will never be the pawn of our fallen natures. He demands that we “learn obedience through suffering.” When we have learned “reverent submission,” we’re ready for the fulfillment of the promise.

“During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 5:7-10 NIV)

“At each stage of Jesus’ life he had to meet temptation, and overcome it. Out of each victory he came with his will strengthened and his power over the weakness of the flesh, and the danger of yielding to its desire for earthly good, or its fear of temporal evil, increased. In Gethsemane his trial and his obedience reached their consummation.

“Suffering is something unnatural, the fruit of sin. God has made us for joy. It is natural for us, as it was to the Son of God, to fear and flee from suffering. In this desire there is nothing sinful. It only becomes sinful where God would have us submit and suffer, and we refuse. This was the temptation of the power of darkness in Gethsemane – for Jesus to refuse the cup.

“In his prayers and petitions, with loud cries and tears, Jesus maintained his allegiance to God’s will. In wrestling and bloody sweat he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. The deepest suffering taught him the highest lesson of obedience: when he had yielded his will and his life, his obedience was complete, and he himself was perfected for evermore.

“This is our High Priest. He knows what the weakness of the flesh is. He knows what it costs to conquer it, and how little we are able to do it. He lives in heaven, able to assist us, sympathizing with our weaknesses, bearing gently with our ignorance and erring. (He is) a High Priest on the throne to whom we may boldly draw near to find grace for timely help. He lives in heaven and in our heart, to impart to us his own spirit of obedience, so that his priesthood may bring us into the full enjoyment of all he himself has and is.” (The Holiest of All, a commentary on Hebrews by Andrew Murray, p.185)