My small group leader has said that we all really know what to do in any given situation. When we struggle with something it's because we really don't want to do what we know we should. When I felt prompted (by God) to give more money to the church, I prayed about it (how silly, when it was God who told me what to do in the first place), I asked my husband what he thought (he was no help - he told me to do what I thought God wanted and I already knew that) and then I put it off for a while (hoping God would forget). My SELF did not want to give the extra money. The struggle against my own will, my pride, is real. I am not saying that we don't struggle. Jesus struggled so strongly (over what He already knew to do) that He sweated drops of blood. (Luke 22:44) However, "The demanding of my own will is the singular force that smothers out joy-nothing else." "I'm the one doing this to me."1 So what's the answer? What did Jesus do? He died to His own will and He trusted the Father's will, no matter how bad it looked at that moment. "Fullness of joy is discovered only in the emptying of will."2 And trusting God. Whether we are 13 or 30.
1One Thousand Gifts page 177
2One Thousand Gifts page 179
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