NOT MY WILL: 5 Days in GethsemaneSample

When You Don't Want God's Will

Devotion: Jesus didn't want the cross. Let that sink in. The sinless Son of God, in His humanity, asked the Father to remove the cup. He prayed for a different plan. He wanted out.

This is the most honest prayer in Scripture. No religious language. No fake spirituality. Just raw, human desperation: "Father, I don't want this. Is there another way?"

We sanitize Gethsemane. We make Jesus sound robotic—mechanically marching to the cross without feeling. But Luke tells us His sweat became like drops of blood. He was in agony. He was troubled. He was deeply distressed. He didn't want the cup.

And that's okay.

God doesn't require you to pretend you want His will when you don't. He's not asking for fake enthusiasm about hard obedience. He's asking for honest surrender. "I don't want this, but not My will—Yours."

Maybe you're in your Gethsemane moment. The diagnosis you didn't want. The betrayal you didn't deserve. The calling you didn't choose. The loss you can't accept. You're allowed to say, "God, I don't want this. Take this cup from me."

But then comes the "nevertheless." That's where faith lives. Not in wanting God's will, but in surrendering to it anyway.

Jesus shows us it's possible to not want the cup and still drink it. To hate the path and still walk it. To feel the cost and still pay it.

That's not weak faith. That's Gethsemane faith.

Declaration: "I surrender my will to God's will today. Even when I don't understand, don't agree, or don't want it—not my will, but His. I trust Him."

Prayer: "Abba Father, I'm being honest—I don't want this. This cup is hard. But I trust You more than I trust my feelings. Not my will, but Yours. Give me strength to drink the cup You've given me. In Jesus' name, amen."