Not My Will But Yours, Lord

Not my will, but Yours, Lord,
Not my will, but Yours.
Help me want what You want,
When I call on You.

Help me pray like Jesus In Gethsemane.
Not my will, but Yours, Lord;
Not my will, but Yours.

Sometimes when I pray, Lord,
Sometimes when I pray,
I want things I shouldn’t have,
And You answer, “No.”

Help me pray like Jesus In Gethsemane.
Not my will, but Yours, Lord;
Not my will, but Yours.

Often when I pray, Lord,
Often when I pray,
I seek quick solutions,
But You tell me, “Wait.”

Help me pray like Jesus In Gethsemane.
Not my will, but Yours, Lord;
Not my will, but Yours.

I don’t always pray, Lord.
I don’t always pray
Till I find a door locked;
Then I cry to You.

Help me pray like Jesus In Gethsemane.
Not my will, but Yours, Lord;
Not my will, but Yours.

Lead, I’ll follow You, Lord.
Lead, I’ll follow You.
I can’t see in darkness,
But the dark is light to you.

Help me pray like Jesus In Gethsemane.
Not my will, but Yours, Lord;
Not my will, but Yours.

About This Song:
In Jan Karon’s Mitford series, she talks about the prayer God always answers: “Not my will, but Yours.”

That’s the prayer Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before His crucifixion. He had just asked God to spare Him from the physical, emotional, and spiritual agony He was about to undergo. Yet He recognized that His death was a key part of God the Father’s plan to redeem mankind. So in praying “Not my will, but Yours,” He was acknowledging that He not simply accepted what was coming, but that He wanted it because God Himself wanted it.

Amazing.

It’s easy enough to tell God how we think He ought to answer specific prayers requests. But we lack a God’s-eye-view of the situation. Any situation. Every situation.

We don’t know His plans. His intentions.

I believe God wants us to be specific in our prayers, however. But once we’ve asked for what we want or think best, we ought to conclude by praying for God’s will to be done, regardless of our personal preferences. And we need to mean it.

I think Jan Karon is right. Whenever we want what God wants, He’ll honor our prayers. Not necessarily doing things our way, but providing answers that best suit His plan for our lives. Could we ask for anything better than that?

Is prayer a normal part of your life? How about sharing a comment about what prayer means to you?

Free lead sheets (lyrics, tune, and chords) are available for many of my songs. Click on the Lead Sheets tab at the top of this page to see whether one is available for this song. Videos for many of my songs, some recorded at home and some at our church’s nursing home ministry, can be accessed at my website, RogerBruner.com, under the Listen tab.

Look for me again next Wednesday. Better still, subscribe to receive these weekly posts by email.

Best regards,
Roger

Links you might be interested in:

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About Roger E. Bruner

Seventy-five-year-old Roger E. Bruner is the author and publisher of twenty Christian novels and the writer of more than two hundred Christian songs and choruses, a handful of musical dramas, and a number of shorter works. He sings, plays guitar and bass, and records his original songs in his home studio. He is active in his church's nursing home ministry He also plays bass guitar on the church raise team. Married for seventeen years to Kathleen, he has one grown daughter. Kathleen has two. Roger enjoys reading, moderate exercise, photography and book cover design (he's done all of his own except for Rosa No-Name), playing Snood, making walking sticks, and complaining about the state of the nation while continuing to pray for it.
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