“Lord, I can go anywhere for you but not so and so country.” This was the prayer of a young preacher. God kept insisting He would send him there. The struggle continued for a while until he gave up, saying, “Lord, I’m ready to go anywhere including that country.” God responded, “I’m not sending you to that country, I only want to break the resistance in you.”
Friend, the cross is not just a wooding material carefully crafted to hang Jesus. The cross is that place where the will of God crosses out your own will. If I ask you, “Have you been to the cross?” I’m simply asking if you have submitted your own will to the will of the Father. “If you obey God when it is convenient, it is called cooperation. But if you obey God when it is not convenient, it is called submission.”
“…O my Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). The battle for the human race was not fought and won on the wooden cross where Jesus was hanged. It was won at Gethsemane; the place where Jesus submitted His will to the will of the Father (Matthew 26:37-42). In the same vein, the battle for your own destiny is either won or lost by your attitude and response to God’s will for you.
Like Jesus, we must all take up our cross daily and follow God (Matthew 16:24-25, Luke 14:27). This is what it means to be a disciple. There are so many “Christians” but very few disciples. Not too many people can go the distance with God (John 6:66-69). Not too many people can give up their comfort and convenience to follow the will of God.
Tragically, today’s Church is not preparing people to be true disciples. The subject of the will of God is fast disappearing from a lot of pulpits today. We have rationalized our walk with the Lord to the point where we assume that anything goes. God cannot be mocked; His standards are unchanging despite changing times and seasons (Psalms 119:89, 1 Timothy 3:15, 2 Timothy 2:19).
“In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his own will” (Ephesians 1:11). You cannot fulfil destiny beyond your willingness to submit to the will of God. Since God is working all things after His own will, you also need to ensure that you walk in the paths that He has chosen for you (Ephesians 2:10). It may not seem good but it would end gloriously (Romans 8:28-30).
© ‘Demola Awoyele
Lead Pastor,
Destiny Impact Church
Akure, Nigeria