Not My Will But Thine Be Done

I. Removal of Our Will

   A.   Our wills must go!

Rev 3:20

Behold I stand at the door, and knock: (if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in and to him, and sup with him, and he with me.

Song of Solomon 5:5 (Notice how many times she says “I” and “my”

 I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night. I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them? My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him. I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock. I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.

II. The Removal of Self-Centered-ness or mess

Her lover has been standing outside the door of her heart all night long while she is half asleep making excuses why she cannot open the door. She won’t get up and pray. He is calling her even while she lays in her bed. She is nice and warm and cozy under her blanket of ease. She says to him I have put off my coat and washed my feet how shall I defile them? She hears His voice but does not respond. Once she realizes that it was the one coming to get her to marry her, she realizes this is not her Daddy or brother trying to get her up to go to school or to work but this is her wedding! She jumps up and runs to the door (she is praying now) but she cannot find him. She still hears His voice but cannot see Him. Why didn't the man she was getting married to (Who we know to be the Lord) just open the door and take her? The key to this question is ironically the “Lock”. Yes dear one, the door was locked. The lock is why He did not just open the door and come in. The lock was the reason why a door was separating her from Him. Remember Jesus said, “ I am the door, if any man will enter he must come through Me. So if Jesus is the door then what is the lock a type of? I asked the Lord this very question and you know what? He told me! He revealed to me that the lock is a type of our “self will” That’s right dear one; our stubborn wills must be removed if He is going to come in and to us. Christ will not violate or will. He won’t just break the door down and force Himself through into our hearts. He is a gentleman and a gentleman doesn’t force there way into others lives. Why did he not just remove the lock or unlock the door himself? Jesus Christ can do anything right so why didn’t He just command the door to open? Why didn’t He just walk through the door like he did with His disciples when he stood in their midst the doors being shut? To answer this question we need to look to the Scriptures again. S S 5:5 Notice, “She went to the door and her hands dropped upon the “lock”. You see the lock was on the inside not on the outside. We must be the ones to remove the lock if Jesus is going to come in. We must remove our wills even as Jesus did in the garden when He prayed more earnestly saying “Not my will but thine be done.” He prayed in agony with sweat falling down to the ground as it were great drops of blood. It was no picnic. Notice again the Scripture her hands dropped with myrrh and her fingers with sweet smelling myrrh upon the handles of the “lock”. Myrrh in Scripture has to do with suffering. If we are going to remove our wills or be delivered of our wills its not going to be a picnic either. For Christ to come in and become one with us in marriage is going to take a Gethsemane experience without question. Not my will but thine be done.