Jesus, time and time again, showed us that prayer is the key to doing the will of God. Prayer is never instructing God what to do. When we pray, it connects us to God’s will, God’s purpose and God’s plan. God reveals his plan to us through prayer. Then, we agree to it, align with it, and we speak it out into our lives. “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:9-10)
Prayer is meant to orient us to God’s will and bring our minds, will and emotions into agreement with what he wants to do in our lives. His will should supersede our desire. We want our will engaged in the pursuit of his purpose. We want our will in alignment with what you want done on the earth.
When Jesus prayed in the garden—what is known as the prayer of consecration, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done” —he was showing us that prayer connects us to God and to God’s will. But do not expect this to be a painless process. You will find that he asks you to change things that cause pain, makes you uncomfortable, requires sacrifice.
Why does he do it that way? God takes away things because he has better things to give us. It takes trust in God to go through this. We have to believe and know that we are in a relationship with a Father that loves us. He is not a dictator. He is not out to ruin our lives. But he wants us to be in a cooperative relationship with him. There, we learn his heart. The cadence of his heart beat.