Night came and seem to wrap itself around everyone and everything.
No wind.....
No wind to carry the sweet smells of life that seem to flourish in the daytime.
No wind to carry the sounds of life of the people who lived nearby.
No wind....
Everything was still....
Strangely still...
Even the sounds of his footsteps seemed to be muffled into silence by the ground beneath his feet.
Slow steps...
Deliberate steps....
Hesitant steps...
Unlike us, always pondering the "what if's" and "should I's", he knew his future all too well.
He knew what the coming day held. He knew that any plans he made would only have a life of less than 24 hours.
This night, which was peaceful to some, seem to suck the color out of the garden which he found himself in. He'd come here many times, but never with an agenda such as this night held. Tonight was about him, yet wrapped in this struggle were the lives of millions upon millions. Not just life here on this side of heaven......but the eternal destiny of all humanity. Tonight was the culmination of journey that would transition into something the human finite mind could not even begin to comprehend.
He walked on, stopping only to fall to his knees to talk with his Father.
He knew all too well that from the time of his birth, the clock was ticking and the map lead to this very place. Shadow's seemed to deepen as the night grew thicker. Shadow's.......cross-shaped shadow's...seem to come at him at every turn. There, kneeling on the very substance his Father had used to create humanity, Jesus prayed. Oh it wasn't a flowery, feel good, religious sounding prayer. It was the kind that is birthed in a heart and soul in torment. It was the kind that rises up and becomes a heart cry.....It was the pure kind of prayer that comes when one submits themselves into the very core of God's will and purpose. "Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me.......yet not My will...........but Yours be done."
Such is the place of victory....
When our will is sacrificed for His will.
When my wants and desires is laid aside like filthy rags, only to take up His desires and His will. Such become snow white garments of righteousness.
Such is the Kingdom of God.
Supplanting the will of the finite, to embrace the will of the infinite.
There are times in every one's life when we must go into Gethsemane's darkness and fight this struggle.
The struggle of will over eternal purpose.
We all love to read about the resurrection.
The empty tomb.....
The joy of discovering that He Has Risen!
Death has been defeated.
You can't get to the tomb unless you first pass through the cross.
To get to the cross, you have to enter that dark place of surrender to God's will.
You must pass through Gethsemane.
It isn't a place of punishment.
It isn't a place of retribution because of past deeds and actions that come from a heart driven by the sin nature.
It is a place of healing.
It is a place where new life begins.
It is a place where the love of the Father exists.
We can't always see that love when we are struggling with what to do.
But because we can't see it, doesn't mean that it isn't there. It is.
Remember how much God the Father loves you.
He loved you before you even gave Him one thought.
He loved you every time you went to the dope house.
He loved you every time you bought a bottle to dull your life into a meaningless stupor.
He loved you.
He has never stopped loving you.
Let me ask you something.
What would you have to do to make your earthly Mother and Father stop loving you?
I don't think there is anything you could do to stop that love.
You might hurt them.
Or you might disappoint them.
But I don't know that you could do anything to stop them from loving you.
If your earthly parents carry around such an ability to love....then why would your Heavenly Father not love in a way that overshadows everything and everyone?
So when you find yourself in the throe's of a Gethsemane time.
A struggle of your will and His will...
Remember that His love for you has a purpose and reason.
He sees the greater good.
We can only see the selfish intent of our own dark hearts.
I choose this day.......
His heart.
His will...
His purpose.
God on you...
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