A Willing Spirit is within your Reach

“Thy will be done” can never be prayed with ambivalence. It has to be heartfelt. In the Garden, just hours before his crucifixion, Jesus prayed “Thy will be done.” He had a willing spirit. “Willing” means not only ‘ready,” but ‘eager.’ No one could argue that Jesus, who had been preparing his entire life for that “hour,” was not ready to drink the cup of suffering (Matt. 26:41-42). But was He eager? The Greek word suggests so. Could it mean the thought, not of death, but of pleasing His Father predisposed Jesus to a willing spirit that included an element of “eagerness.”

With every new day, I am presented with tests of faith whereby I am forced to ask myself, “Do I have a willing spirit? And am I eager to please my Heavenly Father?” To be otherwise disposed is an accident waiting to happen. Like King David. But in the aftermath of moral failure, David prayed, “Renew a right spirit within me” (Ps. 51:4), the word 'right' meaning willing, ready, and eager.  Being the slow learner that I am, this seems completely out of my reach in this life. And then I remember Paul's words, "God is at work in you, both to WILL and to work for His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:12). It would seem the key to “Thy will be done” is “Lord, give us a willing spirit.”