Not My Will, but Yours
Month 11: The Cross & the Empty Tomb · Memory Verse
Today's Scripture
Read together: Matthew 26:36-39
36 Then Jesus went with His disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and He told them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. 38 Then He said to them, “My soul is consumed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with Me.” 39 Going a little farther, He fell facedown and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.”
Memory Verse
“Going a little farther, He fell facedown and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.””— Matthew 26:39 (BSB)memorize this week
📖 Bible-in-a-Year (optional)
Today's reading: Luke 9-11
Reading the whole Bible in a year — do this when you have extra time. (Jesus feeds five thousand, is transfigured, and teaches us to pray.)The Heart of It
After the supper, Jesus led His friends to a garden called Gethsemane. It sat on the slope of the Mount of Olives. There, under the olive trees, He prayed the hardest prayer ever prayed. Matthew tells us He was "sorrowful and deeply distressed." Jesus said, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death" (). Then He fell on His face. He did not kneel politely. He lay flat on the ground. And He asked His Father if there was any other way. "Let this cup pass from Me." The "cup" was everything the cross held. It held the pain and the shame. Most of all, it meant bearing the sin of the whole world and the judgment that sin deserved. Jesus did not want it. He was fully God. But He was also fully man. And His honest human heart pulled back from such horror.
And yet, here is the most important word in the whole verse. Nevertheless. "Nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will." Jesus told His Father exactly how He felt. And then He surrendered His own will to His Father's. This is our memory verse this week. It is one of the most powerful sentences in all of Scripture. It shows us that real obedience is not pretending we feel fine. Real obedience is being honest about what is hard, and choosing God's way anyway. Every time we whisper "not my will, but Yours," we are walking the very path Jesus walked in the garden. And we are never walking it alone.
Around the Table
In the garden, Jesus was very sad and asked His Father if there was another way. Then He said, "I will do what You want, Father." He trusted God even when it was hard.
Let's do it: Get down on the floor like Jesus did and pray together: "Father, I want to do what You want."
Jesus told His Father the truth about how scared and sad He felt. And then He obeyed. The little word "nevertheless" is the turning point.
Let's talk: What is something hard you are facing where you could pray, "Not my will, but Yours"?
Jesus was fully God and fully man. His human will truly pulled back from the cross. Yet He freely surrendered it to the Father's will. That is what makes His obedience real and costly, not pretend.
Let's go deeper: Jesus really wrestled in the garden. He did not march to the cross feeling nothing. Why does that matter?
💬 Conversation Starter
Have you ever told God how you really feel about something hard, and then chosen to obey Him anyway? How did it go?
🛡️ Defending the Faith
Some say the Gospel writers made Jesus look too perfect to be real. But Gethsemane is the opposite. They show their hero on the ground, in anguish, begging for another way. Made-up legends polish their heroes. Honest witnesses tell you the agony. This is the ring of truth.
For Dad · Go Deeper
Gethsemane is the great proof that surrender is not the same as numbness. Our Lord felt the full weight of what obedience would cost. Luke even notes His sweat "became like great drops of blood" (). And He still said yes. This matters enormously for how we disciple our children's emotions. We are not raising stoics who suppress what they feel. We are raising worshipers who bring their real feelings to the Father and then bow. The Puritan Thomas Goodwin called Christ's submission here "the highest act of obedience that ever was." For a father, the application is close to home. Your kids will learn whether faith has room for honest struggle by watching you. When you face a hard providence, like a layoff, a diagnosis, or a disappointment, what do you do? Do you fake serenity? Or do you pray your real "nevertheless" out loud where they can hear it? Teach them that the bravest prayer in the world is not "I'm fine." It is "Father, this is hard, and I will follow You anyway."
Draws on: D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to Matthew.
Let's Pray Together
"Father, thank You that Jesus prayed 'not My will, but Yours' so that we could be saved. When obeying You is hard, help us be honest about it. And help us trust You anyway, just like Jesus did in the garden. In Jesus' name, amen."
Real obedience says "nevertheless." It is honest about the hard, and surrendered to the Father.