Did Jesus Have a Will?

God wants His will to be accomplished in our daily lives. He expresses His will for us through His Spirit and through the vine/branch relationship. When we yield to His will in a situation, we are obeying His command, we are following His Spirit. As we yield to His will, He is being expressed through us, His life is being expressed through us, His love is being expressed through us. His will is for us to be in a vine/branch relationship with His Son. His will is for us to be totally dependent on His Son. His will is for us to follow His Spirit each day, thus obeying His command. When we yield to His will, His love is expressed through us.

We have a free will. God has given us the ability to choose to decide if we will follow Him or not. Adam and Eve decided not to obey God. Satan and his angels decided not to obey God. Jesus decided to obey God.

Our will has one priority; us and our survival. It usually runs counter to God’s will. Jesus lived 33 years. He lived a perfect life in that He did not sin and obeyed God in every aspect of His life on earth. Jesus had a will. His will was not in line with God’s will. You would think that after 33 years of walking with His Father, His will would have been the same as God’s will. Even up to the last hours, His will was not the same as God’s will.

Matthew 26:39 And He went a little beyond {them,} and fell on His face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will."

It was not His will to be crucified. He submitted to God’s will. Even though Jesus was God’s Son, He was also human and had a human will just like we do. Jesus knew His crucifixion was near and yet His will struggled with God’s will. He told His disciples to deny themselves, take up their cross and follow Him. This is what Jesus was doing in the garden. He was denying His will and submitting to God’s will. To follow Him, we must deny ourselves, our will.

Matthew 16:25 "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

Losing our lives goes against our will but this is a way of life in the Spirit. When we obey His will, we will be denying our will, denying ourselves, losing our life to find His. When we obey His commands, we will be giving up our will for His. We give up our lives for His to flow through us. A Godly love is one that puts others first, one that lays down its life for others, one that values the needs of others before our needs. This type of love goes against our will.

Our focus is not on giving up our will rather our focus is on Him, the vine, on following the Spirit each day and in doing so, we will be denying ourselves, yielding our will for His. We do not have to fret over distinguishing His will from ours. He will teach us to discern through the vine/branch relationship.