THE MAIN IDEA
God’s will is always and only done when we follow Jesus Christ. 

JESUS SUFFERED TO DO GOD’s WILL
Jesus’s suffering is clearly on display here. He  was in deep anguish because He knew that He would be suffering the full wrath of God—not for  His owns sins (He had none) but for all the sins of all of humanity for all of time. When we  commit our lives to doing God’s will, we will suffer too. But in that suffering to do the will of  God, we have the opportunity to grow spiritually. If we live to avoid suffering for the sake of  doing God’s will, we cannot grow spiritually. However, even though doing God’s will may lead  to suffering for us too, none of us has to suffer in the way that Jesus suffered. His suffering was  unique. No one ever can or will or has to suffer in the way Jesus did because the suffering that  He did to atone for the sins of humanity was once for all. Jesus suffered the full wrath of God so  that no one else would ever to. And all we need to do to receive this incredible and undeserved  act of grace is to put our trust in Him and follow Him as Lord and Savior of our lives. 

JESUS PRAYED TO DO GOD’s WILL
It is clear though that Jesus was being tempted in  the garden. Some people say that Jesus was being tempted by the devil, but the Bible never says  that. Rather, Jesus, being fully human, was being tempted in His flesh (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus was  pleading with the Father that He would not have to suffer the full wrath of God to atone for the  sins of the world. He was asking God to find some other way. Jesus knew that the disciples were  experiencing the same kind of temptation as He was. The temptation for both Him and them was  to bypass the Father’s will and to pursue God’s purposes on their own terms—not on God’s  terms. And Jesus knew that they would continue to face that temptation of the flesh for the rest  of their lives—especially when their very lives were at stake. That is why Jesu was telling them  to “Watch and pray,” and He was doing the same. But Jesus was determined to accept whatever  the Father’s will was, so He prayed that the Father would give Him the strength to face it (verse  42). We too can pray according to what is in our hearts. However, we must be willing to accept  whatever the Father’s will may be, and we must pray for strength to do God’s will. 

JESUS FORGAVE US TO DO GOD’s WILL
When we know what the Father’s purpose is and pray to do His will, the Father’s will for our lives will become very clear. Jesus was praying  to the Father that He not have to drink the cup of God’s wrath; but if He did, that the Father  would give Him the strength to do His will. Jesus knew the Father’s will when He heard the  footsteps of the soldiers coming to arrest Him. And He surrendered to the Father’s will. “The  spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” is not an excuse for being weak in the flesh. It is an  exhortation to resist the temptation of bypassing the will of God for the sake of comfort and/or  convenience. But we tend to want an excuse, a way out of doing God’s will. The disciples failed  Jesus over and over again. But Jesus was not bitter or angry with them. Rather, He says, “Rise!  Let us go.” Whenever we fail, Jesus gives us another chance to rise up and follow Him to the  cross to be His witness. Whenever we fail, Jesus gives us another chance to do the will of God. It  is because we do not drink from the cup of God’s wrath. We drink from the cup of God’s  grace—the blood of Jesus Christ. Because of His sacrifice, we have the forgiveness of all of our  sins, so that every moment is a new opportunity to do the will of God, even when we fail. 

DISCUSSION QUESTION -
Describe an experience where you really desired to do something but just  couldn’t get yourself to do it. Now, how about something you desired to do and then was  able to do it. What was the difference?