1
Lord I Am Willing
Select Scripture - December 1, 2013
A hymn that should never be removed from our hymnal is TRUST AND
OBEY for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus. This summarizes the
Christian life well.
There is another characteristic every believer must understand and practice.
It is submission to God. It is the heart that says, Lord, I am yours. You are in
charge. I know You are watching over me. I know you are good. I want to
follow and live under Your sovereign care … and do it joyfully.
It is opposite the attitude of Jonah …
 He tries to run from God … and is caught
 Is thrown in the sea … accepts the fact that he is going to drown … but
is unexpectedly saved
 Is given a second chance and obeys
 Preaches … with no compassion for the Ninevites … and is incredibly
successful
 Is bothered by the results …
 And then becomes angry with God …
How can we avoid this attitude?
This morning were are going to look at six attitudes God expects of His
children. The six we will be looking at come from a PRAYER OF
SUBMISSION by an unknown author. The six elements are so good I will be
using them as main points. It was a pleasure to seek out Scripture to affirm
these principles.
This prayer begins with … LORD, I AM WILLING. Are you willing to let
God be in control of your life? All of it? No holds barred? Are you willing to
say to God … Lord, I am willing …
 To RECEIVE What You give
God purposely allows things in our life that we do not consider good. But
the truth remains … God only gives good things to those who walk in
truth. But they are cleverly disguised as bad things.
2
James 1:17
Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down
from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting
shadow.
This pastor’s perspective
If something is wrong in your life that can be fixed – get it fixed.
If your arm is broken – get to the doctor and get that bone set
If something goes wrong that cannot be fixed … accept it as permitted by
God … and set your heart to trust Him while the affliction remains a
mystery. Young people…accept the way God made you.
Job amazes me. Even when his own wife said … curse God and die …
Job responded …
Job 2:10
“…You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed
accept good from God and not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not
sin with his lips.
Joni Earekson Tada
I wouldn't change my life for anything. I feel privileged. God doesn't give
such special attention to everyone and intervene that way in their lives. He
allows most people to go right on in their own ways. He doesn't interfere
even though He knows they are ultimately destroying their own lives,
health or happiness, and it must grieve him terribly. I'm really thankful He
did something to get my attention and change me. You know, you don't
have to get a broken neck to be drawn to God. But the truth is, people
don't always listen to the experiences of others and learn from them.
If you are not willing to accept what God has permitted in your life … you
are moving into dangerous territory! You are quarreling with God. Isaiah
wrote …
Isaiah 45:9
“Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker— An earthenware vessel
among the vessels of earth! Will the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you
doing?’
3
The attitude … Lord, I am willing to accept what you give is the response
God is looking for.
Isaiah 64:8
But now, O LORD, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our
potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand.
The second principle of this prayer … Lord, I am willing …
 To LACK What You Withhold
I Corinthians 1:26
If God did not make you one of the beautiful people … the sought out for
… the popular … welcome to the status of most Christians.
I Corinthians 1:26-29
For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise
according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble;
1:27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise,
and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things
which are strong,
1:28 and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the
things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are,
1:29 so that no man may boast before God.
I wanted to be a great basketball player. I had the height … but I was
missing two things … speed and the ability to jump. Height is nothing
without speed and not of much help without leaping ability. But God
made me this way. But God gave me salvation … new life in Christ …
eternal life and heaven in my future. Having this makes lacking anything
else insignificant.
The third element … Lord, I am willing …
 To RELINQUISH What You Take
Oh to respond like Job when the Lord let Satan take the lives of Job’s kids.
4
Job 1:21
He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return
there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name
of the LORD.”
Job lived in the constant awareness of God’s presence … God’s goodness
and God’s sovereignty. His high view of God kept Him from becoming
despondent. I’m so glad the Lord gave us the example of Job.
Job 13:15
“Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. Nevertheless I will argue my
ways before Him.
We get to meet this guy someday. What an incredible example of
relinquishing what God took.
My friends, it is okay to ask … Why God? But when the answer doesn’t
come … you have to come to closure with the attitude … Lord, I’m
willing to relinquish what you take.
I have often needed the reminder of Lamentations 3 …
Lamentations 3:39
Why should any living mortal, or any man, Offer complaint in view of his
sins?
What we deserve … punishment for our sins
What we receive instead … unmerited and undeserved grace
Psalm 103:10
He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according
to our iniquities.
The fourth principle … Lord, I am willing …
 To SUFFER What You Inflict
5
In II Corinthians 12, Paul was given a thorn in the flesh … a severe health
issue … because he had been privileged to see what no living person have
seen in paradise. God chose to inflict him with something physically
bothersome. Appears to be an issue with his eyes. It was extremely
irritating. He asked God to heal him … to fix his eyes … and God said
no. What Paul learned we need to learn.
II Corinthians 12:9-10
And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is
perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about
my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
12:10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with
distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when
I am weak, then I am strong.
God has been perfectly clear … believers are going to suffer.
Philippians 1:29
For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in
Him, but also to suffer for His sake
When you suffer … it is only a test. It tests the strength of your faith.
Suffering keeps you humble. It weans you from depending on things of
this world. It refocuses you on eternal things and your heavenly hope. It
makes you examine what you really love. It develops your usefulness.
Without a doubt … when things are quiet and comfortable … we easily
walk by sight rather than by faith. And when you have suffered … you are
better able to help others in their trials.
The fifth principle … Lord, I am willing …
 To BE What You Require
Romans 12:1
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your
bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your
spiritual service of worship.
6
To be … a living sacrifice
To be … a holy sacrifice
To be … acceptable to God in your lifestyle
I remember hearing over and over again … something worth repeating
The problem with being a living sacrifice … living sacrifices can crawl off
the altar.
Get back on that altar. Get back being a living and holy sacrifice …
Someone said …
“the mercies of God should melt us into compliance”
The great motivator for being what God requires …
I Corinthians 6:20
For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your
body.
I Peter 1:18-19
“… not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your
futile way of life inherited from your forefathers,
1:19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the
blood of Christ.
The sixth element of the prayer … Lord, I am willing …
 To DO What You Send Me To Do
Matthew 28:19-20
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
28:20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am
with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Transferring your faith to someone else … making disciples remains a
priority!
Some here have come to know Christ … but haven’t been baptized.
Baptism is not optional. It is the outward sign you have come to faith in
7
Christ! If you have not been baptized since you have believed … you are
being disobedient to the clear word of God.
I love Isaiah’s response to God’s invitation—to serve God.
Isaiah 6:8
Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who
will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
Like it or not … God is still in control of His universe and in control of
you. But He will let you have your own way. But when you rebel against
God you do not achieve freedom. You enter into bondage … because
rebellion is sin and sin is a tyrant.
I think a good number of you desire to be like Job … like Isaiah … like
Paul. You are willing to let God rule your life.
Wrap Up
Donald Gray Barnhouse
95% of knowing the will of God consists in being prepared to do it before
you know what it is.
Nancy Leigh DeMoss
Once we agree with God that we exist for His pleasure and His glory, we
can accept whatever comes into our lives as part of His sovereign will and
purpose. We will not resent, resist, or reject the hard things, but
embrace them as friends, sovereignly designed by God to make us more
like Jesus and to bring glory to Himself.
Philip Graham Ryken
Your will must hand God its letter of resignation. For unless you submit
to God’s will in everything, you are not submitting to Him in anything. If
you only follow God’s will when it happens to correspond to your own will
… you never have to surrender at all. You are simply asking God to
endorse your own agenda.
John Calvin
Until men recognize that they owe everything to God, that they are
nourished by His fatherly care, that He is the Author of their every good,
8
that they should seek nothing beyond Him - they will never yield Him
willing service. Nay, unless they establish their complete happiness in
Him, they will never give themselves truly and sincerely to Him.
Can you offer this prayer today … and stay fixed on this prayer when you leave?
Lord, I am willing to receive what You give,
to lack what You withhold,
to relinquish what You take,
to suffer what You inflict,
to be what You require.
And to do what You send me to do
You can reconstruct this prayer using the sermon title and each point.
What will it be?
Will you COMPETE with God’s plan or CONVERGE with it?