Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

Our Reading titled A Prayer for God's Will was written by Katera Patton.

As a young believer in Jesus, I picked up my new devotional Bible and read a familiar scripture.

Ask, and it will be given to you.

The commentary explained that what we really should be asking God for is our will to line up with

his. By seeking for his will to be done, we would be assured that we'd receive what we asked for.

That was a new concept for me, and I prayed for

God's will to be done in my life. Later that same day, I became surprisingly excited about a job

opportunity I'd already turned down in my mind, and I was reminded about my prayer. Perhaps what I didn't

think I wanted was actually a part of God's

will for my life. I continued to pray and eventually accepted the job. In a much more profound and

eternally significant moment, Jesus modeled this for us. In Luke 22, before his betrayal and arrest, which led to his crucifixion, he prayed,

Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me, yet not my will, but yours be done.

Christ's prayer was filled with anguish and agony as he faced physical and emotional pain, yet he was

still able to earnestly pray for God's will to be done. God's will in my life has become my

ultimate prayer. This means I may desire things I don't even know I want or need. The job I

originally hadn't wanted turned out to be the beginning of my journey

in Christian publishing. Looking back, I believe God's will was done. Today's our daily bread

devotional scripture reading is from Luke chapter 22 verses 41 through 44.

He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed. Father, if you are willing,

take this cup for me, yet not my will, but yours be done. An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him,

and being in anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling

...