What Would Jesus Do?
Jesus Did Nothing On His Own - He Always Did the Will of His Heavenly Father
So Should We
John 4:34 (ESV)
Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work."John 5:19 (ESV)
So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.John 5:30 (ESV)
“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.John 6:38 (ESV)
For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.John 6:57 (ESV)
As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.John 7:16 (ESV)
So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.John 7:28 (ESV)
So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know.John 8:28-29 (ESV)
28 So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. 29 And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”John 8:42 (ESV)
Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.John 14:10 (ESV)
Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.John 14:24 (ESV)
Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.John 17:7 (ESV)
Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you.Luke 22:42 (ESV)
Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.
Always doing the will of his Father is why Jesus can say to us, "my yoke is easy and my burden is light" (Matt 11:30). His life of total submission to and trust in the Father is a model for us to follow which will result in us receiving the easy yoke and light burden of walking with and being yoked with Jesus. It is because Jesus regularly spent time in the presence of his Father and obeyed his Father's commands that he did not worry and was not anxious about "What shall we eat?" or "What shall we drink?" or "What shall we wear?" (Matt 6:31). Jesus did not live a life of striving and we shouldn't either (Matt 6:31-34). Our Christian walk is all about discerning our Father's will and doing it. God will take care of the rest. Jesus is our role model (1 John 2:3-6). Jesus modeled for us how to live a righteous life with peace and He is our righteousness (2 Peter 1:1) and our peace (Phil 4:5-7). If we abide in Jesus Christ we will live - have spiritual life (John 6:57, John 15:4-7). Yet, we still have to choose to do right, choose the way of life, chose to abide in Jesus because God never forces us to do His will - He created us with free will (John 7:17, 2 Pet 3:9). Because God loves us (John 3:16) He has given us His commandments by which, when followed and carried out with the help of the Holy Spirit, we are demonstrating our love for God (1 John 5:1-3, 2 John 1:4-6) and will therefore receive God's blessings in our lives (Jam 1:25) resulting in the giving back to God our sincere praise and thanksgiving (Psa 106:1) to the glory of God (Luke 2:24).
Praying to Know God’s Will
Most of the time we can discern God's will for ourselves by reading and knowing Scripture which the Holy Spirit can then remind us of. The Holy Spirit will remind us of Scripture verses which are applicable to various situations we find ourselves in. For this to work we have to do our part which is hiding God's Word in our hearts (Psa 119:11). This can only happen if we read God's Word on a daily basis. I encourage you to find a reading plan that helps you to read through the whole bible, Old Testament and New Testament in one year and do so every year of your Christian life until the Holy Spirit directs you into times of more specific study. I read though the entire bible once a year for approximately 15 years before I started devoting more time to the New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs but still reading all of the Old Testament over a period of several years.
When we sense that we are at or approaching an important decision point in our lives we should look to see how Jesus handled similar times in his ministry on earth. Let's take a look at what transpired with Jesus during two very important times in his ministry.
Jesus Comes to the Very Important Point Where He Needs to Choose the Future Leaders Who Will Carry on His Ministry
Luke 6:12-20 ESV
12 In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. 13 And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles: 14 Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, 15 and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, 16 and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
What did Jesus do? He went to a private place (prayer closet) to pray to his Heavenly Father. Determining in his spirit that this time of prayer was important he spent all night in prayer with God. By the time the sun rose he had determined his Father's will in the matter of choosing the twelve key disciples from a larger group of disciples. He determined that his Father wanted him to choose twelve disciples and he determined exactly which persons he was to pick - including the one who would betray him.
What do we need to take away from this special event in God's salvation history? All important matters in our life should be submitted to God in prayer. We need to spend time in the presence of God in order to determine His will for all important decisions - sometimes we need to spend a long time in prayer for the more important decisions. Sometimes we just need to spend long periods of time, more than five or ten minutes, being quiet before our God waiting on Him to reveal His will to us.
Here is another example from scripture...
Jesus Needs Directions for the Next Step
Mark 1:35-39 ESV
35 And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. 36 And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, 37 and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” 38 And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” 39 And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.
This is a time when Jesus just needed to take time to find out what his Heavenly Father wanted him to do next. In this case he had been preaching the Good News in the local area of Capernaum but now his Father instructs him to move on and preach in the broader surrounding area.
Did Jesus ever get an idea on his own and carry it out without seeking the face of his Father first?
John 6:38 (ESV)
For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.John 14:10b (ESV)
The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.
The scriptures at the top of this page indicate that Jesus always sought out the face of his Father first and spoke just what his Father wanted him to do and speak. We should do the same by spending the necessary time in the presence of our Heavenly Father. We should especially take time to be quiet before God so that we can discern His quiet, gentle voice in order to know His will for ourselves.