The Will of the Father

When the Savior descended from heaven to be among the people of Nephi in the land Bountiful, these were his introductory words: “Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world. And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning” (3 Nephi 11:10-11). He chose to define Himself to them in terms of the Father, telling them before anything else that He did the will of the Father in all things. This was something that He also told the people at Jerusalem during His mortal ministry. He declared to them, “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work” (John 4:34). His whole purpose was to do the will of the Father. He further told them, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise” (John 5:19). He defined all His actions based on the Father, suggesting that everything He did was to follow the Father. He also said, “And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him” (John 8:29). Everything He did was in accordance with the will of the Father. His determination to accomplish the will of God was put to the test as He suffered the infinite atonement in the garden of Gethsemane. He prayed, “And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matthew 26:39). In this moment He did not want to do the will of the Father, and yet He was still firmly committed to doing it. And having accomplished all things the Father sent Him to do, He could declare to the people at Bountiful that He “suffered the will of the Father in all things.” He reiterated this to us in this dispensation with these words to the Prophet Joseph: “I am Jesus Christ; I came by the will of the Father, and I do his will” (Doctrine and Covenants 19:24).

                Many scriptures invite us to follow His example and to seek to accomplish the will of God in our own lives. Jesus taught, “For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother” (Mark 3:35). In the Sermon on the Mount He also taught, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). It is not enough to call on the name of the Lord; we must seek to do the will of the Father in our lives. Jacob invited us: “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, reconcile yourselves to the will of God, and not to the will of the devil and the flesh; and remember, after ye are reconciled unto God, that it is only in and through the grace of God that ye are saved” (2 Nephi 10:24). We must reconcile ourselves to the will of God, meaning that we accept what He wants for us and strive to live accordingly. The Savior proclaimed, “Nevertheless, he that endureth in faith and doeth my will, the same shall overcome” (Doctrine and Covenants 63:20). One of the most descriptive verses about doing the will of God is this well-known description of the natural man given by the angel to King Banjamin: “For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father” (Mosiah 3:19). To do the will of God we must be submissive, meek, humble, and be willing to submit to all things that the Lord inflicts upon us. These words of the dedicatory prayer on the Kirtland Temple describe the attitude we should strive to have: “But thy word must be fulfilled. Help thy servants to say, with thy grace assisting them: Thy will be done, O Lord, and not ours” (Doctrine and Covenants 109:44). Doing the will of God defined the life of Jesus Christ, and we should strive to live so that it is the defining aspect of ours as well.