“My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Matthew 26:39
Read Matthew 26:36-45
Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”
43 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. 44 So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
45 Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners.
Jesus did not want to go to the cross. “My soul is overwhelmed to the point of death.”
Yet, he willingly went. He surrendered to God’s plan for salvation.
How do we get to that place where we can serve as God is calling is, even when we don’t want to?
Looking back through the passage Jesus gave us some clues:
1) Begin in prayer. God already knows how you feel, but tell him anyway. He loves to hear from each one of us! Communicate your heart, your hopes, your fears. Things rarely work out as we might envision, so keep in mind God sees the whole picture, you don’t.
2) Surrender your will to his. You may not want to surrender the situation to God. Why? Are you just plain stubborn? (Smile- we can all relate at one point or another!) But pride should have no place in your heart. The longer you hold onto pride, you are watering and fertilizing it. Be careful it does not bloom! Get rid of it like a weed!
Are you not sure God has it? Remember the story in Luke 24:9? The man wanted desperately to believe Jesus could heal his son. His words: “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” Luke 24:9
We can feel free to pray the same way. I can remember a few years ago, when I was in chemotherapy and I knew God could heal me. But, I needed to pray for help with that faith, certain moments of the day. God always supplied that need.
You can honestly ask for more faith, help trusting in him. He will gladly supply that need, multiple times a day, even multiple times a minute, when necessary.
In verse 42, Jesus prayed a second time. There is no magic number for how often we ought to pray. Do not be afraid to pray multiple times.
At the end of verse 42, Jesus says, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”
Jesus outlined his desire: to have the cup taken from him. Not go through the trial or impending sacrifice. Yet, if that was what God called him to do, Jesus prayed for God’s will, God’s plan to be fulfilled.
To get to that place of total surrender, we need to move ourselves out-of-the-way. We need to push aside our desires, our fleeting feelings, and surrender ourselves to God’s plan.
Jesus did surrender to God’s will. He ultimately gave his life as the perfect sacrifice so all of us sinful humans could be saved from eternal separation from God.
But the story doesn’t end there. The grave could not hold Christ. He was raised from the dead. And he is still with God in heaven today.
Even when we lack the desire, when we choose to follow God, in the end, God always rewards our obedience, and redeems the situation.
Reflections:
1) What am I clinging to that I need to surrender?
2) Pray, asking God to help you surrender to His plan for your life.
3) Memorize this promise: Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”[Hebrews 13:5, Deut. 31:6
Thank you for reading! I love to hear your thoughts and comments! Please feel free to email me at Stefanielynn3@gmail.com if you do not want your thoughts published on this site. Please return tomorrow for the next post.
Thank you for pointing out verse 42 about praying multiple times. When I’m feeling consumed by something and I’m not able to focus on other things, I seem to pray constantly about it. It’s not that I don’t have faith and I’m not trying to plead my case with God but, if its on my mind then I need to talk to God about it. For example, my dear friend was diagnosed 3 weeks ago with stage 4 cancer (lung, liver, colon, neck and leg) and she had a broken neck. I pray for her several times a day. She is on my mind so its what I take to God in prayer. A couple of years ago, my family was going through a crisis and I would talk to God many, many times a day. I do think that I can be so consumed by some things that I “forget” to pray for other things that are not as high of a priority of me.
How right you are. We can go to God multiple times and it does not translate into a weak faith. When we have something on our hearts and minds, we need to talk to God about it. He and he alone, can give us that peace, even if we must seek it repeatedly everyday. Praying for your dear friend. I am so sorry you are both journeying through this. Stefanie > Date: Thu, 23 May 2013 13:20:21 +0000 > To: Stefanie_L_Brown@hotmail.com >