Prayer And Surrendering to God's Will

Some of the most heart wrenching words in the entire Bible go like this,

"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."

- Matt 26:39-42

It is hard to figure out how this works. Jesus and the Father are One. And yet they seem to be coming up to the cross from two different perspectives. I don't entirely know what to make of this but I do know this - if Jesus had to surrender to God's will, how much more do I need to surrender to God's will?

Too often I am more like the disciples, asleep in the hour of trouble, than I am wrestling over whose will is being done in my life. May we follow the example of Jesus and become a people committed to God's will being done.

If we would make this commitment some big things would happen.

I believe we might actually find unity in Christ. Too much of our division is firmly rooted in who gets their way - us or God.

I believe we would get back to mission - that we could overcome our hesitancy to reach the lost because we want God's will to be done so much more than we would want to uphold our own comfort.

We would have communities of faith that are also communities of love. God getting God's way means me loving you even when I don't want to or feel like it. Too often I fail to love because I am asleep at the wheel...napping through important moments.

Time to wake up, listen to Jesus' prayer and consider what would happen if we followed His example.