How Do I Know How to Pray? | A Lesson From the Garden
A few weeks back a friend of mine asked me a difficult question- “How do I know if I am praying for the right thing? I know I am supposed to ask for God’s will, but is it okay for me to ask for what I want/think is best?” My friend is facing an extremely difficult situation in their lives and the solution seems complicated and cloudy. I wonder how many of us have asked the same question. The truth is, there isn’t a simple answer. But as I was reading the story of the betrayal and crucifixion of Jesus, a passage that I’ve read frequently, something jumped out at me in a different way in response to my friend’s question. Jesus gives us a model of how we are to pray when we are faced with the most difficult of circumstances when He falls on His face before the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane. Let’s take a look together:
32 They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. 34 “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”
35 Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. 36 “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” - Mark 14: 32 - 36
Jesus’ prayer in the Garden is a model to us when we are faced with trials. He shows us how we are to pray when our “soul is overwhelmed with sorrow, even to the point of death” (v. 34). Jesus begins his prayer by going to be alone in a quiet place and addressing God as Abba Father. Abba is the Aramaic word for “Daddy” and it was the most personal way that Jesus could have addressed God. When we address God as our Abba Father, our Daddy, it reminds us that we aren’t addressing some distant deity in the clouds, but that we have a personal relationship with God.
Next, Jesus proclaimed His trust in the Father. He prayed, “everything is possible for you” (v. 36). Jesus tells God, “I know you are able to do whatever you want to do. Nothing is impossible for you.” Jesus shared God’s very nature, but still took the time to acknowledge the power and majesty of God. How much more do we need to take the time to remind ourselves of God’s power? Jesus models for us that this is where we are to start our prayers, even in the midst of great trials. This is consistent with the model he teaches us in the Lord’s prayer, “hallowed be your name” (Matthew 6). Jesus takes the time to praise God before presenting his requests before Him and He asks us to do the same.
Jesus asks God for what he wanted/needed. He prayed, “take this cup from me” (v. 36). I find this fascinating- Jesus already knew what was going to happen. He was fully God and He had been sent to earth for this very purpose. But He was also fully human, and in his humanness, he asked God to remove the cup of suffering that He knew He was about to face. I believe He did this as a model for us. We don’t see the whole big picture, and we don’t know for sure what is going to happen next. Jesus invites us to ask the Father for what we need or desire.
Finally, Jesus submitted to the authority of the Father. AS SOON AS he asked for what he desired, in the next breath He prayed, “Yet not what I will, but what you will.” This reminds me of what Paul writes about the attitude of Jesus in Philippians 2:
“Who being in the very nature of God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death - even death on a cross!”
Praise God that Jesus submitted to the Father! If he hadn’t, we wouldn’t have anything to celebrate this weekend. We wouldn’t have any hope. Jesus knew that this was the way that God willed, He humbled Himself, and He drank the cup of suffering on this very day so many years ago.
Today, may we remember that in our own suffering, in our own hurting, that Jesus doesn’t ever ask us to walk in a place he hasn’t been. As death is so thick in our world at this very moment, may we remember our savior who submitted himself freely to face death on our behalf. Today, may we be motivated by this remembrance that His death wasn’t just for some, that He died for all. May it give us a sense of urgency to share the truth of the Gospel and to pray desperately for those around the world and in our very own cities who are sick, hurting and dying and do not know Jesus.
We know the rest of the story- we know that Sunday is coming! That because Jesus submitted in the Garden and obediently died on the cross, He was able to conquer sin and death by raising from the dead. That because He gave up His will to the will of the Father, we now have eternal life with Him. May this give us the confidence that when we submit to God’s will and His will doesn’t look like our own, that His plan and His purpose is so much bigger than ours. That His plan is always for our good and His glory (Romans 8:28). May we remember on this Good Friday and be thankful.
