Prayer Discussion Board 1

[pastorhelen]

Using Matthew 26:36-46, what lessons may one learn from Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane.

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[Ben]

Here, are some lessons from the prayer of Jesus at Gethsemane:
What is prayer?
Prayer is simply communication, conversation, fellowship with God that is borne out of the love of God with a consciousness of what God has already done in the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus.

Lesson One: Jesus prayed to the God he had a relationship with. Matthew 26:39, 42. Jesus began his prayer by calling God Father. He showed us right there, that we should pray not as an obligation (a religious one at that) but because we have a relationship with God. The word Father, explains a connection that exist between God and the one praying.

During the Old Covenant and in the Old Testament, the people of God did not have this close connection with God and didn’t really know him as Father. The writers of the Old Testament lay greater emphasis on our distance from God and the reserve we should feel before him. God is revealed more as separate from us and beyond us, and he is seen less as intimate and close to us. But in the New Testament, although God remains holy and majestic in our eyes, Jesus adds a strikingly clear emphasis on God as Father—both his Father and our Father (John 20:17). It is the Spirit of the Son who leads us into intimacy with God as our own Abba Father (Gal. 4:6). It is therefore with this understanding that we should approach God in prayer and if we know that we have a relationship with him, we must also realize that he is interested in hearing us pray and to answer our prayers; even as a way of being involved in our lives.

Lesson Two: Jesus prayed according to the will of God (Matthew 26:39, 42). Often, we are faced with difficult situations and even life threatening issues that we want to talk to God about. However, we must realize that we do not belong to ourselves. Our relationship with the Father shows that we belong to God. It also shows that there are provisions made according to the will of the Father for his children. Every good father has intentions which often are good for their children.

God has good intentions in his will for us. So when we go to him in prayer and like Jesus did, we must look pass the overwhelming circumstances and seek his will in prayer as well as pray his will for our lives. We can trust him to deliver us and to come through for us according to his good pleasures in his will for us. At the moment, it might not seem realistic or effective praying his will but we must refuse the temptation of praying our situations as there is no faith in them to give us victory/the answers we need. Since we need answers and we want God to fix things up, let us pray his will (the word) for our lives.

Lesson Three: Jesus took his burdens to God in prayer (Matthew 26:36-39). In stead of thinking, complaining or worrying over his burdens, Jesus took them all to God in prayer. Philippians 4:6-7, tells us how to address the things that come against. We must learn to take whatever that is before us to God in prayer and leave it there with him.

It is already looking or seeming overwhelming. Why worry over it? Why allow it be your nightmare and fixed thought. We can turn to the Lord in prayer and trust him to fix things up.

Isaiah 38:2-6, Hezekiah got a very terrible news about his death but he immediately turned to the Lord in prayer and that report was changed. God is able to step in, lift burdens off our shoulders and strengthen us with the might that comes from him even when we need to go through a phase in life. There’s always an input to get from God. He never refuses us help when we need his help or intervention. Let us always create the time to pray about things that trouble us and not try to fix things all by ourselves.

[femionas]

I particularly love what you said in your second lesson about “God having good intentions in his will for us., and that, when we go to him in prayer just like Jesus did, we should look past the overwhelming circumstances and seek his will in prayer as well as pray his will for our lives”. God’s intentions for us are in his word. We can have good intentions however, but if they are contrary to God’s word, then we are moving in rebellion to God’s word – and that is not a good place to be Proverbs 3:7,
In Mathew 26: 38, Jesus told his disciples that the soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: and in verse 39, the bible said he went a little further and fell on his face and prayed to God, that if it were possible that the cup should pass from him. All this tells us that, he was overwhelmed by the situation in front of him, the burden he had to carry, but thank God, he quickly submitted to the will of God by saying, Not my will, but thy will be done.
The lesson for us here is that we should always align with the Will of God for our lives. And that prolonged seasons of waiting that we experience sometimes is not an indication that God has forgotten about us, it is either that it is not yet the time for it to manifest, or that it is not in his will because God always has good intentions for his children.

[femionas]

USING MATTHEW 26:36-46, WHAT LESSONS MAY ONE LEARN FROM JESUS’ PRAYER IN GETHSEMANE.

Mathew 26: 36 – 46 highlights the human side of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by referring to his grief, anguish and sorrow. In his prayers, he asked God the father is there is another way for his plan to be accomplished. However, almost as soon as he said this he realizes and accepts that God’s will must be done. Mathew 26: 36 -29. NKJV.
He acknowledges that the “hour has cone” for the son of God to be glorified by “finishing the work” he has come to do. Mathew 36: 44- 46. NJKV, Then he prayed for his disciples to be protected as they take the truth into the world. He also prayed for those who will believe in him through the message delivered by the disciples.

There are so many lessons to be learnt from Jesus’s prayer in Gethsemane. Some of them are :

• Jesus Christ demonstrates the priority of submitting to the Fathers will. Verse 39 “He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” He remained reverent, he was not demanding or harsh towards his father, he did not lose his grip on the faithfulness of God even in the situation he was. We must always pray in line with the will of God. We must submit to the will of God.

• He taught us how to take full advantage of the privilege of prayer Mathew 26 : 40 Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? This teaches us that we should always pray to God just as Jesus prayed to the father.

• He taught us how to deal with sufferings and temptation. Mathew 26: 41 Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Jesus taught us to pray for victory over temptation.

• The need for intercessors / prayer partners. Mathew 26: 37 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. 38 Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.” This gives some ease to the troubled soul, when he has some trusted friends or confidants praying with him

• We also leant that we should be watchful at all time. (watch and pray) in verse :45, “Then He came to His disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.” We leant the importance of keeping watch in Prayer.

• Most time we use our suffering as justification for blaspheming God’s name or talking about him like he is not a good God, But from Jesus’s experience in Gethsemane, we see how wrong. God dis not allow Jesus suffer because he did not care, rather, he allowed him go through all that because he cares so much. Jesus shows his belief that God is still good all the time.

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