To Pray Like Jesus Prays

"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. 'He took Peter and the two
sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, 'My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.' 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.'"
Matthew 26:36-39 


One day...That's how much time Jesus had left on the earth. He would be tortured, beaten, mocked, and killed. His death would come as he hung on a cross, nailed there with spikes through his hands and feet. It was the most horrible death imaginable. In fact, it defies imagination. Jesus knew exactly what he would face. There in the dark, in the garden of Gethsemane, he prayed. He was full of sorrow, he was troubled. Today we might say that he was depressed. this drove him to his knees as he appealed to his Father. 
    He asked the Father if it would be possible for him to not have to go through such a horrible death. His humanity cried out as he prayed. Yet in his heart he knew there was a greater purpose, a higher plan than that. He knew that his violent death would be the salvation of all mankind. And even though he struggled to accept it, he knew that he must die. So he told his Father, "Yet, not my will, but as you will." He submitted to the Father. He gave up himself for the greater purpose. He knew that God's will was much bigger than his desire to escape death. He had the authority to deliver himself from death. He could have called legions of angels to rescue him. But he submitted to the will of God. He called on God's will to be done on the earth, in his life. Jesus practiced what he taught us. He told us to pray, Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." He practiced what he preached. 
    None of us have ever faced the kind of trauma that Jesus faced that day. None of us know our future like Jesus did. Still, we face difficulties that cause us to ask God the same thing Jesus did. We ask him to deliver us from the struggle. "God, if it's possible, don't make me go through this. Take me out of this circumstance now!" But unlike Jesus, we sometimes find it difficult to relent. Instead of giving up ourselves for God's ultimate will to be done, we labor in the same prayer over and over, asking God to deliver us. What if God has a greater purpose for our struggles? What if the world will change if his will gets done? God's will is so much bigger than our circumstance that we must, in faith, submit to his will. Though we don't know what will come, we do know that God is in control, even though we fail to see how. Our struggles are real, but they are orchestrated by God. He has a plan.
    Let's be intentional. It is okay to pray for deliverance. God is not offended when we ask him to remove us from the hardship. But he longs for us to submit to him by realizing that the greater cause is for God's will to be accomplished here on earth, in our lives, in our struggles. When we release God's will, we release him to do greater things, different things, unexpected things. And this is joy of following Christ. This is the adventure. Pray for deliverance, but release the will of God into your life. The results will be beyond what we can possible imagine. His will is greater than our struggles.