Title: Lessons from Jesus' Prayer in Gethsemane
Contents
[Lesson of Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane] Luke 22:39-46 2006.09.10. Sunday evening worship
?Jesus gave us the example of prayer. From the Lord's Prayer that taught us to pray, the fasting mountain prayer that overcame temptation, and the 17th chapter of the Gospel of John I read last week. The most earnest prayer among the Lord's prayers is the prayer of Gethsemane. This prayer was a prayer to fulfill the mission for which he came. This is the prayer that was offered before the work of the cross the night before he was arrested.
The Lord prayed with the most difficult problem before him. And this prayer teaches us how to pray when we face the big problems in life.
1. The Lord teaches us to pray according to our habits.
?First, at the beginning of verse 39 of today's text, Jesus also practiced his habit and prayed. Here, we teach that “habit” is not a prayer that started suddenly when faced with a problem. Rather, it teaches us that it has become a habit by always praying even when we say that we are calm and there are no problems. The prayer of habit is the prayer we pray every day. It tells us that Jesus got up as usual and went to live prayer on the Mount of Olives.
The Mount of Olives is a mountain near Jerusalem. This mountain is right outside the city and you can go even on the Sabbath. That's why people who pray sometimes climb this Mount of Olives. The Lord also went to this Mount of Olives. And I prayed like a regular habit every day.
?This path of habit shows that the Lord prayed regularly. Even when there was no tribulation normally, the Lord prepared for tribulation by praying. As the saying goes that you should prepare an umbrella before it rains, you should prepare for tribulation just as you would before tribulation. The Lord's prayer of habit was a prayer of preparation. And he teaches us. We too must prepare for the coming of the Lord through prayer.
2. The Lord's prayer shows cooperative prayer.
And in verse 39, the Lord took Peter, James, and John up the mountain so that they might watch and pray together. This is the reason why the Lord told his disciples to watch and pray so that they would not fall into temptation, but when they fell asleep because they could not overcome their drowsiness, when he woke them up, he rebuked them, saying, “Couldn’t you have stayed awake with me even for one hour?” The Lord asks the disciples to pray together, that is, to pray in one accord.
?The words of the Lord say that where two or three are gathered in my name, I am with them, or the prayers of the righteous who work together have power. Everyone, let's get the strength to work together when we meet difficult things. Intercession prayers that work together can easily reach before God.
3. Prayer should be done to accomplish God's will, not your own.
?Our prayers should always be God-centered. Because we are in the world and difficulties and sufferings always meet us, we pray according to our will. In general, it is said that prayer is to make our people's wishes come true. But the Lord tells us that prayer is not seeking our will, but seeking God's will. It is God who accomplishes things, so we must always seek His will first.
As in verse 42 of the text, when the Lord prays while laying down on the cross, praying, “Lord, do not do my will, but yours be done” is a typical example. It is our duty to pray, as Jesus taught in the Lord's Prayer, that your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
4. You must be earnest so that your sweat becomes like drops of blood falling to the ground.
This description of the Lord's prayer is found in verse 44. He prayed earnestly in Gethsemane. His earnestness begins with urgency to solve the big problem ahead. And the Lord cried out with all his might. When we do our best, we can see the sweat flow from the work. Sweat flows even when it's hot, but it flows even when it's hard. Prayers that cry out loudly are hard enough to make you sweat. This is verse 44. “Jesus first [strives and struggles], then [more earnestly] and [cries out],” says three things.
?The Lord's prayer topic is not your own prayer topic. It had to do with the lives of all people under the world who were saving the whole world. That is why he realized how precious this work of his own is and the importance of the work he has to do when he comes into the world. It is difficult to carry the cross. And it's painful, but that's why it's important. In order to accomplish this work, the Lord prayed with all his might as his sweat became like drops of blood.
?It is incomparable to the Lord's Gethsemane, but we too face big and small things in this world. Not a single thing big or small is easy. And they sometimes have very important meaning in our lives. Whenever we encounter such a thing, let us imitate the Lord's prayer. As the saying goes, when our sweat becomes like drops of blood, when it drips down, we should put forth the same effort in our prayers.
5. Prayer should be a prayer attended by angels through spiritual communication.
?Then how do we offer this prayer? The first is “deeply”. Second, “to look to God who hears and to fulfill His will” Third, relying on “the mediation of the Comforter, the Holy Spirit”, “Lord, open my heart so that I can see the marvelous laws of God. Please fulfill the fellowship of” and prayed.
In Revelation 5:8, the angels had golden bowls full of incense, and they came down to the praying saints, filled them with their prayers, and brought them up before the throne of God, and the incense is called the prayers of the saints.
?An angel is always waiting for the prayers of the saints. This is to put our prayers in a golden bowl. Although we cannot see it with our physical eyes, we believe that it will be visible to those who pray and have their spiritual eyes opened.
Just as an angel came and ministered to Jesus' prayer, we believe that if we communicate spiritually with God in our prayers, there will be a prayer of the Spirit that an angel will come to attend and attend.
As I finished speaking,
?We want to imitate Jesus' earnest prayer in Gethsemane. Our prayer is to pray according to the habit, and to intercede together in the community, especially when we meet difficult things, to pray for God's will, so that our sweat becomes like drops of blood, By relying on the prayer of the Spirit, I hope you will pray such a prayer that communicates with God.
?In the end, the Lord completed his work of salvation with this prayer in Gethsemane. And “It is finished.” He gave the words of victory. Prayer is God's help that gives us victory. I pray that you will become victorious people in this world through this prayer.