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Thoughts for a Woman's Heart |
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encouragement in things that matter |
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Gethsemane Praying
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Contemplating the God-man that lay as a newborn in a manger, I sometimes wonder how aware the infant was of the divine purpose that was His. Watching from a far distance though through the pages of Scripture, I see the God-man again in a garden called Gethsemane. This time I am certain of His awareness and His understanding. Weary disciples were catching up on their sleep, but Jesus was confronting all the horrors of evil as He knelt in anguished prayer to His Father. The Father who had loved, approved, and affirmed His Son throughout His earthly journey – the Father who had fashioned a plan of inexplicable love – this Father would seemingly turn His back on the One who was part of His very essence. Jesus knew what was to happen, and He wanted the comfort of His Father’s presence in the solitude of the garden. His humiliation would be completed; abuse and torment would shred His body, and yet, although His physical suffering would be immense, the burden of sin that was to be placed upon Him was far greater. God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf. Luke’s gospel tells us, "And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground." Three times the God-man says almost the same words to His Father. My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.
When I want to understand prayer more fully, I go the garden and I see the One who taught His disciples to pray, teaching me to pray by example. In the garden, Jesus’ whole purpose in prayer was to enter into the solitude of His Father’s presence. Unparalleled forces of evil were already being unleashed. Our tragedies and turmoil fade in comparison. But when those times of difficulty close in on me, is my response to seek the solitude of my Father’s presence? My greatest lessons though from the garden come as I listen to the heart of the God-man. He prayed, "if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me." Knowing what He knew, there was a part of Him that pleaded with His Father for another way. But just as quickly the words came, "yet not as I will, but as You will." Jesus’ prayer gives me the freedom to pray my heart – whatever desire cries from its depths. And that cry can resound with urgency and utter fervency reflecting the felt impact of my need. But Jesus’ prayer calls me to submit my longings to the sovereign purposes and the loving heart of my Father. Pray, daughter of God. Pray with a desire to know the solitude of His presence, with fervency and an open heart of longing, and with a willingness for God to answer as He chooses.
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— Bev |
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