And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. Then He said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here I and keep watch with Me." And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt." And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? Keep watching and praying, that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."
He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, "My Father, this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Thy will be done." And again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes Were heavy.
And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more. Then He came to the disciples, and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners." (Matthew 26:36-45)DISCOVER THE CONTEXT: Jesus' earthly ministry is over and he is about to be handed over into the hands of sinners. He is alone with Peter, James and John, the leaders amongst the disciples and this lesson is specifically for them.
IDENTIFY KEY WORDS: The prayer (repeated three times) stands out very strong: "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt."
SUBJECT/COMPLEMENT:
S: What did prayer did Jesus pray three times while in the Garden of Gethsemane?
C: Jesus Prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt."
S: What does Jesus teach Peter, James and John about how to not enter into temptation?
C: Jesus teaches them that if they Keep watching and Praying that they would not enter into temptation.
Try it yourself...
S:
C:
Back to Basics:
All of us have probably at some point in life said, "The pain is so great I feel like I am dying." That is exactly how the Lord Jesus Christ felt on this night in the Garden of Gethsemane. He felt unspeakable grief and distress. What did He do in response to the feelings? He did two things that should be an example to us. First, He prayed about His own situation. Second, He asked other people to pray in His behalf.
Think about the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself asked for prayer support. And after He had opened His heart to His friends and asked them to watch and pray for just a while, He went aside to talk to the Father Himself. When He returned to the disciples, He found them fervently praying. Is that what Matthew says? No. Three times Jesus went aside to pray, and three times He returned to find them sleeping.
When He first found them asleep, He warned them to pray for themselves, that they would not enter into temptation. But they didn't listen. And because Peter, James, and John did not wrestle in their prayer, their rest was soon to be interrupted. If we rest before we wrestle, we will never be rested enough.
When we cannot pray anything else, there are two prayers that are always right, always fitting, and always honoring to God. One is "Thank You" (PSA 50:23; 1TH 5:18; EPH 5:20). The other is "Thy will be done" (MAT 6:10, MAT 26:39).
[Click here for The Doctrine of the Essence of God]
[Click here for Energized Prayer]
Prayer is like a lamp. We can turn it on and off, on and off, but if it is not plugged in to the power source, if it is not energized, nothing will happen. Every prayer we pray is either energized or it is not. When it is, we are letting loose an earthshaking power.
James 5:16 tells us that "the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much." A better translation of that would be: "the energized prayer of any believer has great power." The word "effective" comes from energeo, the root of our word "energy;" it means "to energize." The word "accomplish" is ischuos, the strongest of five Greek words for power. It means "applied power, demonstrated power." God will demonstrate His power through the energized prayer of His children.
The "righteous man" is anyone who has been imputed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Because we are in Christ, we have access to God 24 hours a day for the rest of our lives (HEB 4:16). In JAM 5:17, the Lord's brother reinforces the principle that anyone's prayers can be powerful when he says that "Elijah was a man with a nature like ours." That is an extremely important little statement. It tells us that the prophet Elijah—known among the Jews for his phenomenal prayer power and prayer ministry—was a natural human being. He had a sin nature; he struggled with areas of weakness; he knew what it was like to sin and to fail, but his prayer power was not based on anything in Elijah; it was based on God.
So, how can we "energize" our prayers? Every time we stop to pray, we should ask ourselves two questions:
1.Am I in fellowship (EPH 6:18)? Sin throws up a barrier between God and us and short-circuits our prayer (ISA 59:2). Self-examination and confession removes the barrier and restores us to fellowship (1JO 1:9, 1JO 3:21-22). If we have unconfessed sins in our lives, if we are not filled with the Spirit, our prayers are works of the flesh and have absolutely no power.
2.Am I praying according to the will of God (JOH 15:7; 1JO 5:14-15)? How do we pray according to His will? We have to know His Word. Lack of study will rob us of the ability to pray effectively. Jesus said that whatever we ask in faith, we will receive. But what is "faith"? It is a response to God's Word. We cannot ask for something in faith unless the Word of God declares that what we ask is the will of God. When we know the Word and our will is in line with His will, then our prayer will be powerful prayer.
Paul tells us in COL 4:2 to devote ourselves to prayer, "keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving." There are five dangers to which we should be alert: failure to confess (ISA 59:2), failure to study (JOH 15:7), failure to obey (1JO 3:22; 1PE 3:7), failure to ask according to God's will (1JO 5:14-15), and infiltration of personal lusts (JAM 4:2-3).
If we are alert to those dangers and can say "yes" to those two questions, we can pray in faith-rest, knowing that what we ask will be done in God's perfect time. Jesus Himself said in JOH 15:7, "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you."
The majority of this material was originally a highlighted topic in "The Basics". Additional topics can be found here
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