We are in the midst of a 30 Day Prayer Challenge at First Baptist – Columbus, the congregation I am blessed to serve as pastor. This blog is addressed to that challenge and its participants, but I hope might speak to others beyond our faith community as well.
A Prayer of Surrender to God’s Will
“. . . not what I want, but what you want.” (Mark 14:36b). These are the words of Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane after he prays that the cup of suffering that awaits him might somehow pass from him. It’s a prayer of surrender and obedience.
Are we able to pray this prayer? Might we pray it for the church? How about for our family? Or, for a loved one? Could it become a prayer of our heart for a perplexing problem we are up against? Might it become something of a “life prayer” for us?
Before you too quickly agree, consider this. It’s a prayer of complete surrender to the will of God. It assumes and believes that God is sovereign and knows what it best. It is a prayer of trust and total faith. But it is also a prayer of continued engagement. In other words, you don’t pray this prayer in an attitude of abandonment – “Whatever, Lord! Whatever you think best!” No, we don’t give up on God and fade into a passive stance upon praying this prayer. We stay engaged – searching for God’s will, listening for it, when we pray this prayer. And when we recognize God’s will, we respond to it by becoming obedient to it.
Yes, it’s a hard prayer to pray. It’s the stuff of complete faithful obedience. Will you dare to pray this prayer today?
danielcash 