Gethsemane – Jesus’ Prayer of Submission of His Will
Many people want Jesus as just their Savior, save me Jesus! But Jesus must not only be our Savior but our Lord, Master and the One who controls and instructs our lives. It all begins with us submitting our will to God, acknowledging our need for a Savior and then by faith choosing to receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Then Holy Spirit comes into our lives and transforms us by renewing our minds, by changing the way we think and act.
Many people want to be free but refuse to accept the truth of God’s word. They fail to acknowledge and operate with conviction in the truth they have been shown. Jesus told Pilate that He came into the world that He should bear witness to the truth! Pilate asked the same question so many people ask today, “What is truth?” Because this fallen world system has distorted truth and the enemy has deceived many to believe the lies of this world.
John 18:37b …Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
With every new truth we receive, we must go through the battle of submitting our will to obey that truth, which God has revealed. This is a continuous cycle of growth for every believer, as God reveals to us His word and His way. With every new revelation of God’s truth there is a moment of acceptance or rejection based on our mindset and thoughts at the time. Jesus said that we will know the truth and the truth will set us free, but it is the truth that we know, believe and operate on as a guiding principle, that is what frees us. It should not be just a head knowledge of some statement that has no impact on our thoughts or actions.
John 8:32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Many people may have knowledge of God’s word but they do not commit to it as a controlling, leading value of truth, one that dictates their life decisions. We shall know the truth and it is the truth that we know, and use as a life steering principle, that is what sets us free.
People will either receive the truth of God’s word and conscientiously and deliberately submitting their will to His word and accepting it as a life principle for their lives. Or they will dismiss it as something they heard, but will not act on it, or may say they need time to accept it. This leaves them open to the lies, winds and ways of this fallen world’s doctrine and thereby being tossed in every different direction.
In order to submit our will to God, the battle is fought in the very essence of our being, which is our will, intellect and state of mind. We must choose to pray a prayer to submit and surrender our will to God’s will and way. It is the same process of prayers that Jesus prayed during His battle of the will in the garden of Gethsemane. Many people fail to see the intensity and greatness of the agony of Jesus, as He wrestled with the truth of the cross that was before Him. His agony, pain and suffering were not just because of the physical torment that He was about to go through, but it was the fact He would be forsaken by the Father, and the first time in His existence the Son would be separated from God His Father. The emotional and psychological anguish of being in total darkness and separated from His loving Father.
Matthew 26:38 Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.”
Many people want to point to Jesus and say He was God, and that’s why He could live this life. But Jesus, while living on earth, limited Himself to His humanity, and operated just as all mankind, through the power of the Holy Spirit. It was in His humanity that He cried to His Abba, Daddy and asked if it is possible, take this cup away, that was His plea. Jesus prayed and made His appeal as to what He wanted, in the context of His relationship with His Abba Father. Jesus recognized God’s Sovereignty that all things are possible for God and He could, take this cup away. Nevertheless, Jesus did not superimpose His will but submitted to the Father’s will.
Luke 22:41-44 And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Mark 14:35-36 He went a little farther, and fell on the ground, and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him. And He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.”
Jesus’ experience in the garden of Gethsemane was one of extreme pain, stress and misery, to the point that He was sweating greatly with such intensity that He sweated drops of blood. When the body is under severe stress, so that the blood capillaries, (tiny blood vessels located around the sweat glands) ruptures, it causes blood to exit the body through the sweat glands. Not only was His body about to be nailed to a cross, but He would be deserted, rejected and isolated in total separation and forsaken by His Father for the first time in His entire being. It was not just the physical pain that had Jesus overwhelmed in sorrow to the point of death, but also the stress of being totally estranged from His Father. The angels from heaven came and strengthened Him during His trial. In this Jesus took our debt of total separation from God, so that we may spend eternity in fellowship with the Father.
Jesus’ humanity did not want to suffer but He trusted and acknowledge God as a loving Father, and He would do what was best for all humanity. Jesus believed that whatever the Father decided, for Him would be a decision that was just, kind, loving and for the greater good for all mankind. Then Jesus prayed a prayer of acceptance of God’s will, if it is Your will, take this cup from me, nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.
Luke 22:41-44 And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
The submission of our will, is us trusting God with our lives and our future. Our ability to choose is our God given attribute, God Himself will not take this away from us. He is continuously asking us to choose whom we will serve, and to choose life and not death, but the choice is always left up to the individual. We too may need to pray as Jesus prayed, a prayer of submission, Father if this cup (the situation I’m in) cannot pass unless I drink it (experience/go through it) Your will be done.
Matthew 26: 42 He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, “My Father, if this cup cannot pass away unless I drink from it, Your will be done.
Jesus being the Son of God, went through the same test that all humanity will go through, the test of the will, to trust, obey and believe in God that He is a loving and faithful Father. This is why Jesus is a faithful High Priest not after the order of Aaron, who was of fallen mankind, but of the order of Melchizedek, the Priest who had no recorded beginning or end. Jesus has experienced the trials of obedience and is the example for us on how to persevere, and how to trust in a loving Father during our trials. Now Jesus Himself, is at the right hand of God and intercedes on our behalf.
Hebrews 5:7-10 who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, called by God as High Priest “according to the order of Melchizedek,”
Jesus endured the shame of the cross, but because of the joy that was set before Him, (bringing God’s people back into the family of God with eternal salvation), in this joy He found pleasure, delight and motivation to endure the suffering. The joy of knowing we would be spared a sentence of eternal separation from God our Father, Creator and King! We must learn, that we too can take a hit, a blow or be persecuted, for the sake of someone’s soul being saved for all eternity. These too can be viewed as light afflictions and not to be compared with the glory that God will reveal in us.
Hebrews 12:1-2 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Romans 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us
Our will is our ability to choose and only we as an individual person can make the choice to trust, believe and obey God. Or, whether to go in our own strength and ability, while leaning into our own understanding.
The three prayers of Jesus,
- Jesus prayed what He wanted done. He made the appeal in regard to His close relationship with His Abba Daddy. Knowing all things are possible with God and He could take this cup away. Mark 14:35-36
- Jesus’ prayer of submission was trusting in the Sovereignty of God. Trusting in His knowing what is best in all things. Father, if it is Your will, take this cup from me, Luke 22:41-42
- Jesus then prayed a prayer of acceptance and faith in the love of a loving and faithful Father. Father, if it cannot pass unless I drink it Your will be done, Matthew 26: 42
To submit our will to God through prayer, we can pray as Jesus did. We can Submit our request to God. We also Trust in the Sovereignty of the Almighty, All-knowing God to do what is good and perfect for us now and for all eternity. Then Accept God’s way, His chosen path, believing and having faith in the love God has for us.
Integrity- People of God 