Getting prayers answered

[Heidi]

Excerpt from Ray's article on Praying by God's rules:

THE GREATEST DRAMA OF THE AGES

If you like drama, then Matt. 26:36 is the place to find it. Few pay close attention to what is really going on in these few verses of Scripture. The humanity of Jesus is brought into direct conflict with the will of His God and Father. First I will jump ahead of our story slightly so that you understand the setting of this greatest of all prayers in the history of the universe. After praying for one hour Jesus returns a short way back to His Apostles and says:

"Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matt. 26:41).

Was the "flesh" of Jesus any stronger than that of His apostles? No, it was the same flesh. Paul tells us that, "...there is ONE kind of flesh of men..." (I Cor. 15:39). Jesus was given this same "one kind" of flesh (John 1:14 & Rom. 1:3). And so the flesh of Jesus was just as "weak" as that of His Apostles. Jesus instructed His apostles to stay awake and pray with Him for one hour. None of them could do it. None of us could have done it. They just ate a meal and they were now sleepy (not only physically sleepy, but especially spiritually sleepy.) Now back to the beginning of this great drama:

"Then comes Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and says unto the disciples, Sit you here, while I go and pray yonder [over there.] And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee [James and John] and began to be SORROWFUL, AND VERY HEAVY. Then said He unto them, My soul [His fleshly, conscious humanity, not His spirit] is EXCEEDING SORROWFUL, EVEN UNTO DEATH [spirit doesn't die, it is our flesh that must die.] Tarry [stay] you here, and watch with Me.

And He went a little farther, and fell on His face, and prayed saying, O MY FATHER, IF IT BE POSSIBLE, LET THIS CUP [this cup of death-being beaten beyond recognition, being made sin offering, and crucified for the sins of humanity] pass from Me: NEVERTHELESS, NOT AS I WILL, BUT AS THOU WILL" (Matt. 26:36-39) .

"And there appeared an angel unto Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in an agony He prayed more earnestly: and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground" (Luke 22:43-44).

I doubt that any of us can ever fully appreciate what unfathomable human trauma and agony was taking place for those three hours in the garden that night two thousand years ago. The eternal destiny of the entire human race was at stake, and Jesus KNEW IT! And believe me, Jesus' Father was agonizing right along with His Son:

"In all their afflictions, He [GOD] was afflicted... in His love and in His pity He redeemed them..." (Isa. 63:9).

"Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He SUFFERED" (Heb. 5:.

And oh how Christ was suffering that night in the garden! But right there in the garden is the answer to all prayer. "O MY FATHER... nevertheless, not as I will, BUT AS THOU WILL." Jesus not only prayed that way; Jesus thought that way:

"I can of Mine Own Self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not My Own will, but the WILL OF THE FATHER WHICH HAS SENT ME" (John 5:30).

And again:

"For I came down from heaven, not to do Mine Own will, but the will of HIM THAT SENT ME" (John 6:38).

Did Jesus pray as earnestly as it is possible to pray that God would "let this cup pass?" YES, He did.

Did God grant Jesus His desire to "let this cup pass?" NO, He didn't.

But, did Jesus get His prayer answered? YES, He surely did. How so? Because Jesus' greater desire was that His Father's will be done, rather than "let this cup pass." This example from our Lord is the answer to answered prayer and it is also the answer to unanswered prayer.

[Prune Soleiado]

Thank you for sharing.

2 thessalonians 2:4
He (the man of lawlessness doomed to destruction) will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God. (Trying to impose his own will)

Mark 13:33
Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. (For it is God Who only knows and decides when it will come, we can't report it by our own will)

Psalm 118
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love ENDURES forever.

[Wanda]

This is to me a profound truth. One that testifies to how we too can do the will of the Father even when we are faced with trials that seem to overtake our own human ability to endure.  None of us will ever be required to do what God willed for our Saviour, but we can overcome anything God has willed in our lives by always relying on him to strengthen and fortify us in our deepest time of need.

Deuteronomy 31:8 It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.

Isaiah 30:15 In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.

 Chronicles 16:11  Seek the LORD and his strength;  seek his presence continually!

[Wanda]

Further thinking on this, I'm reminded of Jesus total obedience in all things, as scripture testifies. There was not one thing he did in his time on earth that wasn't in complete accord with the fathers will. Jesus is the example of how our own obedience to do the fathers will is the only way to gain access to the Kingdom; As Jesus obedience was the only way to accomplish the salvation of All.

I don't believe it is enough,  just to recognize the authority of Scripture as the voice of God. God wants us to honor that authority by our own obedience. In fact, Jesus makes obedience to the Father a condition of our relationship with Him: “For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother” (Matthew 12:50).

If even the stars and elements that He created obey His voice, should we not also obey Him?

[Musterseed]

From Why does God love you, LOF

God's love for humanity before the cross resided in the fact that ALL will be brought
to repentance due to His workmanship, and God sees things ,not only as they are,
but as they WILL BE. It was what God saw what  MAN WOULD BE in the future,
after repentance, that He loved.,,,, God calls those things which be NOT as though
they WERE. (Rom. 4:17)

1John 2:2
And He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only , but also for the sins of the whole
world.

1Tim.2:4
" God Our Saviour, who will have ALL MEN ( ALL SINNERS) to be saved, and to come
unto the knowledge of the truth.

In Christ Pamela