He went on a little farther and fell to the ground. He prayed that, if it were possible, the awful hour awaiting him might pass him by. “Abba, Father,” he cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” Mark 14:35-36

 

Have you ever wanted anything so much that you think about it all the time, even begged God for it?

 

Maybe you want to be married, want a child or need a job. The desires and longings of our hearts can be consuming! Did you know that God wants you to bring all of your desires to Him in prayer? Jesus, the Son of God, is our model for all things– He lived a human life to show us how to live, pray, and trust God. And today, Jesus offers us wisdom and empathy, having lived a full human experience!

 

When Jesus was about to die, He went to His favorite garden to pray. The prayer he prayed there gives extraordinary insight into Jesus’s relationship with His Father and shows how He managed human emotions and longings. Scripture tells that “[Jesus] went on a little farther and fell to the ground. He prayed that, if it were possible, the awful hour awaiting him might pass him by. ‘Abba, Father,’ he cried out, ‘everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine'” (Mark 14:35-36).

 

Jesus was honest with His Father God about what He felt and wanted. He bared His soul before God, with all His longings and grief. But in closing, Jesus said a powerful phrase that we, too, can add to our conversations with God. He said, “Yet Your will, not mine.” We, too, can speak those words when asking God for our deepest desires. When we do this, we’re reminding ourselves in prayer that we can trust God for the best fulfillment of even our deepest desires.