Week 25 Day 3
Pray:
Ask God to reorient you to Himself. Confess any known sin. Thank Him for His forgiveness. Be still and reflect on Jesus and His sacrifice for you. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart and mind to God’s Word. Pray for others in your life that they, too, would know and love God today.
Read:
Matt. 6:9-13 This, then, is how you should pray: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
Reflect:
In his agonized prayer in the garden, Jesus poured out his heart to God the Father. He confessed that all things are possible for his Father (Mark 14:36) and he also asked that if possible this “cup” be taken from him (Matt. 26:39). The cup is the wrath of God that was to be poured out on Jesus for us. There is no contradiction in these passages. As Jesus prayed on that dark night and his disciples heard and remembered his prayers, they heard him say both things. In a sense, all things are possible for God because he can do anything that can be done. He can create the universe from nothing. He can raise Jesus from the dead. But he cannot lie. He cannot die. He cannot choose to not be God. God cannot make a square circle because that is not a real thing that can be done it is a contradiction. Jesus asked, “Father, you can do all things, is there another way this can be done?” Then Jesus immediately confessed, “But let me be clear, if there is no other way to do what must be done, then what I most want is what you want.” The fact is that God could not redeem humanity apart from the death of Christ and his bearing our wrath in his body. His love could not allow us to remain in our sins without a means of salvation. His justice could not allow us to escape his wrath without a means of justice. All things that can be done are possible for God, but God could not save us apart from the death of the Savior. Jesus did not want to bear the cup of God’s wrath and Jesus wanted to bear the cup of God’s wrath. He wanted another way, but what he most wanted was his Father’s way. What about you? Are there things in your life now in which you do not want to submit to God? Do you fear the future and find yourself hesitant to fully give your life and hopes to Jesus? It is okay to pray, “God your will be done, but if there is another way than this one, I’ll take it.” Jesus prayed in that way and we can as well. But in the end, when the answer is, “No, there is no other way except this one,” what will you do? Will you pray: “Your will be done, your kingdom come…in my heart and life as it is in heaven”? Will you pray that now and ask God to help you live it in all that comes your way this day?
Pray:
(Personalize this prayer today; make it specific to the circumstances that face you.)
Ask God to lead you through His Spirit as you go through your day. Ask Him to bring to mind the truth of the gospel and its implications for what you will encounter today. Tell Him “Yes” to His will and ask Him for His power and protection to live this “yes.” Ask God to create and reveal opportunities to proclaim the good news today.