Prayer that Pleases God
40. And when He was at the place, He said to them, “Pray that you enter not into temptation.”
41. And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and kneeled down, and prayed,
42. Saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me: nevertheless, not My Will, but Yours be done.”
43. And an Angel appeared to Him from Heaven, strengthening Him.
Luke 22:40-43
How Should We Pray?
Believers go into prayer with the anticipation that God will grant their request. Prayer is something that is approached with confidence. We expect God to hear us and grant the things we need. In Luke 18, Jesus urged us to always pray and to not give up. Yet, we cannot help but ask whether or not our requests are effective and effectual.
An effective prayer is useful and successful. It gets to the point without using repetitious phrases. It comes from the heart and reaches Heaven. An effectual prayer is a prayer that is powerful and not only gets the point across but does so in a way that invites the Power of God. Elijah, the Old Testament prophet, prayed effectual prayers. He prayed that it would not rain upon the earth and in answer to that prayer, no rain fell upon that portion of the world for over three years. Then the prophet prayed again, and the rains returned with a torrential downpour. How would you like to pray those kinds of prayers? I believe we can if we would simply pay attention to God’s leading.
There are several things we can do to make our prayers more powerful compared to the ceremonial prayers that we are accustomed to uttering. Developing powerful prayers come from several things. The first would be to honor God as your only source of blessing. Prayers find their strong roots in total dependence on God. There are no options or other plans. God is it and that is all there is to it. The soul that is totally depended upon God will come to Him in desperation but also in confidence that God is listening and willing to hear us. This kind of prayer is the only kind that works.
Another factor to developing powerful prayers is to know what you want before you ask. While some say a person has to be very specific, I will not go that far. But I do believe that you must base the prayer on a very specific area of need. You cannot generalize or seek something from God based on what others have or how they have received their petitions from the Lord. The Apostle James warned believers that being “double-minded” or basing the prayer on instability. Shifting in prayer from one thing to the next and not really trusting God for anything specific. That person, James declares, “will not receive anything from the Lord.”
The prayer that is pleasing to God must also be God-focused. It is so easy to get caught up in the magnitude of the need and fail to recognize the One to Whom we are making the request. This approach introduces us to the text where Jesus is praying fervently to the Father. The need is massive for in a few short hours, Jesus would bear the sins of all humanity. It was overwhelming as we think of His struggle. The Humanity of Christ is revealed in His intense emotional and spiritual pain. Our feeble minds cannot begin to grasp the concept of bearing sins penalty. Luke describes this struggle as one of extreme agony so much so that His very sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. (Luke 22:44). The prayer, however, was not directed at telling God how big the problem had become. Jesus focused His attention on carrying out the Father’s Will and completing the assignment He had been given.
At this point we should pay particular attention to Jesus. In His Agony, the Lord teaches and illustrates how each of us can pray powerful, God-focused requests that will always be pleasing to the Father.
Prayer Prepares For God’s Will
The key is that we be prepared to call on God. From the rendering of the text, Jesus encouraged the Disciples to engage in calling on God. And when He was at the place, He said to them, “Pray that you enter not into temptation.” We should not think that Jesus was insinuating that if you pray, you will not be tempted. That would contradict His own teachings. The Lord is admonishing them to make their request to God so that they would be strengthened for the time of temptation. Jesus was warning them that the storm was about to erupt and they needed a secure anchor. They would need the steadfastness to endure and hold out. The New International Version reads, Pray that you will not fall into temptation. Well, we all know the outcome. They fell asleep while Jesus was praying and before the night was over, they all had abandoned Him as He was arrested by the Temple guards and angry mob.
Jesus introduced them to the concept of confidence in prayer. If your prayer and mine are going to be powerful and pleasing to the Father, they must be based on the confidence that God will keep us in the time of temptation. Do we petition God that way? Not really. Most of the time, we panic when we pray. Instead of confidence, we reflect a fearful approach as we call on the Lord. Please note that while our Lord was on His knees and bearing the heaviest burden of all, He prayed with confidence. He knew that God could change the trajectory of the problem. Thus He said, “Father if you are willing … ” It was a matter of God granting the request to do everything according to His will. Is that our approach? Not really. When we pray for God’s Will, it is usually expressed with a lack of confidence that God’s Will is best. Therefore, many will leave their time of prayer with less confidence that everything will work out for good. Yet, the outcome would be so different if we simply realize that God’s Will is what is best for us. Pray with confidence.
Jesus also taught in His example to pray consistently. The urgency of prayer caused our Lord to petition God three times. While Luke records Jesus continuing in His prayer to God, Matthew 26:44 notes that Jesus prayed three times, saying the same thing that He had previously said. We are reminded of the lesson of the widow who made her petition to the unjust judge. The widow was consistent in her request. She did not take any different approach. This consistency brought about the approval of her request. The fact that our Lord called on His Father three times in his dark hour, reminds us that God’s Altar is still open and “we can call Him up and tell Him what we want.”
Then there is the third element of Jesus’ powerful prayer that really captures our attention. Jesus’ prayer was one of contentment. Are we satisfied with God’s answer when we use the expression, “God’s Will be done?” As I examine my own habits of praying, I must admit, I am usually at the point of raising the white flag and giving up when I use that expression. Not so with Jesus. Something happened in Heaven when our Lord used the words, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me: nevertheless, not My Will, but Yours be done.” Obviously, Jesus was becoming weaker and weaker in the flesh as He was both totally Human and totally Divine. (Please don’t ask me to explain that because I cannot.) God did not leave Jesus in that state of weakness, nor did Jesus get up off His knees in that diminished state. The very next verse tells us an Angel appeared to Him from Heaven, strengthening Him. So, why didn’t Jesus stop praying at that point? Again, Jesus was praying a God-focused prayer and it wasn’t just about gaining strength: it was about pleasing God. Our Lord was only content when He knew that His Will was in line with the Father’s Will. We must remember that Jesus was in a human body and as we learn from Hebrews 5:7-9. During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and he was heard because of His reverent submission … Even though He was God’s Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered and once made perfect, he became the source of eternal Salvation for all who obey Him.
The thought occurred to me that Luke is using a technique much like our modern day photographers. Luke captures Jesus praying and has given different angles so that we can see what Jesus has demonstrated through His spending time on His knees. We see the picture of what it means to have confidence in prayer. We see Jesus demonstrating consistency in prayer in that He prays three times. We also see our Lord illustrating for us the contentment in prayer. Finally, Luke takes that final picture of our Lord exemplifying confirmation in prayer.
It is the confirmation in prayer that we should all seek. Jesus was confirmed by the Father. When we pray in Jesus’ Name, we too are confirmed by the Father. Prayer is not simply the granting of our request, but to confirm our relationship with Holy God and know that no matter what, that relationship will never, ever change. That is when Jesus got up off His knees. He knew that nothing would ever change His loving relationship with the Father even though He would bear the sins of the world. God, the Holy Father would always acknowledge, “This is My Son, in Whom I Am well pleased.”
The Nicene Creed contains some very inspirational words that helps the believer confirm their faith in God. In the year of our Lord 325 AD, the church leaders met and set out to establish a creed or statement of faith that could be used by Christians as a statement of confirmation. This Creed is also stated in many Baptist hymnals as the foundation for the Articles of Faith. Here is a portion of that creed that we can pray today and know that our relationship with God is solid.
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, Maker of all that is, seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. Amen.