Prayer
Jesus prayed unceasingly, praying that God’s will would be done, even if it is not what he wanted to happen.
Read the story – Matthew 26:36-44
Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”
When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
Questions
Once you have watched the video, we recommend you spend some time to think about the story in greater detail. Here are three questions that you can use to think about this story:
Question 1: What is prayer?
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Simply speaking, prayer is listening to God and talking to God. We tell him what we need and ask him how we can be aligned with his will.
Question 2: Why do we pray?
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There may be many reasons that we pray, but the most important reasons are that we want to:
Praise God
Ask that his will be done
Ask for what we need
Ask for forgiveness
Ask for protection from evil
Question 3: How can you pray?
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Jesus told his disciples not to pray aloud to show others how good and religious they are. Instead, the first way that he told them to pray was to go into their room and close the door, speaking only to God.
We also see that Jesus took his disciples with him to pray when they were in the Garden of Gethsemane. We can pray together, calling out to God together.