“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” Luke 22:42
When walking through trials and facing hardship how do you pray? Nik Ripken points out that many Christians are praying the wrong prayer.
“Everywhere we go we find people praying half of the prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. They’re praying and crying out to God, Lord let this cup pass and are not praying the other half of the prayer, but not my will but your will be done.”
We forget that above all, we should be asking for God to mold our hearts and help us be obedient through our suffering.
“Can we pray both halves of the prayer of Jesus in faith?”
We can, but it requires us to believe that God is good. If we believe that He is withholding His heart from us, or that He is untrustworthy, we will resist asking for His will. Christians living in persecution or walking through unimaginable trials, understand this truth better than most.
We often feel like we should pray for the persecuted to be delivered from their torment, but what would the persecuted actually want us to pray? Nik says the answer might surprise us.
“The believers that are making a difference in this world in persecution, they’ll say don’t pray for persecution to end or for us to be released from our suffering, they’ll say pray that will be obedient through our suffering and that will glorify God through the suffering.”
Nik Ripken is a veteran overseas worker for 30 years. During those years he and his wife, Ruth, have served in the fruitful harvest fields of Eastern and Southern Africa along with their three sons.
Featured Songs: We Must Not – Selah; Be Thou My Vision – Selah; The Lord’s Prayer – Selah
The Insanity of God
