"PRAYER AT GETHSEMANE"

Good Evening to All!

These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that they Son also may glorify thee: (2) As thou has given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou has given him. (3) An this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent. ( John 17:1-3)

The Message Bible explains it this way: Jesus said these things. Then, raising his eyes in prayer, he said: Father, it's time. display the bright splendor of your Son So the Son in turn may show your bright splendor. You put him in charge of everything human , So he might give real and eternal life to all in his charge. And this is the real and eternal life: That they know you , The one and only true God, And Jesus Christ, whom you sent.
(John 17:1-3)

NKJV Reference: (17:1-2) When Jesus said "the hour has come" He was referring to the Cross. The time for Him to die had arrived. When He said "to glorify Your Son", He was requesting that His mission to the world would be made known through the Cross. the reasons for this request are twofold; (1) that Your Son also may glorify You. In the Cross, Jesus reveals the Father to the world, that is, His love and justice; and (2) that through Jesus' death on the Cross, God would provide forgiveness of sins and give eternal life to all those who believe in His Son. (17:3) The phrase "that they may know You: Eternal life consists of a growing knowledge of the only true God, as opposed to false gods.

Can you imagine the courage it took for Christ to follow through with God's plan? I know that Christ is God in the flesh, and when He was praying it was the flesh praying to the Deity, but even so, the only thing that was God was the Spirit within the fleshly body. Therefore Christ still had the temptations of a man, He had to go through all of the hardships that we as humans do. His flesh even cried out "My God, My God why hast thou forsaken me?!This was the action of the flesh. The Spirit knew what it must do and was strong enough to withstand and remain sinless against every obstacle He came in contact with until time for His ultimate sacrifice for us.

The reason I bring this up is because when I think about this, I feel so inadequate, so unworthy, and yes even shameful sometimes because He did this for me, and I find myself at times wanting to sleep in rather than going to church to love, worship and learn more about Him. I find myself wanting to play computer games rather than reading my Bible. To get even more pointed and critical of myself, the majority of the time I pay my tithes, but sometimes I find myself in a tug of war because I would rather keep my money and buy something with it. All of this, yet I KNOW He will bless me for the time I spend with Him and the money I give back to Him. I say it that way because I wouldn't have that money if it weren't for Him. He provided me with each job, He has kept me healthy enough to do those jobs, and all He asks is that I give Him 10% toward His work.

Also, He just asks that we live for Him. Abide by His Word, which in the everyday world would only help to make living life easier.

I hope that you will ponder these thoughts and this passage as I have and re-evaluate your relationship with Him.

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The answers to last night's Bible Challenge "Eyes To See" are as follows:

1. c) their nakedness (Genesis 3:7)
2. d) Isaac and Jacob (Genesis 27:1, 48:10)
3. True (Leviticus 21:16-18)
4. True (Leviticus 22:22)
5. False (Judges 16:23-30)
6. a) God through Moses (Deuteronomy 27:18)
7. d) righteous (Psalm 34:15)
8. d) Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 39:5-7)
9. b) Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52)
10. c) something like scales that covered his eyes (Acts 9:18)

Good Night to All and May God Bless!