He knelt in prayer, The Lamb of God, The Truth, The Alpha and Omega, The Son of God. He knelt in prayer, broken hearted, poured out, in agony, crying out to God the Father. In agony of soul, in war against this weak flesh of humanity. Jesus knelt in prayer before the Father with full knowledge of what was to come. Jesus knelt in prayer looking into the heaven he left - the perfect union of fellowship with God the Father. He had already given up a throne to walk in the weak, wounded, sinful flesh, stained from the fall. He'd felt the attacks of Satan's lies. He'd felt the heartbreak of the loss of loved ones and wept. He'd felt the sting of rejection of friends and family of his hometown. He'd seen the disappointment in the eyes of those who did not get the answers that they wanted from him. He would soon be betrayed by one of his twelve, someone he had invested time and love in, someone he'd shared fellowship with, dined with and taught the truth of God to. He would be denied by one of his closest friends. He would be left alone to face arrest by those he trusted most. He would be thrown into a filthy prison with the vilest offenders and those without conscience. He would be beaten beyond recognition. He would take lashes one short of the death blow that would leave his back open and raw. He would be cursed, forsaken, spit upon, and condemned by the very ones he came to save. He would suffer humiliation and be nailed to a cross for all to see. He would suffer the a moment of broken fellowship with God the Father as he took on the sins of all humanity.
In this - his most desperate hour - his flesh cried out "IT IS TO MUCH!", his flesh cried out "Leave them be, walk away....."
Jesus knew this human frame, this flesh, this free will was weak, wounded from the fall of Adam and could not stand alone.
In this - most desperate hour - Jesus cried out "Father, if is Your will, let this cup pass from me;
nevertheless
not My will, but Yours be done" (Luke 22:42)
In this most desperate hour Jesus understood His flesh, and His fleshly free-will needed to be surrendered to God (it needed to be nailed to cross before he could be nailed to the cross). And at the moment of surrender the scripture says that an angel was sent to strengthen Jesus.
Surrender to God = Strengthened by His Hand!
In our most desperate hour, our hour of anguish, when no answers seem to fit we must surrender it ALL to the Lord. We must ask HIS will to be done. We must step back. In that most desperate hour God will answer and He will supply the strength we need for the hour.
Surrender to God and be strenghtened by His hand....let His will be worked out and he will hold you through the fire...Let His will be manifest in your life and He will bless you...Let His will consume you and he will make something more beautiful.
Christ still had the cross to face after that prayer but his focus changed. In Luke you will see that after being strengthened that Jesus returned to a more earnest prayer. In John we are given a more in depth description of this prayer. Jesus' focus was not on the desperate hour - the anguish of the moment - the thing that seemed impossible. That all remained the same. His focus was turned on those he loved, the reason for the mission.
Our circumstance may not change, the thing that brought us to our most desperate hour of prayer may not be immediately removed, but how we see it will change and our attitude about it will change. We can have faith that in our most desperate hour because we have surrendered to HIS WILL all things will work together for good and we will have peace to walk in the valley of desperation because of who walks beside us - because of who bears us up - because of who carries and comforts us.
In our most desperate hour He has promised not to leave us.
In your most desperate hour surrender to God, fall headlong into His arms and allow Him to work in you and through you. Experience victory!
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