LIFE CHANGING PRAYER compiled by Debra Maffett

J. B. Phillips, in his book The Gospels: Translated into Modern English,
brings Jesus’ prayer into focus for us. Dear Father, all things are possible
to you. Please let me not have to drink this cup. Yet it is not what I want,
but what you want.
The prayer was not answered as the human Jesus wished. Yet power has
been flowing from his cross ever since.
Even when Christ was bowing to the possibility of death by crucifixion,
he never forgot either the presence or the power of God. The Prayer of
Relinquishment must not be interpreted negatively. It does not let us lie
down in the dust of a godless universe and steel ourselves just for the
worst.
Rather it says, “This is my situation at the moment. I’ll face the reality
of it. But I’ll also accept willingly whatever a loving Father sends.”
Acceptance, therefore, never slams the door on hope.
Yet even with hope our relinquishment must be the real thing, because
this giving up of self-will is the hardest thing we human beings are ever
called on to do.
I remember the agony of Sara, an attractive young girl who shared with
me her doubts about her engagement.
“I love Jeb,” she said, “but he drinks. Not that he’s an alcoholic. Yet the
drinking is a sort of symbol of a lot of ideas he has. This has bothered
me so much that I wonder if God is trying to tell me to give Jeb up.” As
we talked, Sara came to the conclusion that she would lose something
precious if she didn’t follow the highest and the best that she knew.
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