When You Pray Use The Gethsemane Prayer Like Jesus Did

Hello and welcome to Social Media Ministries, my name is Spencer Coffman. If this is your first time with us, thank you so much for being here. Hit that subscribe button wherever you are watching or listening. Follow us on social media so that you can continue to get updates and notifications when we have new sermons.

If you are a returning visitor, I really ask that you would start sharing our content. Find the sermons you really like, share them with others. Whether you talk about them with someone or tell someone about them or simply click the share button on your social media, that would really really help us out to reach more people. To bring the Bible to more people and places. We really want to try to get overseas in other countries, that is our goal. The only thing we can do is rely on support from viewers like you.

Today we are talking about praying, specifically a prayer that Jesus prayed right before He died. Now you may know this as the Gethsemane Prayer. When Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane He was just praying, praying, and praying so heavily, so hard. There are a few lessons that we can get from this prayer.

It comes from The Book of Matthew. It is also in the other gospels, but today we are going to turn to Matthew chapter 26 verses 36 to 56. You say wow, those are a lot of verses. Yeah, they are and we are going to read them all. So if you have your Bible, please turn with me so you can read and follow along as well.

If not, do not worry. As normal I will read it to you, but I really encourage you to take a look at the references in the description below and go read it for yourself. Obviously, if you are driving or something, you are not going to do it now. So go do it later.

Matthew 26 verses 36 to 56, the heading is called Gethsemane. ‘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. Could you not 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 body is weak.’ Great verse, we have used it before. It is just an excellent verse.

‘He went away a second time. He said, my father if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away from me unless I drink it, may your will be done.’ Of course, he would have said more than that one sentence. ‘When he came back, he again found them sleeping because their eyes were so heavy. So he left them and went away one more time and prayed the third time, saying the same thing. Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is near and the son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us go. Here comes my betrayer.’

Then we have the rest of it, of Jesus being arrested. This is from 47 to 56. This part is important, but we are not going to continue this part because it is not something that goes with the sermon specifically. This is why I encourage you to read it on your own because the next part is when Jesus gets arrested.

All right so there are a few things like I said. What is going on here? Jesus takes three of His disciples, part of His inner circle with Him to this garden. Now this is a beautiful garden, immaculate, almost like a palace. He says to them, sit here, I am gonna go over here and pray.

Today if you go to Israel you can go to this garden, this place, it is incredible. I strongly encourage you to go there. Probably the best trip of my life because it is so amazing to literally be where the Bible took place. You gotta do it.

All right so Jesus was so concerned at this point, He was so concerned and overwhelmed, He tells them He is overwhelmed to the point of sorrow and death, overwhelmed to the point of death. Then what happens? Well, He starts to sweat blood.

Now, you say, ‘Well, sweating blood, that does not really happen.’ You are right. It does not really happen. But what happens is you can start sweating so much that your body is, kind of, running out of water. There is nothing left for your body to sweat, and due to this anxiety, this overwhelming anguish, all of a sudden, your sweat glands start to secrete little drops of blood.

So, when you are sweating, it is not like red is coming out of your face. It is like the water, the sweat, is still coming out but within the sweat, it is mixed with blood. So, you are, maybe it is like 75% sweat and 25% blood. And so it is a hue of red, and Jesus was.

This is what is happening to him. So he is severely dehydrated, and the blood is starting to come out of his body as sweat. Not simply on his head and face, but everywhere. So he is losing blood rapidly at this point and nothing has happened yet.

‘And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.’ Luke 22:44. He was overwhelmed to the point of death. The prayer that he prayed has three pivotal segments. First, we are going to talk about what this prayer is.

He is praying, He is saying, take this cup from me. What is the cup? The cup is what He is about to do and He says, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, then may your will be done. So this cup is the impending crucifixion, it is like a metaphor. He is saying, here is the cup that you have to drink, this cup involves the next 12 hours of your life or however long it was, the next day or so of your life. It is the torture, the impending doom, the arresting, all of this stuff that Jesus went through for you and me.

These three segments are known today as the Gethsemane prayer. The first one is this. Is what you can use in modeling your prayers when something is going on in your life that is serious, use the Gethsemane prayer. Part one is saying to God, I do not want to do this, if it is possible let me not do it. Like Lord, I do not want to do it, please take it away from me, I do not want this to happen, please do not let it happen.

Number two is all right God, I trust you, I am willing to do it if it is necessary. If it is necessary I am willing to do it. Number three is Lord let your will be done, I accept it, let your will be done. So these three segments are very important.

Take anything in life, anything. Whether you are about to face some type of a conviction or a sentence like Jesus was, or whether it is something like your car breaking down, you could say Lord please let nothing be wrong with my car. Then you could say, Lord but if something is wrong with my car, I am willing to deal with it. Then say, Lord, let your will be done.

You can use it in any situation, your possessions, your money, your relationships, whatever it is you can use this prayer. This is a great model for praying. Number one, part number one is Lord I do not want it, I do not want to do this, I do not want this to happen, I do not want to go through this. If it is possible, please I do not want to do it.

We can find scripture to support each of these sections and I am sure there is a lot more scripture, but we are only going to go to a couple of them. Philippians chapter 4 verse 6 says, ‘Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.’

A lot of people say, well should we even request something of God if it is His will anyway? The answer is yes. Jesus was saying He does not want to drink this cup. He does not want to be crucified. He does not want to go through this. Please, if it is possible, take it away from me. Do not let me do it.

So that is the same thing Philippians is saying. Do not be anxious about it like Jesus with sweating drops of blood, do not be that anxious, but by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God. Just make it known, tell God what you want. Tell Him what you want. Maybe you want a million dollars, it is okay, tell God. But then you need to be willing to go through what is next. You have to accept what is next. You have to trust Jesus, you have to trust God.

Number two is that you are willing to go through it if necessary. You are willing, maybe you want a million bucks, God please I want a million dollars. Maybe it is something you do not want to do. If it is possible give me a million dollars and you say, but Lord I am willing to not have a million dollars. If it is necessary I am willing, I am willing to work harder for it or I am willing to work at it or whatever you are willing to meet Him halfway. If it is something you want, maybe it is not something you do not want. Maybe it is something you want again. You can use it in any situation.

Isaiah 1:19, ‘If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land.’ So number two, remember I am willing if necessary. Whatever you are praying for or whatever you are praying to be removed, that is number one. Number two, you are willing. Be willing to go through it or to endure it. Isaiah 1:19, if you are willing and obedient, this means you have to be willing to do it and you have to be obedient like Jesus was. Follow through, then you will eat the best from the land. You will be rewarded.

That is not all, we have got another verse, Romans 13:1. Romans 13:1 says, ‘Everyone must submit themselves to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.’ The authorities that exist have been established by God. I say yeah, but I do not like my president, I do not like my dictator, I do not like my ruler, I do not like my tyrant, my king, whatever it is.

Do you think Jesus liked the Romans that were about to crucify Him? He submitted Himself to their authority though. He could have snapped His fingers and they all would have fallen over dead. He could have snapped His fingers and poofed Himself to Madagascar, an island that hadn’t been discovered yet at that point in time. He could have done whatever He wanted to do, but He was willing and obedient to go through it. That is number two, you got to be willing and you got to be obedient to what God has in store for you.

Number three is acceptance. You say, Lord, let your will be done. Number one is making your desires known, number two is saying I trust you and I will listen and I will be obedient, then number three is accepting. You say, Lord, let your will be done. Matthew 6:10 helps us out here. Matthew 6:10 says, ‘Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ So you need to accept it.

At the end, you need to say, God whatever it is, maybe the million dollars, you are willing to work, you are willing to meet Him halfway, you are willing to do whatever. Number three you say, but God, whatever you want I accept, your will be done, I trust you. This is your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

We want to make our earth as close to heaven as possible, because we know this is a different world, this is not where we belong. We belong in heaven with Jesus and we are here on a temporary assignment. Hopefully, for 120 years we want to try to make this earth resemble heaven as much as possible. So we say, Lord, your will be done.

You accept it and you really relinquish control. You are giving God permission, not that He needs your permission, but you are giving Him permission. You are saying, here is what I want, this is what I will do, I will follow and I will obey. But I give you full control, you have full control, your will be done, whatever you want Lord.

Mark 14:36 says, ‘Abba, father, Jesus said, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.’ Not like you will do, but what your will is, what your desire is. Jesus is saying, look God, Father, I do not want to do this, I do not want to go through with this, I do not think anybody would. Then He says, I am willing, I will be obedient. Then He says, whatever you will, that is what I want. I want your will. Not what I want, but what you want.

That is what you need to do in your daily life, in your prayers, you gotta get it out, you gotta vent, you gotta tell God what you want. He will listen. Then you gotta transition to the next step. It is like three levels.

You are an infant, you are screaming out your desires. Then you go here, you are a teenager, you are middle-aged whatever, you are saying all right God I am willing to work, I am willing to obey, I am willing to do what you want me to do in order to achieve hopefully what I want. Still, I am kind of here.

Then finally you get to the advanced stage of maturity and you are saying all right God whatever you want, I accept and I will follow. Not what I want, not what I want, but what you want. That is what I want. I want what you want. Show me and guide me through it.

It is like three stages, you are here, then you get to the middle ground where you are kind of back and forth, then you get to advanced maturity where you are saying I am still going to work for it, but whatever you want God, whatever you want, that is what I want.

Whenever you face turmoil, you should pray the Gethsemane prayer. Whenever you want something in your life, something exciting, something new, pray the Gethsemane prayer. Maybe you want a new vehicle and you say, God, we really want a new car, we are willing to take a loan, we are willing to go into debt. Then you say, but not what I want, what you want.

There are more stages than that, you might say no, we are not getting a new car, we are not going into debt for that, we are not making payments for that. Then all of a sudden you are like, all right fine, we are willing. We are willing to do that. We will go into debt and you are like all right, well we got to work harder to pay off that debt, and then all of a sudden you might be saying, whatever God wants. If there is a new car available, we will get it from God. We will figure it out. That way it is stages, it is stages.

Use the Gethsemane prayer whenever you have turmoil or whenever you have a want or a need or a desire. The three steps are simple, make your wishes known to God, tell Him what you want. Then you let God know that you are willing to endure the trial, you are willing to undergo whatever is in store. Then especially you say, if it is necessary for your growth, like Jesus said, if it is necessary, He will do it.

There is a sermon series we have on why God allows satan to torment you, check it out. Sometimes you have to go through things that are necessary for your growth. Job went through a bunch of stuff. He had no clue why. He did not even have the chance to pray the Gethsemane prayer, he just was in it.

Finally, you ask that His will be done, you give the control over to God. You say, God, I want this, Lord I am willing to go through whatever you want, God whatever it is you want, I want. It is three steps, that final one you are giving control over to God. That is it. That is all you need to do.

Make your desire known, be willing to do what God wants, and then allow God to take control. Do that in every aspect of your life. Pray the Gethsemane prayer and you will find that no matter what happens, whatever situations you encounter, whatever troubles you have, all of a sudden they seem so much easier because you trusted God and He got you through them.

You gave control over to God, you realize, hey I am doing what I can, I will be obedient, but it is up to you. He will see you through and all of a sudden everything just seems to be so much easier, so much better. Yes, you will still have trouble, but you have less trouble knowing that God is in control because you gave Him the control. You are no longer anxious or worried about it because God has got you.

Let’s pray. Lord Jesus thank you so much for what you did for us. For the example that you set. For this prayer that you gave us to pray. Throughout all situations in our life, we can pray this. When we are going through trouble we can pray it. When we are going through hardship we can pray it.

When we want something, when we have desires, when we want more in life, when we are seeking you we can pray the Gethsemane prayer. We can follow your example. I ask that those watching and listening would take this to heart. That they would understand the significance of this prayer and that they would use it in their daily lives.

That when they use it, that they would mean it, that they would go through those three stages of transformation and begin to fully accept that God is in control. That they would give up their control. That they would fully rely on you all the time for everything, every minute of every day. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Now if you are watching and you have not made that decision to fully follow Christ, to fully rely on God, we can help you with that. It is a simple prayer, it is simply asking Jesus to forgive you of your sins. Lord forgive me of my sins, please be in charge of my life, come into my heart, I want to live for you every single day of my life. He died for you. He wants to be your God.

If you have not done that, if you have not made that choice, you can comment below, you can contact us. We can help you with that. You can go to your church. If you want prayer, comment below pray for me. If you want to know more about what to say, we can help you.

But you can also get help from the people around you who have been asking you or there are some Christians in your lives, ask them, they would love for you to ask them about their faith. Because it puts them on the spot to do what they have been called to do which is share Jesus. God bless.