Monday - Pray Like This (Lead Us and Deliver Us)

Welcome to daily prayer. We are on the sixth and final petition Jesus taught us to pray. The fourth, fifth, and sixth petitions are all expressions of our childlike dependence on the Father. Father, we need you. Provide daily for us because we cannot sustain ourselves. Forgive us because we cannot cleanse ourselves. Keep us and deliver us from evil because we cannot defeat evil without you. 

Today we are looking at the Garden of Gethsemane and the faithful example and the teaching of Jesus on how to overcome temptation. Jesus taught that even willing disciples are too weak without God’s help. We must be watchful and pray so that we do not fall.

Pause:

As we enter prayer now, let’s pause to be still.

Let’s take a few deep breathes and remember that God is with us.  

Lord, I am here today to be with you and to watch and pray. 

A Prayer of Praise from Psalm 34:

“I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. My soul will boast in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to you are radiant; their faces are never covered in shame.” Psalm 34:1-5 

Father, we look to you today. We take our refuge in you. 

A Scripture reading Matthew 26:36-41:

36 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.” 37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

39 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.”

40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

A Time To Rejoice in the Lord:

Lord Jesus, I rejoice that where everyone else has failed the test, you were faithful. Even when you were overwhelmed by sorrow, you showed us how to pray, “not my will be yours be done.” 

When you were overwhelmed, you kept watch so that you would not fall. You showed us how to trust and surrender our troubled hearts to the Father. 

You prayed keep me from this suffering if possible but even if you don’t, I will not forsake you.

It was necessary that you experience the hour of trial for us and our salvation and you never gave in. I rejoice in your perseverance, your love, your faithfulness. Where we have failed, you never did. 

Jesus, you are the great Overcomer and because of you we have life.

A time to acknowledge our needs and ask God for help:

Lord, I acknowledge how often I have sought to avoid pain and suffering and have given into temptation. 

I am not able to stay awake even for a moment without your help.

I have not prioritized your kingdom and will over my comfort. Forgive me.

*“Father, we have erred and strayed from your ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, And we have done those things which we ought not to have done, and apart from you, there is no life in us.”

Lord, pour your life and Spirit into us. Lead us in the path of righteousness for your name’s sake. 

Keep us from losing heart and losing faith in the midst of difficulty. Keep us from compromising. Keep us from crossing boundaries and falling into pits. Shake us awake if you need to Lord. 

As we listen to the Scripture again, yield your life to what God wants to say to you from todays verses:

38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

39 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.”

40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Yield:

Lord, I yield to you. I bring you all my desires. All my plans. All my pain. 

All those things that overwhelm me or draw me away from you. I give everyone and everything to you. 

Keep us and deliver us from the evil one. I trust that you will work all things together for good. 

As we are finishing, listen and join in with this exhortation and doxology, this confident praise and trust in God from Jude 1. Let’s unite our hearts and lives with this truth:

Jude 1:20-21, 24-25

20 Dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

Doxology

24 To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— 25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

*Summarized version of the morning prayer general confession from the Book of Common Prayer.

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