"Have I Prayed "Yet"?"

Have You Prayed "Yet"?

Written by Robert E. Bailes

The Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John have recorded the events leading up to our Lord Jesus Christ's death and we find a combined testimony of Jesus prophesying the events to come. I believe Jesus was trying to prepare the disciples as gently as He could because it seems that they didn't see it coming, even in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus went to pray.

When Jesus went to pray alone He asked several of His disciples to go with Him and He asked them to wait for Him but each time that He came to check on them, they were asleep! It must have been a long, exhausting day and as I said before, the disciples certainly had no idea that the solders of the high priest were coming!

I believe that the disciples would have been on alert for sure had they known about the arrest of Jesus to come. I have an idea that Peter may have been more attentive to the attitude and mood of Jesus and what He was experiencing during the hours leading up to this time. In the eighteenth chapter of John it is recorded that Peter took his sword and cut off the ear of the high priest's slave, who must have been reaching out to take hold of Jesus.

It's very likely that Peter was aiming to take off the man's arm at the shoulder and Jesus stopped his sword or perhaps Jesus raised His hand to stop Peter causing Peter to move one way or another. Either way, Peter missed the man's arm and he also missed his head! That would have been quite a mess and a story for the headlines in the Hard Rock Daily news in that day! Once again, Jesus portrays the power of God when He heals the ear of the man and saves Peter from imprisonment. Peter was a man of action and he was equipped to protect his Lord and Savior from possible danger on this day.

All of that is exciting to most of us guys but I want us to go back to the garden where Jesus took Peter, James and John, asking them to wait there and stay awake. I believe that the three disciples that Jesus chose to go with Him were fulfilling the purpose of watchmen while Jesus spent time talking with His father in prayer at this critical moment, before the judgement began. But the disciples had no idea! Jesus even told them that He was deeply grieved, even to death; remain here and keep awake. How could all three of them have fallen asleep? Jesus realized that there was no one; not even His own disciples, that he could depend on. It was time for His sacrifice and His Father in Heaven knew it must be done.

After Jesus told His disciples that He was deeply grieved, even unto death; He went a little further into the garden. The gospels tell us that He threw Himself down on the ground and prayed, "Abba, Father, for you all things are possible, remove this cup from me, yet not what I want but what you want."

The keyword in this prayer is the word "yet". At this point in Jesus prayer when He said "yet"; all that Jesus had done before and all that He was going to do in the hours ahead were kept in perfect balance in the hand of God! Really, if you think about it, it is also when Jesus gave Himself up to His Father in Heaven to become our living sacrifice so that you and I could receive His matchless mercy and grace that brings us NEW Life in Christ!

Once again we find that Jesus has demonstrated the example to us in His most difficult hour! He didn't want to go through the physical pain and the separation from those He loved but he also knew that even more than all of that, He did not want to be separated from the love of His Heavenly Father and out of communion with Him! Jesus asked His Father to save Him from the crisis; the torture; the mocking; the abuse and alienation from those He loved; "yet" not my will, BUT thy will be done", Jesus said to His Father in Heaven.

Are we willing to pray for our wishes and desires but leave the final decision to God our Father?

Matthew 26:39 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. (KJV)

Let's look at Strong's Dictionary's definition of the word "nevertheless"used in this verse in the King James Version.

The Greek word for "nevertheless" is plēn

It is pronounced plane

The definiton is from G4119; moreover (besides), that is, albeit, save that, rather, yet: - but (rather), except, nevertheless, notwithstanding, save, than.
not what I want, but what you want"

The word "yet" is another way of saying this and meaning the same thing in a way that we can understand it beter, so I have one last thing to say.

Have we prayed, "yet"? . . . . ."yet not what I want ,but what you want Father"