Lord Teach Me to Pray
"Not My Will, But Yours Be Done."
By Maurice E. Wagner, Th.M.,Ph.D.

When Jesus prayed this prayer this prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, He was speaking as God, the second Person in the Trinity, without sin, destined to do what He came to earth to accomplish, and that was to atone for our sins. It is nearly impossible for us to conceive what agony he felt at this time. Being totally holy and without sin, to take on Himself our condemnation and being separated from His heavenly Father as we choose to be, and deserve God’s judgment for being independent of God, is beyond our total comprehension. His agony was totally not understood by his disciples who were near him and sleepy. His ordeal of crucifixion and death is beyond our human sympathy. What love is manifested by God the Father that He should reconcile Himself to us by putting His Son to death in our place for our sins! (2 Cor. 5:19-21) And then to commit to us, His redeemed ones, the message of reconciliation, because we love Him who loves us.

Knowing all of this, makes us eager to be totally committed to doing His will in order to show our appreciation for His sacrifice, and to attempt to do this task because we love Him with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength (Mat. 22:37-39) and our neighbor as ourself. Because He has forgiven us of all sin, we are free to love ourselves because of His love for us; therefore, we join with Paul in saying, “I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me — the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace” (Acts 20:24). We show love for others, even our enemies, because of God’s unlimited love for us! Godly love is totally self-giving for the welfare of others.

These are the emphases of the thirteen lessons in this book. I believe you will find these studies will bring you into closer fellowship with the living God.