Luke 22:42 (NRSV), “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.”
 
I like Luke’s account of Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane although Luke records the location as the Mount of Olives. I like Luke’s version because after Jesus prays, he receives help from on high so that he can move forward and do what God called him to do. Verse 43 says an angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.
Although Jesus was fully human yet fully divine, in his humanness, he experienced a moment of anguish where he felt like he could not do what God purposed him to do. Even if it was for a moment, he felt like he could not move forward. If Jesus, the Son of God, experienced a moment of hesitancy, doubt and anguish, how much more are we susceptible to those feelings?

Oftentimes, a lot of women beat themselves up because they have moments where they feel inadequate as wives and mothers. Working mothers feel the stress of the demands of the job and home. While other mothers battle moments where they feel like they don’t have anything to give to their husbands and children. However, this text teaches us that in those moments when we feel like we can’t move forward in our own strength, we should draw from the rivers of Living Water and tap into the power of God through prayer.

Prayer sounds like a simplistic answer to a complicated problem, but if you believe that a part from Him, you can do nothing, then you’d realize that prayer is your lifeline.

John 15:4 (NRSV) says, “Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.”

In every area of our lives, we need to produce. We need to bear fruit. Through prayer, the Lord will enable us to move forward in our purpose and strengthen us so that we, too, can say “Not my will, but Your will be done.”