How to pray?

Today’s scripture is Mark chapter 14, 32-42. Today’s story is about the prayer of Jesus. After the last supper, Jesus went to Gethsemane to pray. Jesus said that “Sit here while I pray.” and Jesus prayed “Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.' and he returned to his disciples and he found them sleeping. Jesus said “are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” and Jesus went back to the prayer place. And he repeated it three times. We can find 2 things we can learn. 
First, the prayer has to invoke what I will, but what God will. According to verse 36, Jesus was not willing to get his cup. There is no one who enjoys painful things. Jesus knew he was going to be arrested, be insulted, hit, and be crucified by Roman soldiers. Jesus knew there will be so painful unbearably. But he knew this is the only way to restore the relationship between God and human who is sinful. But since God is possible everything, so if God can make another way to save people, Jesus wanted to avoid this painful and unbearable way. But, He knows how to pray to God. not my will, but God’s will. That is the important thing for the pray. Sometimes, we think prayer is only to ask what I want. But the basic meaning of prayer is not to ask what I want but to ask what I change. To change my attitude and mind is the purpose of the prayer. That’s why all your prayer requests are not answered. If your all prayer requests are answered, you will be rude, arrogance, and forget God who answered your prayer requests. So, we should remember the purpose of prayer is to not just ask God your favor but change your mind and attitude. Jesus is the good model of the prayer. He asked his favor, but he prayed that “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” so, you can pray for yours, for your Job, school, relationship everything. But remember, God just wants to change yourself.  
Second, we should watch and pray. We can find why Jesus brought his disciples to Gethsemane to pray. The reason was to not only pray with Jesus but also watch the coming danger. Jesus said that “I’m gonna captured by chief priests and died on the cross and will be risen in 3 days.” Jesus even told a couple of times to disciples. But they did not remember what Jesus said. This situation was similar. The night Jesus prayed was the most dangerous day for Jesus and his disciples. The leader of Israelite wanted to capture Jesus Christ but they didn’t why? Because people liked Jesus Christ. So, if they arrest Jesus in daytime people can see, they would uprise to the leader of Israel. They were concerned about it. But the night and remote place was perfect to arrest Jesus Christ. So, Jesus went to Gethsemane with his disciples as a watcher. But, they didn’t watch anything, didn’t pray, and just fell in sleep. We know they had a lot of schedules in Jerusalem like meeting people talking and arguing them and healing people. So they might have been tired. I understand. However, If they believe what Jesus said “I’m gonna be captured” or If they felt some danger, They must not have fallen asleep, they were tired though. so, they totally forgot what they have to do. In our context, we should study as a student, or work as a worker every day. Sometimes, it’s too hard to keep praying because we are exhausted. sometimes, It’s okay, not a problem when we fall in sleep praying. But when we feel like in danger or an emergency situation, we have to keep praying. If our church has a big problem, or have a person who encounters a bad situation like big disease or disasters, we should keep praying. As you know, a week ago, the tornado attacked Dayton area. Many people lost their house, cars, and kinds of stuff. That time, we have to keep our praying for them. That’s an urgent situation. Like that, when we face some bad situations or something, we have to keep praying. 
In conclusion, we’ve learned two things. first, the prayer has to invoke what I will, but what God will. The purpose of prayer is to not only ask my favor but also change your mind and attitude, not what I want, but what God wants. second, we should keep praying when we face critical situations. That’s kind of signal from God for praying. If disciples of Jesus remembered what Jesus said: “I’m gonna be captured by the chief priest” they must not have fallen asleep. Like this, watch your situation whether we should pray or not. Through today’s story, I hope you guys know how to pray and when do we should pray. 

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