A Model for Prayer

Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me;

yet not my will, but yours be done.

Luke 22. 42

This is a great model for prayer. The most astounding thing about Jesus is that he is, at the same moment, both brutally honest about his feelings and desires and yet absolutely submitted to the will of God. He is honest- he doesn't put on a pious front. Three times the Son of God tells the Father he'd prefer to avoid the plan of salvation. There is no cover-up. And yet he says, without hesitating, "Not my will, but your will be done." The basic purpose of prayer is not to bend God's will to mine but to mold my will into his. Jesus is so God-centred and yet so human and honest at once. let this be your guide for prayer. You must neither repress your feelings nor be ruled by them. Most people do one or the other, but not both.

(Tim Keller, Encounters with Jesus, p166-7)