The Response of Faith - Prayer

Before we begin today, let’s just recap what has happened so far:
Jesus has been brutally and unjustly tried, found guilty, beaten, beaten some more, spit on, and suffered through all sorts of other things too. In a nutshell, Jesus was tortured physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
I think that most of us might be able to understand the physical and emotional torture to a miniscule degree. Perhaps you’ve been severely injured physically at some point playing a sport. Perhaps you’ve experienced extreme pain at the death of a family member. But I think that none of us can really, truly comprehend the spiritual pain that Jesus went through. Having always been intimately connected to God in a perfectly harmonious relationship, Jesus never knew separation from Him. So when he was forced to endure that separation, even if only for mere minutes on that cross, it must have felt devastating. What does Jesus do though?

Read Luke 23:39-49

I think what strikes me in this passage above anything else is Jesus’ response to all this pain and suffering: prayer. He cries out to the Father, amidst all of his hurt, amidst all of his disfigurement (how many of us could handle that even?). He does not blame God for all of his struggles, for the mere humans who are essentially treating God’s one and only Son like a common criminal; instead he prays. And what does he say? “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” What an image: a perfectly obedient and humble son who would do his father’s will, even if it meant temporary death (separation from God) and the shame and humiliation heaped on him as the perfect sacrifice. God the Father allows all of this to happen yet it is to this very same God to whom Jesus commits his spirit into. What this screams to me is this: “I TRUST YOU! Even if it seems that, at the current time, things seem to be going crazy and out of control and nothing is going right, I WILL TRUST IN YOU. I will trust that you have a greater plan.”
So what is holding you back from responding to God amidst trials and hardships as Jesus did? Is it a lack of trust in Him? Distractions? The belief that you can count on other things or people to pull you up out of the depths of your problems? Whatever it is, other than God, it doesn’t work. Even up to today, I still personally struggle with trusting God and praying to Him amidst my struggles and the craziness of my life. But I know that God is calling me to turn to Him more and more everyday for strength and comfort just as He is calling you to turn to Him in prayer. As we continue approaching Easter, how can we learn to imitate Christ’s example of prayer more and more each day?


Father, forgive us of the times when we’ve sinned by not turning to you first when we are faced with challenges. But transform our hearts; renew them daily that we may learn to trust you and build our foundation upon You and your Word.