God’s will. What is it? How can one find it? How does a person know when he or she has found it?

Each day of His life, Jesus modeled a life of walking in the will of His Father, God. Some days His Father called him to find fishermen, some days to teach, some to heal, some to discipline, some to weep, some to save. Each day, he was positioned to listen and do what He heard the Father say.

Remembering words of Deuteronomy 6:4-5, the Great Shema, daily since His childhood, he lived them out in miraculous and every day ways:

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

On this day, Jesus would need every ounce of strength, community, and trust in His loving Father he could muster. Jesus knew the walk of God’s will would be beyond difficult. This is why in Luke 9.23, he told his disciples (and US!), “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

Today Jesus would be walking to the very cross His Father had willed for Him. Our own crosses await today. Will we listen for the Father’s will and obey it out of our wholehearted love for God and His people?

[Luke 22.39-46]

39 And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. 40 And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” 41 And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” 43 And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. 44 And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. 45 And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, 46 and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

[ WHAT ] is this passage saying and what is a key truth or thought that we learn?

+ What was Jesus’ custom according to v. 39? Who followed Jesus in His “custom”?

+ What were Jesus’s words to His disciples in v. 40?

+ As Jesus is anticipating His own crucifixion in a few short hours, what is surprising about what He asks His disciples to pray? [v. 40]

+ Define temptation. What temptations will the disciples encounter in the coming minutes, hours, days?

+ Try to sketch the picture of the setting of this passage on paper or in your head.

+ Who/what would you draw?

+ How would you position Jesus, His disciples, the angel?

+ What words might you include in your drawing?

+ What colors would you use?

+ Who does Jesus address His prayer to? What is He asking for in v. 42?

+ Angels arrive to strengthen Jesus only a few times in Jesus’s life. Can you recall another? [See Matt. 4.11 or Mark 1.13]

+ What does Jesus do when He is in agony? [v. 44]

+ As Jesus returned to his disciples, what did He find? What does Jesus ask the disciples to do again?

[ HOW ] is the Lord calling me to action/obedience?

+ Is there sin to confess or a next step to take? How has it gone since last time?

+ Have I followed Jesus in His custom of meeting with the Father?

+ Do I have a standard time and place to seek the Father?

+ Do I have a community of believers to go with me and pray?

+ Am I willing to ask the Father boldly for what I want, but also genuinely say, “not my will, but yours be done.”

+ When I am in agony, do I pray more earnestly?

+ Where have I “fallen asleep?”

[ WHO ] am I walking with and praying for to discover Jesus?

+ What is my next step?

+ Who might need someone to encourage them to seek the Father?

+ Who might I invite to pray with me?

+ Who might need a gentle, grace-filled nudge to “stay awake” even in their sorrow?