Podcast Episode

When We Pray Like Jesus

About this Episode

Episode Summary

When Jesus was on Earth, He made the ultimate sacrifice for humankind. Before He made that sacrifice, He was constantly in prayer with God about what the Lord was willing for His life. How can we pray like Jesus did?

On this episode of God Hears Her, Elisa Morgan and Eryn Eddy share their Scripture-based knowledge and practical ideas about how we can pray like Jesus.

Episode Transcript

God Hears Her Podcast

Episode 86 – When We Pray Like Jesus

Elisa Morgan & Eryn Eddy

Elisa: Take this cup. This is what I honestly want. Yet, He pivots, what do You want God? To abandon. And…and I think about how He prayed this prayer as we’re told in Matthew and Mark, three times repeatedly. And I think, why did He pray the same thing three times? And I almost wonder if it’s an exercise that He needed to pray in order to pour His soul out. And then the angel comes and strengthens Him so that He could continue. And Eryn, you know what has really popped me, and I’m getting a little teachy-preachy here, but I love this. Is that He pivoted, I really think, on the fulcrum, if you will, on the spot, on the toehold of His intimacy with God.

Voice: You’re listening to God Hears Her, a podcast for women where we explore the stunning truth that God hears you, He sees you, and He loves you because you are His. Find out how these realities free you today on God Hears Her.

Elisa: Welcome to God Hears Her. I’m Elisa Morgan.

Eryn: And I’m Eryn Eddy. When you’re praying to God, what do your prayers sound like? What do you pray for? How do you pray?

Elisa: Have you ever tried to pray like Jesus? When you read Scripture, do you see the closeness that Jesus had with His Father partly because of the way that He prayed?

Eryn: Today, Elisa’s going to introduce how Jesus prayed and show us how we are invited to pray in the same way. Let’s talk about what happens when we pray like Jesus, on this episode of God Hears Her.

Elisa: All right, I’m going to ask you a question that’ll dig deep. Go for it, Eryn. Yeah.

Eryn: No, I love those.

Elisa: I know. If you had to rate your satisfaction in your prayer life from like one to 10, you know, one being like [pfft] you know non-existent and 10 being like in tune with the Holy Spirit in all moments, okay.

Eryn: Okay.

Elisa: And super thriving. You know how would you rate your satisfaction with how you pray?

Eryn: So, when you say satisfaction, you mean like the response that I receive from the Lord, or do you mean my posture and how I feel when I pray?

Elisa: Yes.

Eryn: Oh.

Elisa: Yes, you know I…I think satisfaction, that’s a really mature question…

Eryn: Okay.

Elisa: …I really like that. So, thank you for going there. You know we can rank satisfaction totally on productivity. You know, did I get what I want?

Eryn: Okay.

Elisa: All right?

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: Oh, then I’m a really good prayer person, you know, if I got what I want. And then in other seasons, we learn that prayer is more about connection with God. So even if we never get what we want, we can be satisfied. So yeah…

Eryn: That’s good.

Elisa: …understanding both of those, and there’re probably a myriad of other elements…

Eryn: Sure.

Elisa: …to include in ranking our satisfaction. But you know, how good do you feel about your conversations with God?

Eryn: You know, I…I struggle with answering that, because I feel like it fluctuates so much.

Elisa: That’s honest.

Eryn: I feel like sometimes I’m on a roll in my rhythms in quiet time and conversation with the Lord…not even quiet time. I don’t mean like in the morning with my coffee. I mean like finding quiet moments throughout the day. And you know we’ve talked about prayer whispers or breath prayers. And I mean one to 10? I would like to say a seven. I mean isn’t that like a holy number?

Elisa: Yeah.

Eryn: But also…but I mean if I’m…if I’m going to be honest, you know, lately my life has been extremely busy. And I’m learning to find some grounding in other things and learn how to say no to things and yes to things. And in between all of that, I have felt this like wrestling in my soul like it’s like…it’s almost like I feel like the Lord is like hey, come away with Me. And I feel like I’m saying, I can’t right now. I’m busy. Like that’s how I feel which is why I would say like I struggle with answering that. Cause I could go to easily saying a two…

Elisa: Yeah.

Eryn: …or a three.

Elisa: Yeah, not at all satisfied, yeah.

Eryn: Right, but in my rhythms of in my past, it’s always been like significantly high.

Elisa: Okay, okay. You know hang onto that, because you’ve already bubbled up some of the things I think we all struggle with, Eryn. And…and that is, is…is prayer getting what I want? Is that what satisfies me? Is it often times? You know is it frequency? Is that what makes us satisfied in prayer? Is it closeness to God? Is that what satisfies us? Is it obedience? Is, you know, and I think all of those elements really play a role in how connected we feel to God. And I guess I want to suggest that that…that’s the definition of true satisfaction in prayer, is do we experience an intimacy with Him…a connectedness with Him? That we’re not, like you were just saying, too busy, you know. And He’s wooing you, hey. Come here sweet pea. You know but…but we actually have this constant communication with Him, which is hard in our crazy, busy world. Let me switch this question a little bit now. And when you go oh, you know, that’s what’s wrong, what kind of prayer problems can you put your finger on in your life? So, you mentioned one. One’s busyness, right? That gets in the way. What else gets in the way of…of finding satisfaction in prayer?

Eryn: I think sometimes oh, I feel like I have like so much to talk to Him about that it’s like overwhelming, that I’m like oh I just won’t do it. You know like I know that I found myself doing that in the past where I’m just like…it’s like when you get to your journal. And you’re like you want to start journaling, but you’re like where do I begin? Right? You’re like I’d have no idea where to begin. I’m just not going to journal.

Elisa: Yeah, yeah.

Eryn: But sometimes I feel like my prayer life has been that way where it’s like I have so much to pray about. Or I will be like, my problems or the things that I’m going through, and it’s typically that, right? It’s like you go to the Lord for only the problems.

Elisa: Yeah.

Eryn: And then you go, you…you say to yourself, oh there’s bigger things in the world.

Elisa: Oh, that’s good too. And so, they end up not praying…

Eryn: So, you…

Elisa: …and that’s a prayer problem, right?

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: That’s a big prayer problem.

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: You know what? I’ve found inside me, and I’ve done all kinds of dances around this, but I’m scared to pray. I don’t really know what I want. I don’t know if I want to know what God wants in a given topic. And I’m just scared to pray. And I’ve actually, I’d say in the last six months or so, I’ve tried to really mine that emotion and dig into it deep, deep, deep with my little pickaxe and go what is that about? And I’ve been writing about that in some of my blogs that I’ve been writing on my website, elisamorgan, you know, have been threading through. What is going on with me? Why am I afraid to pray? And…and I think what I’m finding every time I mine (tick, tick, tick) in that is I find that I have crazy assumptions about God’s character. It’s like I know He’s good, and I know He’s loving. But when I start my pickaxe at those attributes in Him, I’ll pull up something in my life that says otherwise. And so I start to wobble, and I get scared to pray. Okay, all of these, we could probably spend the entire podcast talking about why and how we struggle in prayer. As we sit in a season of resurrection, of Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection from that death, as we sit in this beautiful moment when God gives us hope and we celebrate that every spring, I want to share an experience that I had that helped me get a different handle on prayer. And I’m not going to pretend like it was a formulaic answer, and it always works now, okay? But I will say that I came to a turning point in my prayer life where I met Jesus, and He met me in a story in the Gospels. And it has shaped my prayer life probably forever. So that’s what I want to share today.

Eryn: I want to dig into that. I think all of us can relate to what you were just sharing like being scared to pray or to not knowing. Or I think sometimes, it’s almost like you wonder, is God who He really says He is? And I’m scared to find out that He’s not, cause that’s your biggest fear. But you know that that’s not true. That’s the enemy. But I have wrestled with…with that, Elisa. And I know so many of us have that are listening feel that same way.

Elisa: [inaudible]

Eryn: Let’s dig in.

Elisa: Yeah, and the only way to…to really grasp that, Eryn, is to pull back the curtain, if you will, and dare to look at who He really is.

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: You know. And that requires some courage (ha) too, so here’s how my experience began. One day, Evan came downstairs; and we started out our day. We both work from home in this season. And he said, you know what I was just thinking about? And I said, what? And he said, do you realize that when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, that He prayed two prayers in one sentence…two completely opposite prayers in one sentence. He prayed, “Take this cup, yet not My will. Yours be done.” And I went, huh. You know and I didn’t really think about it too much.

Eryn: You’re like, okay. Yeah, thanks babe.

Elisa: Cause those…those words are pretty familiar, you know. But we began to talk about it here and there. And I went back and read about it over and over. I’ve been blown away by that. How could He pray, take this cup away, yet not My will, in one sentence? And…and you know what I found Er…I went back and is studied. And that prayer, it’s called the prayer of the Garden of Gethsemane, okay, is in three of the four Gospels. And the fourth gospel, John’s gospel, also mentions Jesus having prayed it. So, in…in other words, you know, we typically think of the Lord’s Prayer, or we think about Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount about prayer. But the most-often prayed…reported prayed prayer of Jesus is this prayer. “Take this cup. Yet not My will.” And so I…I began to look into, what does that mean? And before we go any further, I…I want us to just read that passage. Now again, I said it’s in three of the four Gospels. So we could read it from any of them. But I want us to grab the version that Luke contains. It’s in Luke chapter 22. And it starts in verse 39 and goes to 46…Luke’s telling of it. Now just let’s remember, they were in the upper room. And I love where John describes all that was happening in the upper room where Jesus prays for His disciples. He washes their feet. He prays for future believers, you and me. You know it’s just amazing what He does there. And then they get out, and they go to the Mount of Olives. And at the base of that is the Garden of Gethsemane. It turns out that’s where Jesus often took His disciples to teach them and to have private time with them away from the crowds. So here on the night before He goes to the cross, He takes them with Him to this familiar place. And He has this chat with them. Could you pick it up in…in Luke 22, verse 39? And then I’ll…let’s just go back and forth a little bit.

Eryn: “Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and His disciples followed Him. On reaching the place, He said to them, ‘Pray that you will not fall into temptation.’ He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down, and prayed.”

Elisa: “‘Father, if you’re willing, take this cup from Me. Yet not My will but yours be done.’ An angel from heaven appeared to Him and strengthened Him. And being in anguish, He prayed more earnestly. And His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.”

Eryn: When He rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, He found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. “Why are you sleeping?’ He asked them. ‘Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.’”

Elisa: I like the version that Luke reports, because it’s very succinct, and the prayer is very clear. “Father, if You’re willing, take this cup from Me. Yet not My will but Yours be done.” But Luke couches it all in this emotion of temptation as well. Matthew and Mark actually say that Jesus prayed this prayer three times. He prayed it. He invited His disciples to pray it with Him. They fell asleep. He got up, and He comes to them. He goes, come and pray. Don’t fall asleep. They still don’t join Him. He does this three times. And so, Luke kind of summarizes it. But the bottom line, and I said this, you know, is that this is the most frequently-reported prayer of Jesus in Scripture. He prayed it three times on the night before He went to the cross. The night before He took on our sin, He prays two sides of this one prayer. And I began to get just so what? when I looked at it. How could He do this? You know, take…this what I’m struggling with. Would You take it from Me? But what Jesus is specifically praying is take this cup. And that’s an Old Testament term for the…the suffering of sin, okay? Take the consequences from Me. But it’s kind of crazy, because didn’t Jesus come for this whole purpose? Didn’t God send His Son to demonstrate His love for humankind? Didn’t Jesus always know that He would go to the cross for our sins? Yes, because He was God. And even though He had set aside some of His divine attributes, He knew where He was heading. So to me, it’s an incongruous ask. It…it’s a crazy making if you want to use real terms…

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: …ask that Jesus would say, God, if You’re willing, I don’t want to go through this. If You’re willing, could You take care of humankind’s sin some other way? If You’re willing, I don’t want to be scourged. I don’t want to be beaten. I don’t want to be nailed to a cross. I don’t want to dip my head under the weight of the world’s sin. And whoa, listen to this. I don’t want to be separated from You for the first time in existence through death. I don’t want to. Does that just blow you away that Jesus would pray that?

Eryn: You know, that just makes me love Him even more, because He’s so real and honest and authentic with His feelings in that moment. I didn’t know that. So, take this cup…you breezed past that quickly. But I kind of want to go back to that just for a moment.

Elisa: Sure.

Eryn: You said that’s an Old Testament…

Elisa: There’s a concept of punishment being tied, very slowly…

Eryn: Okay.

Elisa: …small(ey). It’s not a big deal, but to this cup. But Jesus is also describing He…remember He has just been in the upper room talking about “take this cup of blood.” We know that blood was a needed payment of sacrifice for sins in the…in the Hebrew religion. Jesus has come as the Lamb of God to take care of all necessary sacrifice to God. And He Himself becomes that sacrifice for our sins. So, it’s a picturesque metaphorical but rooted in a literalness that He’s bringing forward. I think if we were going to interpret it today, maybe Jesus’ “take this cup” side of prayer, which I call the honest side of prayer, is basically saying to God, “This is what I want, God.” This is what I want. And you know we started out talking about our satisfaction in prayer. We are satisfied when we have a list of, you know, I want my grandson to come to know You, Jesus. I want my father to be healed. I want my husband to live a long life. I want to be obedient to you. You know, this is my list of what I want. And sometimes we’re afraid to pray, because we think our list, this is what I want, God, sounds kind of bratty.

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: Sounds kind of selfish, sounds kind of presumptuous. And here’s the Son of God, here’s Jesus who is wholly perfect as a human, saying “take this cup.” I don’t want to go to the cross. I don’t want to do it. I don’t want to do it. Don’t make me do it…almost.

Eryn: Goodness, I love that. That makes me read that verse so differently.

Elisa: I know. I know and so you think to yourself, what honest are…are we being invited to pray before God? You know, what is our honest? What do I want, God? What do I want? And…and can you fill that in? But flip for a second before we go really deep to applying this. He then flips right over and says, “Yet not My will but Yours be done.” Okay, I don’t want to go to the cross. I don’t want to be wounded. I don’t want to die, but not My will but Yours be done.

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: That sounds so easy, doesn’t it?

Eryn: Right.

Elisa: And…and I call that kind of a…a prayer of abandon. Not what I want, what do you want, God?

[interlude]

Elisa: When we come back, Eryn, I’m going to share how honesty deepens our relationship with God and changes the way that we pray. Let’s learn more about how our faith changes when we pray like Jesus on God Hears Her.

Eryn: God Loves Her is the newest book in our God Hears Her series. You know, we all just want to be reminded that we are loved. And in this devotional, women writers share personal stories about God’s love that is unconditional. Not only can you receive love from Him, but you’ll want to share it with others. God Loves Her is perfect to take on the go or to curl up with in your favorite spot at home. Get one for yourself, and share with a friend who can use a special reminder of God’s love. Go to godlovesher.org to order. That’s godlovesher.org. Now back to the show. So you call “not what I want, but what do You want?” You call that a prayer of abandon.

Elisa: Yeah.

Eryn: Will you unpack that for me? What is that…

Elisa: Yeah.

Eryn: …mean to you? And how did you come to that phrase?

Elisa: The first half of this one-sentence prayer with two prayers is honest. This is what I want, and I’m not going to pretend otherwise. Okay, and the…the second half is, but what do You want, God? And I want to want that. Now to be honest, I may not really want that. But I want to want what You want. So take this cup, God. Yet, this is what I want. I want to want what You want, God. I’m going to abandon myself, surrender, yield, relinquish to what You want. And that word abandon, really I think…

Eryn: That’s good.

Elisa: …captures it. So…so I think to myself…

Eryn: It does.

Elisa: …to flesh this out, I want my…my children to know you, God. I want them to make happy, healthy choices with no consequences that are going to wound them. And then comes the, but not what I want, God. Well I know you don’t want them to be wounded, but might You use their poor choices…

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: …to reveal Your character and Your love.

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: So that’s my honest and my abandon in the same breath.

Eryn: That’s so good, wow.

Elisa: There’s a little space in between those two. And it’s, in some translations it’s a semi-colon. In some it…it’s a little conjunction, yet.

Eryn: Yet, not…

Elisa: In…in some it’s a “but” B U T. If You’re willing, take this cup from me, yet (but) not my will but Yours be done. And I…I have come to understand that is a pivot. You know you s…you think of that word in basketball where you…you grab the ball and you pivot. You turn in the direction of the hoop, and you swish it through, God willing, or maybe even hit the back thing, whatever. I didn’t do any of it. But anyway, or you’re on a balance beam like a gymnast, you know. And…and you jump onto it, and then you pivot in the opposite direction and go the other way. This is a pivot. So you fully, honestly, Jesus prayed, take this cup. This is what I honestly want. Yet, He pivots, what do You want, God? To abandon. And…and I think about how He prayed this prayer, as we’re told, in Matthew and Mark three times repeatedly. And I think, why did He pray the same thing three times? And I almost wonder if it’s an exercise that He needed to pray in order to pour His soul out. And then the angel comes and strengthens Him so that He could continue. And Eryn, you know what has really popped me, and I’m getting a little teachy-preachy here. But I love this. Is that He pivoted, I really think, on the fulcrum if you will, on the spot, on the toehold of His intimacy with God. Because He had known God all along. He had been with God inseparably. He was able to say honestly what He wanted. This is what I want, God. Yet what do You want, God, and keep in that spot. And this is what I…I…I see is when we pray like Jesus, we are invited. I mean He invited us His disciples then. And He invites His disciples now as we read Scripture, to pray like Him, to pray both honest and abandon in one breath. This is what I want, yet what do You want?

Eryn: I love that, Elisa. And it’s an act of being vulnerable, right? And vulnerability is to be open to feedback. It’s, you know, you never know what you’re going to get back.

Elisa: Yeah.

Eryn: You never know what someone’s going to say if you’re truly open. And this demonstration is the posture of vulnerability. And that’s what develops intimacy.

Elisa: Oh, you’re so right.

Eryn: Right? With our…

Elisa: You’re so right.

Eryn: …friendships, and our…our relationships, and with the Lord is being 100 percent vulnerable with, this is how I feel. This is where I’m at. And then open to Lord, but have Your way. Have Your will be done. But could you, cause this is how I feel, that’s that. That’s…

Elisa: That’s the thing and…

Eryn: That’s that.

Elisa: …you…you…you have got it. Go back and read verse 44 again, Eryn. Cause you used the word vulnerability. Listen for Jesus’ vulnerability here, verse 44.

Eryn: “And being in anguish, He prayed more earnestly. And His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.”

Elisa: Okay, we just kind of read that, you know. Being in anguish, He prayed more earnestly. And His sweat was like drops of blood. Okay. I mean just slow it down. You know He has just been praying this, and He’s been praying it so severely that in verse 43, an angel from heaven appears and strengthens Him.

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: Then He gets in even more anguish. He prayed more earnestly. And the words there actually mean that He…He’s on the verge of death right now.

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: It’s almost as if, and I’m using a little bit of an imaginative understanding here. It’s almost as if Jesus could have died in the garden…

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: …in prayer.

 

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: If God hadn’t sustained Him.

Eryn: Right, because He was exhausted. Well even it says you know in verse 45, when He rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, He found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. And I can only imagine if the disciples were exhausted from sorrow, what was sustaining Jesus to continue to pray? If the disciples were even just like absorbing the sorrow and feeling their own sorrow, there must have been so much heaviness…

Elisa: Yes.

Eryn: …in that time. But God sustained Him, like you said. I’ve never thought about that.

Elisa: We picture Jesus, you know, perfect human, perfect God, you know, all the time. And we forget the reality of the humanity that He endured every temptation we do yet was without sin. That doesn’t mean that He skated over the top of suffering. It means that He was immersed in it and yet survived and…and yet was held together. So if Jesus prayed this honest, this vulnerably and this abandonedly and I almost wonder if He was only able to pray that abandonedly because He prayed that honestly. What if we learn to pray like He did? What if we learn that God is inviting us to pray this prayer. This is what I want, God. Take this cup away from me. Take this disease. Take this unemployment. Take this loneliness. Take this being misunderstood. Yet, and that’s that yet that place of oh, I know what I know about You. Help me to stand in what I know about You. I will abandon, not my will, but what do You want to do here, God?

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: Does anything bubble up that you can share where this prayer can shape your prayer life, your satisfaction?

Eryn: Yes, well I can recall many, many times that I’ve prayed out of desperation because I thought to myself, what do I have to lose? I had to…but I had to get to that point. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if my stubbornness or my pride or my willingness to be more intentional with my conversations with the Lord, if I had done that, would I have gone to a place of desperation like that in some of the moments that I’ve been in? I’ve learned that over time, when I am just really honest with how I feel about something or feel weighty or heavy or confused or stressed or carrying somebody else’s burden, and I share it; I’ve felt so many times just unqualified or…or not good enough or not loved enough or devalued or whatever it may be; He always meets me with a steady same response. And He’s never, never makes me feel bad for coming to Him with how I feel in those moments. And that has developed this intimacy that I have with Him now in my prayer life. Because I know that I can come to Him just as I am on good days when I’m just coming to Him to celebrate and there’s nothing that I am heavy about. And then I come to Him when I’m heavy or if there’s like I can come to Him just as I am however I am. But it’s getting past, like I think you can get in this lull, this autopilot, I guess. And you just…you say to yourself how He’s going to respond instead of letting Him be who He is…

Elisa: That’s so good.

Eryn: …and you who you are and just experience a relationship.

Elisa: I…I call that auto-abandon. You know so it’s like this is what I want God, but You’re going to do what You want.

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: Give up, roll my eyes, and walk away. You know this is what I want, God, but I’m sure that You’re going to make me wait. You know, and there’s just this kind of…

Eryn: Yes.

Elisa: …resignation, you know, that comes. So we kind of auto-abandon as if we’re on auto-pilot.

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: And I think this abandon, this, but what do You want, God?, is a very different response in yielding. And I think you hit it on the head when you said that it comes from intimacy. And intimacy comes from honesty. So when we are truly honest, oh, this is killing me, God, you know then we choose to allow intimacy to grow; because we’re trusting in that very vulnerable place. And when we do that, our abandon, our “what do you want, God?” is sincere. And as it becomes more sincere, our trust muscles grow as God demonstrates His faithfulness. I want to suggest two little practices that I’ve used. And like I said, this is not a we’re done, we’re dead, kind of formula thing. This is an ongoing lesson for me.

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: But two…two practices I’ve done that have helped me to further mine (you know with metal pickax) at this understanding. And one is to…to yes, use a journal. Open it up flat to where there’s two pages mirroring, okay? And on the…the page on your left, put at the top a heading “take this cup.” And under it in parentheses (This is what I want) okay.

Eryn: That’s good.

Elisa: And then on the mirror page on your right side, write the words “not my will.” And under that, “but what do You want, God?” So on the left, you’ve got “honest”. On the right, you’ve got “abandon”.

Eryn: I love that.

Elisa: And start praying that way. You know put your…your what do you want on the one side. And maybe you’re going to say “I’ve got this friend who’s single. I know he’s so lonely. God, would you bring a life partner to him, a…a spouse?” And on the right, you go “But what do You want, God?”

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: Okay, well maybe if he’s going to be single forever, could You help His loneliness direct him to You? And you go back over to the left. But God…

Eryn: I love that.

Elisa: …how’s he going to survive the holidays? And I can’t be his everything. Okay, go back over to the abandon. How might You want to draw him into a church body to experience relationships he’s never had? Anyway, you go back and forth like that. And that discipline of left to right and then back to left and not just putting the prayer down one time. Okay, I’m done. Auto-abandon, you know.

Eryn: Yeah, yeah, right.

Elisa: But really wrestling with God like Jesus did. Does that make sense to you?

Eryn: That is so practical. I love that. That is…I love that. I’m going to do…I’ve never done that before. And you know I’m a journaler.

Elisa: I know you are.

Eryn: I’m taking notes right now. No, I really am.

Elisa: Okay. And you can develop it on your phone if you’re a techno [inaudible].

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: But the second practice I do is I just get a regular coin. And there are some still left in our world. But you know maybe like a…a quarter, a dime, whatever you have, whatever you run across. And say make heads honest, and make tails abandon.

Eryn: Oh I love that.

Elisa: And don’t necessarily spin it and flip it in the air. But…but instead very intentionally turn it over and look at George’s head, you know. On the…on the…on the head side. And develop a practice saying God this is what I want in this given situation. I…I really, really ask you to heal my husband from cancer. And then you turn it over to the tail side. What a practice this has been for me, Eryn. But God, if You don’t choose to heal Him, help me to trust You that You will usher Him into your presence. And then honestly vomit, turn it back over to heads really quick.

Eryn: That’s so good. I [inaudible] that’s so good.

Elisa: Don’t take him from me, God. Don’t take him. It becomes about me. I’m scared to be alone, God. And then back to tails, Lord, to abandon. Lord, help me to trust You that even if my husband is with You, You will be my husband. This is what Jesus…

Eryn: That’s good.

Elisa: …did in the garden. And this is the true intimacy that He died on the cross to provide for us.

Eryn: That’s so good.

Elisa: So I’m…I’m just want to encourage us to think about this garden prayer, this most-reported [recorded?] prayer of Jesus in Scripture as a kind of a prayer currency that God wants us to spend daily in and out with Him learning to pray like Jesus, and then, therefore, growing in our satisfaction of prayer because we get what God’s really all about, which is developing intimacy with Him.

Eryn: I just love everything you had to say, Elisa. Thank you for sharing those practices and sharing Scripture with us that shows us how Jesus prayed.

Elisa: Of course. It’s a topic that caught my attention. It challenged me, and I really hope this conversation was encouraging for everybody. Well, before we close out today’s episode of God Hears Her, we want to remind you that the show notes are available in the podcast description. And there, you’ll find a link for my book When We Pray Like Jesus to learn more. There’s also links to connect with Eryn and me on social. And you can find these links when you visit our website at godhearsher.org. That’s godhearsher.org.

Eryn: Thank you for joining us. And don’t forget. God hears you. He sees you. And He loves you because you are His.

Elisa: Today’s episode was engineered by Gabrielle Boward and produced by Mary Jo Clark, Daniel Ryan Day, and Jade Gustafson. We also want to recognize Kathi and Chriscynethia for all of their help and support. Thanks everyone.

Eryn: God Hears Her is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries.

Show Notes

  • “Do we experience intimacy with God through prayer?” —Elisa

  • Why am I afraid to pray?

  • “Have you ever tried to pray like Jesus?” —Elisa

  • “Sometimes I’m scared to pray. Sometimes I don’t know if I want to know what God wants.” —Elisa

  • “Sometimes I’m scared to pray because I’m scared to find out if God is really who He says He is.” —Eryn

  • “Jesus prayed two prayers in the same sentence.” —Elisa

  • “The prayer of Gethsemane is recorded three times in the gospels.” —Elisa

  • “Sometimes we feel bratty about being honest with God about what we want.” —Elisa

  • “We need to pray like Jesus, with honesty and abandonment.” —Elisa

Links Mentioned

About the Guest(s)

No guests listed for this podcast.

Comments

17 Responses

  1. Thank you for opening my eyes to the two sides of prayer, what I want and what is God’s will for my life.

  2. Prayer is very essential. Most times it is all we need to get relief from whatever we are going through presently, with the assurance that we have a God In heaven who is ever willing to listen and answer to our needs

  3. Since first introduced to the prayer coin a few years ago, I have tried to pray like Jesus. It makes so much sense to me. How can my mind and heart — and the desires of my heart — align with the will of God unless I’m honest with Him first? I must surrender all to be fully abandoned to Him. And the pivot — yet — has to be there to allow the two to work together. Thank you, Jesus for giving me your prayer to your Father so that it can be my prayer to our Father. And thank you, Elisa for guiding me here. 💚

  4. I need the Holy Spirit to lift me back up and refresh my life. With a fresh filling of his anointing. I pray for restoration spiritually and mentally emotionally 🙏

  5. thank you Elisa for explaining this prayer.. now it makes so much more sense to me… i have read this prayer over the years but really didnt get it! i am going to pray like Jesus. i love listening to your podcast as well… hugs and kisses.

  6. Thank you for reminding me to pray that Gods Will be done not what I want. I sometimes feel like I need to remember that.

  7. Praying in God’s will is not always easy, but I learned some time ago that this is the only way to pray! This way of praying is saying that what God wants is more important than what we want!

  8. I have always had this thought, of am I praying correctly. Some say when you pray speak to God as a friend. Now this goes to a whole different level. Thank you.

  9. Thank you for this article. It truly hit home for me. I pray ofter, but wonder if my prayers are selfish;wondering if God is listening. There are times when I question my worth and consider giving up.

  10. My Dearest, Your heart shared intimate feelings of honesty. I like what I hear. It makes my Spirit come alive this morning. I often wonder, Lord what should I be doing with my life now. I have a disability, retired and loss of both Parents recently. I will say, send me I will go but where, when and how. It takes all my strength to sit still and Pray and listen. I want to hear from God. Forgive me Lord when I am not able. When I think I know what to do. I want to serve you in well doing Lord. You have Bless me, this sinner saved by your Grace and Mercy. Your words My Dear help me to travel on and grow deeper in my relationship with Our Lord and Savior. God Bless you and family.

  11. My prayer is for my daughter Kristina to
    Come back to her faith! And let Jesus Christ be her Lord again!
    She is living a very lonely life right now!
    Which scares me.

  12. I never thought of it that way. Thank you. I kind of do this without realizing. I feel guilty about asking for something then pray that the Lord does it his way as his plans have been set in place long before I came into being.

  13. AMAZING I NEED THIS PLEASE PRAY FOR ME I NEDD NEW TIRES FOR MY CAR. IN JESUS CHRIST HOLY NAME I PRAY AMEN HALLELUJAH HALLELUJAH ANY HOW GOD LORD YOUR WILL YOUR WAY AMEN JESUS. GO GOD YOUR WILL YOUR WAY .

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