Based on Luke 22:39-44 (New King James Version)
“Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him. When He came to the place, He said to them, ‘Pray that you may not enter into temptation.’ And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, ‘Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.’ Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”
The reason for praying or the purpose of prayer is something that the vast majority misunderstand. And I can't blame them much because it is something that is not so clear, not because God wants to make it a mystery, but because of our limited capacity, because of our sin. Sin corrupts everything, especially our way of thinking. One of the main things that God wants to accomplish in our lives is to bring order in every aspect. Sin is disorder. God is order and structure. How should we be able to understand this? Through creation. Even though all things have been affected by sin, there is still an order, the structure that God created. Within all the disorder, there exists an even greater order, a supreme structure in the grand scheme of things.
For example, many people today claim that the universe is the product of a supposed big bang, and that everything evolved from that big bang after millions of millions of years. But that is impossible. Things by themselves cannot take order or form. If you leave a newborn child in the middle of the desert unattended, with nothing to eat or drink, it will certainly die, and it will die horribly. He will not have the ability, nor the knowledge, nor the capacity to learn how to survive on his own. And that is a being that has all the necessary faculties, but not yet developed, because it needs the care of a mother, or at the least, of a person who has already developed and who does have the faculties to be able to help it survive. You may say: “That example is a bit extreme.” Is it exaggerated? Think about what space is like where there is no oxygen, something vital for us as human beings to live. How can beings that cannot even survive in the great void evolve from a supposed great disorder? If evolution made any sense, a newborn child would have better chances of surviving in the middle of a desert totally alone than a primate evolving from the vacuum of space without any oxygen.
So, returning to the issue of prayer (and it has everything to do with order, as we will see later), many people misunderstand the purpose of prayer, and as had been said, because of the sin that exists within our being, in our way of thinking. The vast majority think that prayer is a tool only to ask God for things, and of course, many think that God has an obligation to answer those prayers in the way we think. There are many who think, and even teach that, if one supposedly has enough faith, that God will answer their prayers as they want (and faith is another thing that is greatly misunderstood, but this is a topic for another time). Prayer is a way to communicate our requests to God, but it is not the whole point. That is actually the smallest part of the purpose of prayer. Let's think for a moment. The Lord Jesus Christ, being the only begotten Son of God, who could even raise the dead, could not change the horror of the cross with His prayer. We see in this passage that He asked that, if it were possible, that God Himself would pass this cup of His crucifixion, and it did not happen. The Lord died on the cross. What happened? Didn't He ask with enough faith? Did God the Father ignore His request because He lacked conviction? Impossible. That is why we must be very careful with the aberrations that are taught that have no Biblical basis. So, if God doesn't answer our prayers the way we want, then why pray? Or let's think even more, if God knows everything, and knows even our thoughts, and knows what we need or what we are going to ask before we pray, why pray? And even more, if things are going to happen just the way God wants, what is the point of prayer then? The main point of prayer is to bring our life closer and closer to the will of God through communion with God, because prayer is mainly the way we have to communicate with Him. That is why the Lord Himself when He taught His disciples to pray, He told them that they had to ask that the Father's will be done. He said this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:9b-10. We saw this also in today’s passage when He prayed: “…nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” And blessed be God the Father that His will was done through the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, because there was no other way for our salvation to be possible. That is why God the Father did not take away the cup of His own Son, from which He drank so that we would be made free from sin and have the opportunity to have eternal life. The Father did not remove the cup, but He did answer the prayer based on His will. So why did the Lord pray? Because even though He was (and is) the only begotten Son of God, because He was also 100% man, He had to go through the process of bringing His flesh into the order of God. This is what the Word says: “who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.” Hebrews 5:7-9. Absolutely everything must return to the will of God, to the order of God. God is order. The devil and sin are disorder. God is construction and structure. The devil and sin are destruction. God is incorruptible. The devil and sin are corruption. God remains forever immovable, the devil and sin and all who submit to them will be cast in the end into the lake of eternal fire.
This is the great importance of prayer, which is ultimately for our edification, to bring us closer to God, to bring us ever closer to His order, and this suits us, because the only ones who will be saved, the only ones who will obtain the eternal life, the only ones who will receive eternal rewards that only God can grant are those who do His will, as it is written: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” Matthew 7:21. I know and understand that many times the will of God is not easy for our carnality, and that it is difficult for us to walk with the Lord when we see that our prayers are not answered as we would like, even when we think that we are asking for His will, but It is necessary to understand that prayer is to bring us back to the order that we so need, because there is eternal life only in His will. Therefore, we should be encouraged as the Word says: “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2. Pray for His will in your life, even if it is difficult for you (because it is not easy), because that will save you. So, what do you pray for? Lord bless! John. God bless Israel.