Are You Looking For A Prayer That Works Part 4

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ARE YOU LOOKING FOR A PRAYER THAT WORKS PART 4

The Prayer of Consecration“…

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20 NKJV

Let’s read that again in, Galatians 2:20 (NLT)

20 My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

The prayer of consecration may be one of the shortest prayers ever uttered, but it often requires the longest journey of the heart.

It is not fun to die to our own will and our own ways.

And that’s what it takes to surrender to God’s will and His ways.

That’s what it takes to honestly pray this kind of prayer.

The best scriptural example of the prayer of consecration is found in Matthew 26:36-46 (NLT)

Jesus Prays in Gethsemane

36 Then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and he said, “Sit here while I go over there to pray.”

37 He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed.

38 He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

39 He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

40 Then he returned to the disciples and found them asleep. He said to Peter, “Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour?

41 Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!”

42 Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done.”

43 When he returned to them again, he found them sleeping, for they couldn’t keep their eyes open.

44 So he went to pray a third time, saying the same things again.

45 Then he came to the disciples and said, “Go ahead and sleep. Have your rest. But look—the time has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

46 Up, let’s be going. Look, my betrayer is here!”

This prayer, with all its intensity, didn’t just spontaneously spring up in Jesus’ heart at this one crucial time in His life.

Although this Garden of Gethsemane experience was the ultimate test of His willingness to die to His own will, Jesus lived His entire life with this attitude of surrender to God.

In John 5:30 NKJV, He said, I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.

And again in John 6:38 NKJV, He said, For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will,

but the will of Him who sent Me.

This was Jesus’ own testimony.

Choosing God’s will over His own was the most important thing in His life.