Ready, Set, Surrender

Our Strength is not in our struggle, but it is in our Surrender

And He took with Him Peter and James and John and began to be very distressed and troubled. And He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch.” And He went a little beyond them and fell to the ground and began to pray that if it were possible, the hour might pass Him by. And He was saying, “Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will.” Mark 14:33-36

It is scary to let go of the wheel when you are use to driving. He is not is saying let go of the wheel. He is saying, get in the passenger’s seat and let me drive.

In my walk with God, I have found that relief will never come the way I have pictured the scenario in my mind. Because an angel is allowed to step from the shadows. He enters the arena not to save Jesus from suffering but to strengthen Him so He can endure it. “Not my will but your will be done.”

The struggle is real, but the strength does not come in the struggle but it comes in the surrender. You want to know how to get through your Gethsemane? Surrender! We have our answer and it is His will. So now, the prayer is complete. We are no longer reaching for answers, but as Christ, reaching for the cup from His father’s hand.

And though it is a terrible cup, the cup of fears, it is necessary that we take it. Because more than the fears of the cup, we love the hand from which it comes.

If you haven’t already faced your Gethsemane, sometime, someplace, you will. May you forever be reminded that:

You are not in control, He is. And it is okay. Because the time will come if it hasn’t already, that you will wrestle with circumstances that are beyond your control. That there will be some sort of suffering that will pin you down and make you question if God is still with you. It’s a very humbling experience to THINK you have something in your hand and be very confident and then to become aware that you were never even holding it. Rest assured that He is not only with you but in complete control. It is He who has been holding it all along.

Surrender does not mean to give up. It does not mean to turn around and go the other way, and it is certainly not a sign of weakness. But it does mean we now have the strength we need to go through this Gethsemane. Why? Because it is Necessary.