In today's post we consider two episodes in the life of Jesus that required great decisions to be made: choosing His Twelve Disciples and choosing to go to the cross. Though they are not the only instances, they represent some of the more important decisions that Jesus submitted to the Father in prayer.
The first of these is
found in Luke 6:12-13
"It was at this time that He went off
to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to
God. 13 And when day came, He called His disciples to Him
and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles". Jesus'
decision of these men was prefaced by prayer. Why? As God Jesus would had known
whom He was going to choose to be the ones to take the Gospel throughout the
world following His resurrection and ascension into Heaven. Furthermore, He indicates in His high
priestly prayer of John 17:6 that these men were the ones whom the Father had "given
to Him". Eleven of them were to remain ever faithful to Jesus, with one
(Judas Iscariot) defecting and eventually betraying our Lord. In God's Sovereign plan, even Judas had a
place in the overall plan to bring our Lord to the cross. (John 13:18; Acts
2:23-24) With that being said, Luke
reminds us that Jesus at the same time chose to be a man and execute decisions
such as the choosing of the twelve as a man.
In His humanity, Jesus Christ prayed all night to His Father, indicating
His desire to do everything according to the Father's will. The question that you and I need to ask is
how willing are we to submit our decisions to the throne of God in prayer?
The
second major decision we will consider in which we see Jesus submitting a major
decision is in Luke
22:39-46 "And He came out and
proceeded as was His custom to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples
also followed Him. 40 When He arrived at 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
He knelt down and began to pray, 42 saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove
this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.” 43 Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him,
strengthening Him. 44 And being in agony He was praying very fervently;
and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.45 When He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and
found them sleeping from sorrow, 46 and said to
them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not enter
into temptation.” As God Jesus had already agreed with the Father in eternity
to come to earth and pay the price for our salvation. (Hebrews 10:5-10) As man,
Jesus would need to willingly affirm to the Father what He had already agreed to
do in eternity - namely to go to the cross. This decision included prayer. Was
Jesus just going through the motions, even though He knew what needed to be
done? No. Rather as our perfect human representative, He recognized that God
ordained prayer as a means of fulfilling His will. Jesus had to not only be able, but willing to
go to the cross. Prayer enables our
"chooser" - the will - to be brought into alignment with God's
purposes.
Point of application: What major decision are
you facing in life? You and I are the sum total of our choices. Jesus
exemplified the important truth of submitting our decisions to God in
prayer. Think of your prayer time before
the throne as a time to examine that decision under God's search light. Often when we pray about our decisions, great
or small, clarity and insight are often found and we come out of prayer having
certainty about what we need to do.
Jesus never presumed on God, meaning He never attempted anything, no
matter how noble or even Godly, on the basis of assumption. Rather Jesus did everything He did based upon
His relationship and fellowship with the Father. May you and I submit our decision making to
prayer and apply prayer to our decision making.
Only when we have put prayers to our feet can we then know how to put
feet to our prayers.
