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Seven Last Words Daily Devotional -41

by David Joynt on March 29, 2021


LUKE 22:42| 42 “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.”

 Surrender to God’s will is more difficult in some moments than others. The Garden of Gethsemane was an excruciating moment for Jesus. He knew the suffering that was to come, and was anticipating the betrayal of His best friends, foreshadowed in their inability to stay awake and pray with Him. But Jesus’ daily submissions prepared Him for this moment. 

Truth-telling, patience, empathy, and small acts of sacrifice with ourselves and our resources, develops our capacity to obey. When the hard obedience comes, our characters have been honed. Jesus did not want to drink the cup of God’s wrath and go through the spiritual separation and emotional pain of bearing the world’s rebellion and ugliness—but He had the ability to overcome His own feelings and trust God’s intentions.

 Look for moments today to practice surrender.

 

Pray the Lord’s prayer, emphasizing submission.

 

Tags: prayer, surrender

About the Author
David Joynt

Dave Joynt began his service as a pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona in September 2014. This meant a move away from the Northeast, where he has a long history, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then serving congregations in Delaware and New Jersey for a total of 23 years.

Dave was nurtured in a great church in Bethlehem where his parents, Anne and Carey, served as elders. He graduated in classics from Lehigh University where his Father taught, and then from Oxford, where he met his wife Julia. Ordained in 1988, he completed a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1993.

He and Julia have a son, Tristan, and a daughter, Madeleine.

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