Resurrection Eggs: Egg 4

*This is number four of a twelve post series. There will be a new one each day for the next nine days*

Egg #4: Praying Hands


"Praying hands remind us that Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray with His disciples.

Read: Mark 14:32-42

Jesus gives us a wonderful example of the importance of prayer. He often went off by Himself to pray to God the Father. During this difficult time in His life before He was captured, Jesus asked His disciples to come with Him. He wanted them to pray and to keep Him company.

Jesus was troubled. He knew He ws going to die. Since He never sins, He had never experienced any of the results fo His own sin. By dying on th cross, Jesus knew He would have to experience God forsaking Him because He must reject sin (see Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34). But Jesus was willing to die on the cross because He knew this was His Father's plan to save people who put their trust in Him. Do you think it would be hard to die and have God turn away from you? Would you pray? Jesus was God, but He believed prayer to His Father was needed.

So Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane with His disciples to pray, but they fell asleep--not onece, but three times.

Do you ever get tired when you try to pray? It's hard to be strong when you're tired, isn't it? Jesus' disciples were weak when they tried to be strong on their own apart from God. While Jesus cried out to the Father in prayer, three times He returned to find the disciples sleeping. This is a reminder to all of us that we cannot be strong on our own. We need to pray and ask for our Father's strength just like Jesus did."

From Resurrection Eggs Randal Lee Walti