{"id":27316,"date":"2015-08-21T00:25:12","date_gmt":"2015-08-21T04:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=27316"},"modified":"2015-08-20T20:52:34","modified_gmt":"2015-08-21T00:52:34","slug":"take-this-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2015\/08\/21\/take-this-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Take This Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/encouragementbloggraphicromans15.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20533\" src=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/encouragementbloggraphicromans15.jpg\" alt=\"encouragementbloggraphicromans15\" width=\"425\" height=\"304\" srcset=\"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/encouragementbloggraphicromans15.jpg 425w, https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/encouragementbloggraphicromans15-300x214.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 425px) 100vw, 425px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;\"><span class=\"text Mark-14-32\">They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to His disciples, <span class=\"woj\">\u201cSit here while I pray.\u201d \u00a0H<\/span><\/span><span id=\"en-NIV-24788\" class=\"text Mark-14-33\">e took Peter, James and John along with Him, and He began to be deeply distressed and troubled. \u00a0&#8220;M<\/span><span id=\"en-NIV-24789\" class=\"text Mark-14-34\"><span class=\"woj\">y soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,\u201d<\/span>\u00a0He said to them. <span class=\"woj\">\u201cStay here and keep watch.\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/span><span id=\"en-NIV-24790\" class=\"text Mark-14-35\">Going a little farther, He fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from Him.<\/span>\u00a0<span style=\"line-height: 26.2906818389893px;\">\u00a0<\/span><span id=\"en-NIV-24791\" class=\"text Mark-14-36\"><span class=\"woj\"><i>\u201cAbba<\/i>, Father,\u201d<\/span>\u00a0He said,\u00a0<span class=\"woj\">\u201ceverything is possible for You. Take this cup from Me. Yet not what I will, but what You will.\u201d \u00a0T<\/span><\/span><span id=\"en-NIV-24792\" class=\"text Mark-14-37\">hen He returned to His disciples and found them sleeping. <span class=\"woj\">\u201cSimon,\u201d H<\/span>e said to Peter,\u00a0<span class=\"woj\">\u201care you asleep? Couldn\u2019t you keep watch for one hour? \u00a0W<\/span><\/span><span id=\"en-NIV-24793\" class=\"text Mark-14-38\"><span class=\"woj\">atch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.\u201d \u00a0O<\/span><\/span><span id=\"en-NIV-24794\" class=\"text Mark-14-39\">nce more He went away and prayed the same thing. \u00a0W<\/span><span id=\"en-NIV-24795\" class=\"text Mark-14-40\">hen He came back, He again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. \u00a0They did not know what to say to Him. \u00a0<\/span><span id=\"en-NIV-24796\" class=\"text Mark-14-41\">Returning the third time, He said to them, <span class=\"woj\">\u201cAre you still sleeping and resting? Enough! \u00a0The hour has come&#8230;.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Mark 14:32-42<\/span><\/p>\n<p>All He asked them to do was to <span style=\"color: #000000;\">stay awake and pray<\/span> with Him. \u00a0Jesus, on the night before He was to die, went to the garden to pray. \u00a0Actually to speak to His Father&#8230;and maybe get a different solution to this saving thing. \u00a0Who could blame Him, really. \u00a0But as we all know, God did not change His mind.<\/p>\n<p>In this prayer of Jesus&#8217;, we see Him totally surrendering Himself to the complete sovereignty of God even though His heart is longing for something different. \u00a0Jesus totally trusts in the One Who holds it all in His loving hands. And, ultimately, God&#8217;s plan was carried out and it was perfect. \u00a0Are you struggling with the same thing&#8212;asking God to <strong><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><em>take this cup<\/em><\/span><\/strong> from you but, if not, then surrendering to His will?<\/p>\n<p>I know it is hard to look at ourselves and examine our own hearts. \u00a0There may be something that God is asking you to do and, with all your heart, you don&#8217;t want to. \u00a0 You find yourself begging Him, pleading with Him, to <strong><em><span style=\"color: #008000;\">take this cup\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/strong>from you. \u00a0But, if He doesn&#8217;t, are you okay \u00a0with His answer? \u00a0I can tell you from experience that you should be. \u00a0Because He loves His children so much that He only wants the very best for us. \u00a0Yes, there are sometimes painful things we must do&#8230;but when we surrender to Him, and do what He asks, we will be blessed.<\/p>\n<p>But what if you never see the benefit? \u00a0You may not on this side of Heaven; but I do know that one day it will all be revealed in His time. \u00a0Just pray, seek His face, and trust&#8212;that no matter what it is on earth that He is asking&#8212;He will not harm you, but will bless you forever.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #008000;\">\u00a0*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u271e\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 *\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Do you know this Jesus that I am telling you about? \u00a0If not, I pray that today you will get to know Him and ask Him into your life so that you will be made new! \u00a0I ask that You pray this prayer with me&#8230;<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Dear God, I know that I am a sinner. \u00a0I am so tired of doing things my way and hurting. \u00a0Today, I surrender. \u00a0I believe that Jesus is Your Son and He died on the Cross to save me from sin. \u00a0I ask that Jesus come into my heart to live and walk with me through this life. \u00a0In Jesus&#8217; name, amen.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to His disciples, \u201cSit here while I pray.\u201d \u00a0He took Peter, James and John along with Him, and He began to be deeply distressed and troubled. \u00a0&#8220;My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,\u201d\u00a0He said to them. \u201cStay here and keep watch.\u201d [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":20533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6228],"tags":[1994,6998,1287,425,589,9307,791,1547,9302,9300],"class_list":["post-27316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-encouragement-2","tag-disciples","tag-encouragement-blog","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-kim-spring","tag-mark-1432-42","tag-prayer","tag-sinners-prayer","tag-surrender-to-his-will","tag-take-this-cup","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/encouragementbloggraphicromans15.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-76A","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27316"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27326,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27316\/revisions\/27326"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}