Pray.

For the beginning of the season, one of our focus points is prayer. My highest priority for this season is that each one of you tennis players takes the next step of faith with Christ, whatever that may be. Perhaps you are already diligently committed to Christ, and now taking on God's likeness and character in your many activities and relationships is your next step. Perhaps you don't take faith seriously, and that is your next step. Perhaps you believe but never take action. Perhaps you believe but don't have any relationship with God. Whatever it is, I hope that we will all mature through the joys and difficulties of this season, myself included.

So one of the major ways we commune with God is prayer. This week I want to look at several of Jesus' prayers and try to see what we can learn from the way Jesus prayed to God. I mean, if being Christ-like is a goal, then perhaps we can be Christ-like in our prayers.

First of all, did Jesus pray for himself? I mean, Jesus talked a lot about loving others, praying for those who persecute you (and we'll get to that), and so on and so on. But did he pray for himself ever?

"Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." --- Luke 22:42

So the answer is yes, Jesus did pray for himself. Right in the middle of that verse, Jesus prayed for what he wanted: "take this cup from me." Don't make me have to go through the suffering, don't make me have to go through the betrayal of my friends, don't make me have to go through death. He prayed for himself. But there is so much more inside this simple prayer.

Look at how Jesus addresses the prayer, for example. "Father." Now, we can debate if God is male or female or neither, but that's not the point. Father is a personal term, a term of relationship. It can be a good relationship, a bad relationship, a strained relationship, or whatever. But it is a relationship. So Jesus prayer is addressed as personal. Not to some god out there somewhere that might be listening, but to a God with whom Jesus had a relationship.

Secondly, and maybe most importantly, Jesus is brutal honest in his prayer for himself. Remember, Jesus knows why he has to suffer and knows that it is necessary. And yet, despite his perfect character and sinless, he doesn't want to do it! And he tells God so.

If prayer is a way to communicate in a relationship, then we must be honest. It allows us to get everything out on the table with how we might be feeling and then move on from there. It allows God to know that we are not holding back from the relationship. It voices our desires and frees us from the anguish of them, sometimes. God often answers honest prayers. Back in Genesis, God is going to wipe Sodom and Gomorrah off the face of the earth, but Abraham confronts God and tells him that what God is about to do is unfair. And God listens! God doesn't mind honest prayers in the least. When we pray for ourselves we must be honest.

But...

Jesus is prayer is framed by two VERY important phrases: "if you are willing... not my will, but yours be done." Jesus understands his relationship to his Father. He understands that he must be humble and submit himself to God. God cannot be a vending machine. We cannot treat God as if God must do everything we ask God to. If our Lord did everything we honestly asked, then God would no longer be a God. God would just be a slave. Our slave. And that view makes for a very weak God and very prideful humans.

Instead, let's recognize that God is in control. God created the world in power, God created us to be in relationship together and with God's very being, and God loves us very much. But the world will work in the way God desires it to. Their are consequences to our actions that God may not want us to escape from. If we want to really be fully like God, we also must experience suffering and disappointment, because those are things God has experienced too. There are many other reasons for pain and disappointment, but let's realize we can't order God around.

And because of this, that brings us back to Jesus' personal and relational nature of the prayer. If he is not ordering God around, then this is a prayer to deepen their relationship and strengthen Jesus before he does God's will. All prayer is personal and relational.

So, to sum it up, personal prayer, prayer for ourselves is:
1) For relationship with God
2) Honest
3) Humble

In this tennis season, let us relate with God. In thanks for our good performances, in petitions for our mental and emotional states during matches, for strength and concentration to practice, for love and acceptance of our teammates, for forgiveness when we've done something wrong, for understanding when something has happened that we can't handle. For many things... but let us pray.