Jesus Prayed

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I am currently reading through the Gospel of Luke. One of the main themes in Luke is that Jesus prayed, and did so frequently. We know Jesus is God, so why did God need to pray? I don't know, not really, but I am studying and wondering on that point. I am thinking it has to do with Jesus's humanity. He can identify with us:

"Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." Philippians 2:11

If you have read any of my posts before you might have realized that I am not a fan of the hyper-faith teachers/preachers. It's not that I don't believe in faith and it's importance but I equally believe in submission to the will of God in our lives.

We are told in 1 John 5:14-15 that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us and that we have the requests that we ask. Some of these hyper-faith teachers imply that faith is a force that you can swing your words at your target and speak to it and think towards the something you are asking for, to force what you want to happen. In my opinion they teach very little on the portion of that promise that tells us we must be asking according to His will.

The logic of the hyper-faith train-of-thought, driven by human willpower, fails. It fails through the example of Jesus. In the Garden of Gethsemane, according to the Gospel of Luke in Chapter 22, Jesus's sweat dripped off Him like great drops of blood in His agony in prayer. Why? Because what God was asking of Him was a walk towards agony, then the resurrection. If the power of faith was designed for a consumer process, then perhaps Jesus could have just declared and proclaimed a throne and kingdom right then and there. But He did not because Jesus did the will of God by asking first in prayer; what that will of God was.

We are not Jesus and God is not asking us to suffer on the cross and die for mankind. But what is God asking of us?

I became a Christian at age 16. I had a very dramatic conversion. How could a conversion be very dramatic at 16? It was because I was not a typical 16 year old due to my experiences. God sought me out, and I am eternally glad I was found. I am five more decades older than I was then and I have been through the lessons life can teach you. I have certainly not always walked as God intended me to through this time. But I do know and can relate to you what I believe God has always asked of me, and that is - myself. He wants me. He wants my heart, soul, and strength. He wants me to take the time to pray, and in this praying, He wants me to yield, to Him.