Gethsemane Made Simple

The night before the cross, Jesus went to a garden to pray. In Gethsemane -- the oil press -- the Son of God was pressed by sorrow, sweated as it were great drops of blood, and prayed the prayer that saved the world: "Not as I will, but as thou wilt" (Matthew 26:39).

Gethsemane Made Simple is a Bible-first walk through Matthew 26:36-46, verse by verse, drawing in the details from Mark, Luke, and John. Eleven devotional chapters trace the whole night: the garden across the brook, the sorrowful soul, the sleeping friends, the three prayers, the bloody sweat, the strengthening angel, the rising to meet the betrayer -- and then your own Gethsemane, with a ten-step pattern for praying through your darkest night.

Explicitly Trinitarian: the Father to whom Jesus prayed, Jesus Christ -- Son of God and Son of Man, Lord and Savior -- who prayed, bled, and surrendered, and the Holy Spirit who alone works surrender, strength, and freedom in us. Every prayer is to the Father, through Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit.

Read one chapter a day. Come honest. Pray slowly. Surrender fully.

More from Kimani Upshur: https://kimaniupshur.com