Dear Editor,

Listening to how some evangelicals sometimes pray these days, glibly “decreeing and declaring” things, I wonder if folks do not need to ponder the nature of our Lord’s prayers in Gethsemane.

C S Lewis wisely says: “In Gethsemane the holiest of all petitioners prayed three times that a certain cup might pass from him. It did not. After that the idea that prayer is recommended to us as a sort of infallible gimmick may be dismissed.” ( The Efficacy of Prayer in his Fern Seed and Elephants and Other Essays on Christianity, edited by Walter Hooper, p 98)

Ponder the reading of the New King James Version of Matthew 26: 39, 42, 44: 39. And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt…

42. He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.

44. So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.

This is the supreme and insightful text on Jesus’s submission to divine purpose.

Request 1, based on personal preference, “If it is possible let this cup [of extreme suffering] pass from me.”

Realisation, based on divine purpose/priority “nevertheless [=despite my request] not what I will [=prefer/desire] but what you will [=purpose/determine]

Requests 2 & 3 (see verse 44), based on purpose-influenced realisation “if [=since?] it is not possible for this cup to pass unless I drink it let your will be done.”

The first request says in part “…if it be possible…” the second and third “…if/since it is not possible…” In other words, regardless of which end or purpose you sovereignly choose for me let your will be done.

Does our prayer life/language match this submission to the Father’s will regardless of our desire/wish/preference?

It seems to me that we are mere humans, however sanctified we may be or think we are, have no biblical warrant or authority to ‘decree and declare’ anything except that which is already decreed and thus declared in scripture.

This modern ‘decree and declare’ fad in prayer smacks of spiritual arrogance and a tinge of folly especially in light of our Lord’s prayers in Gethsemane.

Rev Clinton Chisholm

Academic dean

Caribbean Graduate School of Theology

clintchis@yahoo.com