Christ in the garden of gethsemane prayed under such duress that the Bible records he began to sweat and it was “as drops of blood”. Many scholars take this literally because in cases of severe duress people can literally sweat blood. Prayer is meant to be a place where we meet with God, but sometimes to truly meet with Him as He is, we must struggle against our own natures. While sweating blood in the garden he prayed “… ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.’ ” Matthew‬ ‭26‬:‭39‬ ‭NIV‬‬. Christ really did not want to suffer and die, so much so he was physically sweating blood, but he was willing to embrace trust in God as he prayed all while recognising God’s way lay through suffering and death.

Often in order to truly pray in Jesus name, or according to his will, we must allow our natures to be superseded by Gods. Not ignored nor inactive but rather submitted. Just as Christ made his will known and asked for what he wanted but did not tie his fulfilment to their fulfilment.

This can be quite distressing for the intercessor at times and perhaps even painful. The more deeply personal an issue is, the more it can affect us. We want to believe that as God is loving he will grant us our demands and protect our rights giving us justice where they are violated. Let us remember that when Christ prayed He knew He would suffer unjustly and be executed unjustly. He prayed for what he wanted but didn’t insist that it was the right way, and as it would turn out he would not get what he asked for but rather God had other things in mind. It was indeed his God given right to have justice and be treated humanely but as he prayed he allowed these to be secondary to his obedience to God.

As we pray for Cyprus we come to it as those who love Cyprus. Some of us may be from the south and have very strong feelings about Cypriot history and politics. Some of us may be from the North and have our own understanding and emotions with regard to Cypriot history and politics. These are sure to be so deeply rooted they define who we are and how we see ourselves. They are a part of our very natures as Greek or Turkish Cypriots. Perhaps some of us are simply friends of Cyprus having only indirect relationship with this island and its native peoples. We may know very little of the suffering of its people, but seek to learn and to stand with them.

We all must come to prayer as we are, we can do nothing less and nothing more. We all love Cyprus and perhaps have our own definitions of what that looks like. So be it. We may pray accordingly. However we must be careful, recognising we come with assumptions, preferences, and perspectives that are distinct from one another’s. I would like to suggest that perhaps more important than the distinction of our own perspectives from one another’s is that of all of ours from God’s.

Just like Christ was willing to wave his rights, even forgiving his brutalisers, for the sake of the world can we bring ourselves to pray from the place of “not as I will but as you will”. Are we willing to be like Christ and set aside our own will, the rights that our very natures demand, to discover what lays on the other side of that kind of suffering for Cyprus? Are we as friends of Cyprus willing to sit in solidarity suffering with our friends and learning true empathy for the suffering of all, and then pray according to the will of God and not from the offence we feel for them?

I am very careful to label the experience of all who pray for Cyprus in such ways as suffering. Anything less would be deeply disrespectful in light of the trauma and unimaginable suffering endured by the peoples of Cyprus. I know what I suggest is so much easier said than done. I would never wish to minimize the suffering of anyone. For me the ultimate suffering of all mankind is made manifest in Christ’s. I believe that like him each of us who follows after him must face the spectre of our suffering, each of us has our own Golgotha to confront. For all it will result in entering into suffering and learning to trust in the resurrection of God to come.

I believe that if we, like Christ, can have our gethsemane moments facing our Golgotha and still pray with the spirit that says “not my will but yours be done” our words will have the transformative power to turn death to life. First in us then in Cyprus. We like Christ will with time be enabled to choose suffering “for the joy set before (us)”. Our very natures will become tainted by the resurrection hope and we will both pray and live from that place. When we pray with the Spirit from this Truth we are able to see a Cyprus made new as he wills and we will be able to ask for it, work for it, and recognise it when it comes.

God is not callous to our suffering but He sees what we cannot, that the only solution to it is the resurrection and new life on the other side. That’s always what he’s working for and it is the very thing required for our healing. Let’s join him even if we must sweat blood as we pray for it God promises that in the end it will be worth it.

If you want to pray like this, are willing to try to, or simply want to submit your will to His inviting Him to transform it then pray with us… Lord not my will, but your perfect will be done here in Cyprus. Lord may we attach no hope in seeing our will done, but only in seeing your perfect ways at work in Cyprus. As we search our hearts in surrender may you purify them and give to us a new heart that demands nothing but above all else desires to “see the goodness of the lord in the land of (Cyprus)…”!