Gethsemane not only shows me how to overcome fear, but how to succeed in my Christian life. In Gethsemane, Jesus prayed a prayer, “Not My will, but Thine be done” (Luke 22:42); on Calvary, Jesus shouted in triumph, “It is [satisfactorily] finished [completed]!” (John 19:30). It was in Gethsemane that Jesus sowed the seeds of victory on Calvary. I will be faced with countless Calvarys, and the only way I can prepare for them is to go through Gethsemane.
I must be a Gethsemane disciple. Gethsemane was not an isolated experience for Jesus; He went there “as was His custom” (Luke 22:39). Spiritually, His whole life was a Gethsemane; He was constantly facing the enemy’s alternatives, He was continually deciding to do the Father’s will. The more selfish a person is, the less he will experience of Gethsemane. He has no crisis, no agony, and therefore no victory. Believers who live in the atmosphere of Gethsemane constantly reap victory.
Gethsemane divides disciples into three groups: those who decide to ignore God’s will, those who decide to consider God’s will, and those who decide to do God’s will. Victory comes only to the one who chooses to enact God’s will.
I can avoid Gethsemane if I choose to do so, but I cannot avoid Calvary. The tragedy is that if I avoid Gethsemane, I will be in poor condition indeed to face my Calvary. The glorious sequence of “Calvary, resurrection, and ascension” starts in Gethsemane. Lord, let me say honestly, “I’ll go with Him through the garden!”
Then Christ will respond by saying, “To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne” (Revelation 3:21, NIV).
“Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will” (Hebrews 13:20–21).
Daily with the King 