"Abba, Father, all things are possible for You". St. Mark 14:36

These most precious and holy words from our Lord to His Father, during His hour of excruciating pain and suffering, are words which we, as His children, are encouraged to pray as well.

Luther says: " ... there are many things which hinder this faith in us. First, our heart is born in sin; and this evil is naturally grafted in us, that we doubt God's good will towards us, and cannot assure ourselves that we please God. Beside this, the devil our adversary ranges about with terrible roarings, and says: "You are a sinner: therefore, God is angry with you, and will destroy you forever." Against these roarings we have nothing to hold onto, but only the Word, which sets Christ before us as a conqueror of sin and death and all evils. But to hold fast to the Word in this temptation is difficult, because we cannot sense the presence of Christ. We see Him not. Our heart does not feel His presence. Rather, it seems as if He is angry with us and that He has forsaken us. Moreover, when we are tempted, we feel the power of sin, the weakness of the flesh, and the wavering of the mind. We feel the fiery darts of the devil, the terrors of death, and the anger of God. All these things cry out horribly against us. And yet, when we are conscious of the terrors of the law, the thundering of sin, the assults of death, the roarings of the devil, the Holy Ghost, says Paul, cries in our hearts: "Abba, Father." This cry pierces the clouds and the heaven, and ascends up into the ears of God."


Abba, Father, help me, for I don't know how to go forth. Help me know Your will, and allow me to know Your presence is near. Father, I am unworthy to be called a son, and yet you chose me to be adopted into Your family, through the cleansing power of Your Son's work here on earth, the work He accomplished on the Cross. Thank You Father. And so help me overcome the temptation to not believe in You, and in Your truth. Help me, Abba Father. I pray this in the name of Your Holy Son, my Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.