READ Mark 14
Jesus spends His last two days in intimate communion with His closest friends.

INSIGHT
Prayer is one of the true mysteries in the Bible. It is inevitable that, as we grow in our prayer life, we will struggle with an inadequate understanding of how to pray. The example of Jesus praying in Gethsemane helps us with what we can know and understand about prayer. First, we can know that prayer does not eliminate emotional struggling. A second thing we can learn is that prayer can make us stronger spiritually and keep us from temptation. In each account of His prayer, Jesus says to His disciples, “Keep watching and praying so you may not come into temptation” (Mark 14:38). If we watch and pray, we will be strengthened against temptation.

PRAYER
As you continue your time with the Lord, offer to Him this praise:
Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power
and the glory and the splendor and the majesty,
for everything in the heavens and on earth
belongs to you. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom,
and you are exalted as head over all
(1 Chronicles 29:11).

Pray this confession to the Lord as you seek to keep your life free from sin:
Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call to him while he is near.  
Let the wicked one abandon his way
and the sinful one his thoughts;  
let him return to the Lord,
so he may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for he will freely forgive
(Isaiah 55:6-7).

As you confess your sins, pray this affirmation of God’s Word:
He gives strength to the faint
and strengthens the powerless.
But those who trust in the Lord
will renew their strength;  
they will soar on wings like eagles;  
they will run and not become weary,
they will walk and not faint
(Isaiah 40:29, 31).

As you make your requests known to the Lord, pray for:

• Greater insight into the Scriptures
• The hunger around the world
• Your activities for the day

Offer this closing prayer to the Lord:
May the Lord bless you and protect you;  
may the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;  
may the Lord look with favor on you  
and give you peace
(Numbers 6:24-26).