Issue link: http://denverseminary.uberflip.com/i/1056515
21 22 The Prayer Coin Elisa Morgan, MDiv Alumna and Board Member 16 December A s a child, during the weeks before Christmas, I'd overturn my piggy bank and dump out my savings, carefully calculating my gift-giving budget. Grabbing up the quarters, I'd stare at the face of George Washington before turning the coin over to consider the American bald eagle. Holding a nickel, I'd check out omas Jefferson and flip it over to his amazing home, Monticello. My coinage usually totaled under five dollars. I wondered how I'd ever stretch the coins to cover presents for each member of my small, single-mom-led family. Like a coin, prayer possesses two sides. e night before Jesus went to die on a cross, He prayed, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup, yet not my will but yours be done" (Luke 22:42). When Jesus said, "Take this cup," He prayed the honest side of the prayer. He revealed His own desire: "is is what I want." en Jesus turned the coin, praying, "Not my will," the side of abandon. Abandon is saying to God, "But what do you want, God?" Jesus' prayer is included in Matthew 26, Mark 14, and Luke 22, and it is mentioned in John 18. "Take this cup." "Not my will." Two sides of Jesus. Two sides of prayer. e prayer coin. I remember my heart beating a bit faster when I paused to take in this realization. What might we learn if we prayed both sides of prayer—honesty and abandon— like Jesus? is prayer is quoted more than any other prayer in the Bible. Yet I had to ask myself, Have I ever prayed it? For myself? For those I love? Have you? What might happen in our lives this Christmas and into the next year if we spent prayer like a coin, following after the example of Jesus, who spent everything to provide the ultimate gift of intimacy with our loving God? As a child, my meager piggy bank savings limited me. But God's lavish gift of Jesus makes it possible for us to enjoy ongoing, never-ending, abundant intimacy with him—every day of the year. "FATHER, IF YOU ARE WILLING, TAKE THIS CUP FROM ME; YET NOT MY WILL, BUT YOURS BE DONE." - LUKE 22:42