Week 3: Chapter 2 — The Garden of Gethsemane and the Gift of Prayer

1.Lucado points to Jesus in Gethsemane as the supreme example of bringing anxiety to the Father in prayer. What strikes you about the fact that Jesus — fully God — sweat drops of blood in anguish and begged for a different outcome? What does that tell you about prayer and about honest emotion before God?

2.Philippians 4:6 tells us to bring 'everything' to God in prayer — 'by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving.' Lucado stresses that God's invitation has no fine print: no request is too small, too embarrassing, or too repetitive. How does that change the way you typically approach prayer? What have you been leaving off the list?

3.Lucado draws attention to the phrase 'with thanksgiving' embedded in the command to pray. Why does he argue that thanksgiving is not an optional add-on but is integral to the kind of prayer that produces peace? Do you experience this connection in your own prayer life?