1) The document discusses the progression of prayer from struggling against God's will to releasing one's own will and flowing into God's will through the prayer of relinquishment. 2) It uses Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane as the prime example of relinquishment, where He submitted His will to God's even through struggle and asking for the cup to pass. 3) Relinquishment results in the crucifixion of one's own will and freedom from living for oneself, instead living for God and others, with new graces like hope in God's goodness emerging.

4. INTRODUCTION
As we are learning to pray, we discover an
interesting progression.
In the beginning our will is in struggle with God's will.
We beg and demand.
We major in instant solutions and manipulative prayers.
As difficult as this time of struggle is, we must never
despise it or try to avoid it.

5. INTRODUCTION
In time, however, we begin to enter into a grace-
filled releasing of our will and a flowing into the
will of the Father.
It is an essential part of our growing and
deepening, in spiritual things.
It is the Prayer of Relinquishment that moves us
from the struggling to the releasing.

7. GETHSEMANE

8. GETHSEMANE

10. We learn the prayer of relinquishment in the school of
Gethsemane where Jesus prayed:
“Let this cup pass,”
“Not my will
but yours be done” .
and the
final relinquishment:
Luke 22:39-46

11. We see the incarnate Son praying through His tears; not
receiving what He asks.
Jesus knew the burden of unanswered prayer and in the
complete laying down of human will, He showed us a
more excellent way:
the way of helplessness, abandonment,
relinquishment and the perfect flowing into the
will of the Father.
'My will be done' is conquered by 'not my will'.
We learn that 'my will, my way, my good' must
yield to a higher authority.

12. Struggle is an essential feature of the prayer of relinquishment.
Jesus repeatedly asked
for the cup to pass.
He could have avoided
the cross if He had so
chosen but He freely
chose to submit His
will to the will of the
Father.

13. All the notable Bible characters struggled as well:
Abraham as he relinquished his son, Isaac;

14. Mary as she relinquished
control over her future;
David as he relinquished the
son he had with Bathsheba;

15. Paul as he relinquished his
desire to be free of a debilitating
"thorn in the flesh”.

16. Struggle is important because the Prayer
of Relinquishment is not fatalism.
We do not resign ourselves to fate.
We are "co-labourers with God”
(1 Corinthians 3:9)
– working with God to
determine the outcome of
events.

18. A RELEASE WITH HOPE

19. The Prayer of Relinquishment is a bona fide letting go,
but it is a release with hope.
It is not a fatalist resignation but
a confident trust in the character
of God.
Even when all we see are
tangled threads on the back of
life’s tapestry, we know that
God is good and is out to do us
good always.

20. That gives us hope to believe that we are the winners
regardless of what we are being called upon to
relinquish.
God is inviting us deeper in
and higher up by training
us in righteousness and
drawing us closer to Him.

21. Sometimes the very thing we
relinquish is given back to us.
At such times we are to trust in the wisdom of God and
ask for the grace to rest in His peace.
This does not always happen.
There are times when the release
is permanent.
A settled peace, in fact, is the most frequent experience
of those who have trod the path of relinquishment.

22. Why does God seemingly require relinquishment
before bringing something into being?

23. Part of the answer lies in the fact
that we frequently hold on so
tightly to the good we know that
we cannot receive the greater
good that we do not know.
God has to help us let go
of our tiny vision in order
to release the greater
good He has in store for
us.

24. The fuller answer lies in the purposes of God in
transforming the human personality.
Relinquishment brings to us a priceless treasure:
the crucifixion of the will.

25. There is death to the self-life.
But there is also a releasing with hope
just as Paul puts it,
“I have been crucified with Christ.
It is no longer I who live,
but Christ who lives in me.”
Galatians 2:20

26. self-sufficiency, self-absorption, self-deception,
self-indulgence and the like.
It means freedom from the
everlasting burden of always
having to get our own way,
and freedom to care for
others, to genuinely put their
needs first, to give joyfully
and freely.
The crucifixion of the will means freedom from the self-sins:

27. New graces emerge: new ability to cast all our care
upon God, new joy at the success of others, new
hope in a God who is good.
Crucifixion of the will is not the elimination of our will.
God is not destroying the will, but transforming it so
that over a process of time and experience, we can
freely will what God wills.

29. We learn to surrender our will
moment by moment as we
face the ordinary decisions
of home, family and job.
The following are some prayers we can practice in
specific situations that will help us to relinquish our
will.

30. ● The prayer of self-emptying
Meditatively pray through Philippians 2:5-8 which
describes the self-emptying of Christ, who though
being in very nature God, made Himself nothing by
taking the form of a servant and became obedient to
death on a cross.
He ‘emptied’ Himself by laying aside His divine
privileges, taking on a human nature with all of its
limitations (except with no sin) and accepted the nature
of a servant as part of His humanity.

33. ● The prayer of self-emptying
Ask the Holy Spirit to help you apply your prayer to
the specifics of your day.

34. ● The prayer of surrender
Using any of the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), go
with Jesus into the Garden. Watch and pray. See His sorrowing
soul. Let your heart be saddened too. Struggle with Him in
seeking other options, hoping to avoid the cup.
Now, speak His words as your
own: “Not my will, but Yours be
done.” Invite the resurrected one
to interpret the words into your
life, your family, your vocation.

35. ● The prayer of abandonment
You might want to use the words of Charles de Foucauld, a
priest known for his life of study and prayer,
“Father, I abandon myself into Your hands;
do with me what You will.
Whatever You may do,
I thank you: I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only Your will be done in me, and,
in all Your creatures –
I wish no more than this, O Lord.”
Allow the Lord to specify what needs you need to lay at His feet.

36. ● The prayer of release
First, lift up into His arms
your children, your spouse, your friends.

37. The prayer of release
Next, place into His loving care your future
your hopes,
your dreams.

38. The prayer of release
Finally, hold up to Him your enemies, your angers, your
desire for retaliation.

39. Give it all into His hands and trust Him to care
for everything as He sees fit.

40. CONCLUSION
Relinquishment takes us into
rugged terrain.
The climb is steep, risky and
even hazardous.
We have so much to learn, so far to go in the
prayer of relinquishment.

41. CONCLUSION
From the human viewpoint, at
times it looks as if we have
fallen over the steep cliff to our
death.
But we know better. We know
that we are only falling into the
arms of Jesus fully satisfied,
fully at rest and at peace with
His perfect will.