When you ask God to take away a trial, temptation or sin from you, is the answer usually “No”? We have received the promise that when we knock the door will open, and when we ask we will receive. Is it working for you? Jesus asked that His “cup be taken from Him.” It wasn’t. You can do what Jesus could not. The way to find success in this type of prayer is simple: perhaps not easy, but simple. The reason God does not take away your burden is that you have not given it to Him.

It is as simple as that. You must give it away; remove it from your hand and place it in His. Jesus prayed that His cup be removed, but He knew He could not give it away and still fulfill the purpose of His coming. Had He given it to God He would have been saved. Because He was the Messiah He chose not to. God never acts where we are yet able to.  He usually steps in once we have been exhausted.  Nor will He reach out to us and take our difficulties, sin or pain from us.

Jesus always required a sinner to make a proactive move before being healed or accepted.  He did not unilaterally approach a penitent to cure them, they had to first rise, stretch out, pick up or come.  Have you ever played Checkers or Chess?  The indecisive player will keep their fingers lightly on the checker or chess piece until they finally commit to the move or put the piece back in its original position.  Everyone knows that the move doesn’t count until they take their fingers off the checker. Lay your burden on Jesus Christ and He will remove it by carrying it away. It will be with you no longer; but He will not pluck it from you like a tick as you sit idly by. 

Take your sin, your pain, and lay it in His outstretched palm.  Once it leaves your fingers it will be gone from you and He will bear it away. Many times we pray for God to “remove”, to “cleanse”, to take our cup from us before we have finished the internal debate over our true willingness to part with our troubles. As bad as they are, we fear being without them and severing the connection they represent with our past. Just as you wouldn’t reach over and take the checker out of a player’s hand, God will not take this decision away from you.

There is no decision until we let go, until we take our fingers off the “checker” and commit.  If we are unwilling to lay our burden in God’s hands, the practical reality is we prefer to keep it with us. “Take this cup from me”  didn’t work for Jesus and it won’t work for you either.  However, the suggestion to “Let go and let God” nearly always works and usually always results in victory.