How do you approach God when your heart is breaking?
Consider Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. He has much to teach you and me.
The writers of the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke tell the story of Jesus' prayer in the garden, moments before his arrest and hours before his crucifixion on the cross. It is an agonizing - and moving - story.
Jesus knew what was coming. He was preparing for the end in his words to the disciples and in his prayer to the Father as he ate his last supper with his followers.
But knowing what was coming did not make it any easier.
As he did on the mount of transfiguration, Jesus took with him his chief followers - Peter, James and John. Then, he asked them to watch and pray as he went off a short distance to empty his heart to the Father.
Why did he take the disciples?
I can think of two reasons. First, I believe he wanted the moral and human support of his closest friends. And second, I think he wanted them to see how he dealt with this pivotal event in his life and in the history of the world.
You and I need friends to support us in prayer when we suffer. We should not go it alone.
What I love about this story is that Jesus struggled. He was God but he was also man.
Jesus knows what it is like to suffer - to be stretched to the limit, to cry out in agony. I can go to Jesus when I feel helpless and hopeless and know that he understands what I am going through.
Of course, Jesus' suffering exceeds anything that anyone else has felt. I believe his physical death was less significant to him than the moment when his beloved Father turned his wrath upon him and poured out his judgement upon him as the sacrifice for my sins and everyone's sins.
When the Father turned his face away from him, Jesus cried out on the cross: "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?"
I understand why he wrestled in prayer with God in the Garden of Gethsemane. He pleaded with the Father to take this cup of suffering from him if at all possible. But again and again, he made this great statement: "Yet I want your will to be done, not mine."
When he finished praying, he was ready. He knew the Father's will and he was committed to doing it.
He also knew that the outcome would be the greatest victory in history. And it would bring him untold numbers of brothers and sisters in an eternal lovefest - people saved from everlasting punishment.
As he finished, he had one final lesson for his friends: "Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing but the body is weak."
It's a lesson for us, too. We must earnestly pray when trouble strikes. It's easy to give in to anger and despair when things seem desperate. We need supernatural help in times like that.
And we need praying friends.
There is power in praying together.
Consider Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. He has much to teach you and me.
The writers of the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke tell the story of Jesus' prayer in the garden, moments before his arrest and hours before his crucifixion on the cross. It is an agonizing - and moving - story.
Jesus knew what was coming. He was preparing for the end in his words to the disciples and in his prayer to the Father as he ate his last supper with his followers.
But knowing what was coming did not make it any easier.
As he did on the mount of transfiguration, Jesus took with him his chief followers - Peter, James and John. Then, he asked them to watch and pray as he went off a short distance to empty his heart to the Father.
Why did he take the disciples?
I can think of two reasons. First, I believe he wanted the moral and human support of his closest friends. And second, I think he wanted them to see how he dealt with this pivotal event in his life and in the history of the world.
You and I need friends to support us in prayer when we suffer. We should not go it alone.
What I love about this story is that Jesus struggled. He was God but he was also man.
Jesus knows what it is like to suffer - to be stretched to the limit, to cry out in agony. I can go to Jesus when I feel helpless and hopeless and know that he understands what I am going through.
Of course, Jesus' suffering exceeds anything that anyone else has felt. I believe his physical death was less significant to him than the moment when his beloved Father turned his wrath upon him and poured out his judgement upon him as the sacrifice for my sins and everyone's sins.
When the Father turned his face away from him, Jesus cried out on the cross: "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?"
I understand why he wrestled in prayer with God in the Garden of Gethsemane. He pleaded with the Father to take this cup of suffering from him if at all possible. But again and again, he made this great statement: "Yet I want your will to be done, not mine."
When he finished praying, he was ready. He knew the Father's will and he was committed to doing it.
He also knew that the outcome would be the greatest victory in history. And it would bring him untold numbers of brothers and sisters in an eternal lovefest - people saved from everlasting punishment.
As he finished, he had one final lesson for his friends: "Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing but the body is weak."
It's a lesson for us, too. We must earnestly pray when trouble strikes. It's easy to give in to anger and despair when things seem desperate. We need supernatural help in times like that.
And we need praying friends.
There is power in praying together.
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