Jesus Prays

Then Jesus came with them to the spot called Gethsemane, and he said to the disciples: ¨Sit down here while I go over there and pray.¨  Matthew 26:36 (Reference Bible)

Every now and then life seems to get the better of us.  Things stack up against us until our resistance breaks down and so does our spirit.  All of a sudden, we feel like we cannot go any further.  The pressure is more than we can bear.  Something is about to break.

What do we do?

Our actions in times like these shows a lot about us.  If you are a great person when everything is going good, what does that say about your character?  But when times get tough, what are we like?

It is nothing short of remarkable to see Jesus Christ, the very Son of God reach one of these points in His life here in the flesh.  Here is the rightful heir to the throne of heaven suffering under the same feelings of anguish and sorrow.  He could call on legions of angels and they would leap to do His bidding, yet He feels the same weight you or I could feel as we face our own problems.

¨But Jesus was dealing with significantly greater problems than you and I do in our daily routines,¨ you might say.  You would be right, but it does not take away the fact that He did experience what you and I may and therefore understands us perfectly when we  feel the weight of oppression.

The most beneficial way to examine Jesus´ dealing with His anxieties might be to look at the way He sought to weather them.  Our Savior went straight to God.  Christ found a way to get away from the crowds and find a quiet place.   He needed to pour His heart out and He knew who to pour it out to.  Jesus recognized the weight of His pressures but rejected the earthly value, methods and interpretation.  He took His heavy heart to His Father.

Now that we stand today in a fuller light of revelation, Jesus has become our Way.  In Him we find the correct path to follow.  By drawing near to Him, we let Him into our deepest interior.  We feed from every word and deed and even the very Spirit which moved within Him.  His nature transforms us and makes us part of Him and like Him in ever increasing ways.  Therefore, when we notice the pressures beginning to weigh upon our own souls, our first reaction is to seek the Lord in prayer.

Dear Jesus, we would hope that the channels of communication were always open and that we were completely in tune with Your workings in every moment.  But we are honest enough to see that even as You felt pressure and sought the Father in prayer, we will have those times too.  Please let us think of nothing else than to bring our heavy hearts directly to You.  Help us to take all our worries and all our sufferings to You.  There in Your embrace, we will find comfort and strength to endure any difficult or painful experience that might come our way.

Thank you for being there for us and also for going there first to show us the Way!

Amen