He Prayed

“Jesus understands being overwhelmed to the highest degree, and He’s in it with us.”

“He prayed even more passionately, like one being sacrificed. Until he was in such intense agony of spirit that his sweat became drops of blood, dripping onto the ground.” Luke 22:44

I have a friend going through some tough stuff with a teen aged son. The prayers have been constant; for her peace, for his protection, for God’s will and His glory. Maybe you’ve been in this parenting game a long time, or perhaps you’re fresh in the beautiful baby stages, but one thing that doesn’t seem to change is that everything changes. Have you experienced that? Just when you have a feeding schedule down, they have a growth spurt. Just when they’re finally potty-trained, they regress. Just when your teen seems to be doing well, something unexpected and challenging comes up. 

This life…it’s constantly keeping us on our toes and can definitely lead to feeling overwhelmed if we’re carrying it alone. But we’re never alone. And that’s not trite “Christianese”, it’s a fact. Jesus understands being overwhelmed to the highest degree, and He’s in it with us.

Sometimes this call to parenting can leave us feeling ill-equipped, out of our depth and treading water. But our Savior understands the feeling of being in over our heads, whether it’s being overwhelmed by the day to day or “intense agony of spirit.” 

The call set before Jesus was the greatest suffering and sacrifice we could imagine, so we can look at His example of how He handled it and follow His lead. When Jesus’ call became overwhelming, He prayed. This habit started long before His night of betrayal, in fact He sets a consistent example for us of going off alone to be with the Father in order to be able to continue His mission. And when the end came, He did just that. He got alone with God to ask for strength for what lay ahead. 

When Jesus was overwhelmed, He knew to go to the Father for strength, to ask for help from heavens for the battle that definitely had its feet firmly in the spiritual realm. The same goes for you and I. These things are true for our struggles, and this is how we fight our battles...this is how we live victorious.

Action steps:

• If you find yourself overwhelmed by anything, check your actions and reactions for Jesus’ example: Start with prayer and keep it going. Reach out to friends who will pray with you. 

• Ask God for spiritual help to fight in His spiritual battle. Read 2 Kings 6. This is an epic example of Elisha’s prayer for us to see not just the spiritual war going on around us but also the angel armies surrounding us by God’s command!

Prayer: Dear Jesus, I need you. When I’m so overwhelmed that my spirit is in agony, I want more of You. Give me strength, give me wisdom, and give me just a little more energy to make it through. Thank You for setting an example of how I should live, including what to do when I’m overwhelmed. Thank You for going to that cross even though You didn’t want to. I pray this trusting and believing in You. Amen.

Written by Brooke, mom of 3