Praying Women By Sheila WalshSample

Day 6

Pray Like Jesus

How do you pray when it feels as if your very breath has been knocked out of you; when the only sounds you can make resemble the deepest moans of the human soul? 

In Christ, we have a guide. Hours before His arrest and agonizing death, the full extent of what was about to take place washed over Jesus in overwhelming waves. He knelt in Gethsemane to pray with stunning vulnerability and brutal honesty. When you are walking through the unimaginable, don’t ever feel that you are required to keep your chin up and be a “good witness.” 

As Jesus fell to the ground and began to pray, it’s clear who He was turning to for strength: His Father, His Abba. It’s an intimate, personal way for a son to call out to his papa.

First, He begged for a way out. If Christ begged to be released from what lay ahead, why should we think we lack faith when we pray the same way? 

Second, He prayed for God’s will to be done. If you’re in a tough season that doesn’t seem to be coming to an end, you may be tempted to stop praying because nothing seems to be changing. What I’ve learned, though, is that when I keep praying when it’s hardest to pray, I’m changed whether the circumstances change or not.

No matter what you are facing right now, talk to your Father. Be honest. Be real. Then lift your heart and hands to heaven and pray with our Savior, Yet I want Your will to be done, not mine. On the night when it seems that prayer would have been the hardest, it was what mattered to Him the most.

A PRAYER WHEN IT’S HARD TO PRAY

Father,

I don’t understand what’s going on in my life right now. It’s too hard. You are big enough to change it, You are loving enough to want to, yet nothing seems to change. I don’t like this. I don’t want this. I’m crying out to You for help. I want to pray as Jesus prayed, but I need Your help. I want Your will; help me to want it more. I want to surrender; help me to let go. I trust You; help me to trust You more. In Jesus’s name, amen.