Prayers and Answers and Things Like That

I woke up this morning feeling generally irritated.  So I started praying in my still-semi-conscious state.  “What am I going to do to get over this stuff?  I don’t want to do school, I don’t really want to do anything that requires work.  Yet I want to work my heart out at the same time, because I always feel more satisfied when I work really, really hard and get a lot done.”  Et cetera, et cetera.  So God answered my question with two questions.

Typical.

“Who in the Bible knew they had to do something that they didn’t want to do?  And how’d they get through it?”  Thanks, God.  You’re always challenging me to do more.  And be better.  And get closer to You.

So I thought about it.  David?  Yeah, he fought Goliath and everything…but that wasn’t the answer.  Noah?  He built the ark, which wasn’t necessarily a slam-dunk, but I don’t really recall the Bible addressing his inner hesitancies.

Then it hit me.  Of course!  Jesus.  When He was praying in the garden of Gethsemane, the last thing He wanted to do was die for the sins of who-knows-how-many trillion people.  His flesh didn’t want to be separated from God for 3 days so that the above mentioned people could spend their eternities with His Father.  Remember what He prayed?

"Papa, Father, you can—can't you?—get me out of this. Take this cup away from me. But please, not what I want—what do you want?" (Mark 14:36, MSG)

I’m quite certain that at that moment, every fiber within Jesus was screaming, “What am I doing?!  I am about to let these people kill me!  I’m about to be scourged and crucified and have a face-off with the devil in hell.  Oh, remind me again why I ever came down to this sinful world!”

Talk about the ultimate pain!  He was so agonized over what He knew He had to do that He was sweating blood.  That’s not just metaphorical—it’s a medical condition known as hematohidrosis, something that occurs under the most extreme forms of stress.

And I thought I was stressed out!

Compared to what my Savior went through for me, do I have a single reason to complain about anything?  He gave His life so that I didn’t have to go through my entire life separate from my Creator.

Anyways, back to the questions God asked me.  I answered the first one: Jesus.  The second question was “what did He do to get through this unwanted task?”  The answer: He prayed like crazy.

“The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].” (James 5:16, AMP)  And we are the righteousness of God in Christ, thus making those who are saved, righteous men and women whose earnest prayers will be answered.

I guess I just witnessed an example of that…and I didn’t even know it.  I prayed, God answered, and now I know what I need to do: pray my heart out and He’ll give me strength and strategy to get through.  Isn’t it crazy how God works?