In Luke 22:39-46 Jesus goes to
the Mount of Olives with His disciples to pray in the garden. Jesus asked his
disciples to pray so that they would not enter into temptation. Jesus knelt
down about a stone’s throw away and prayed, “Father, if it is Your will, take
this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” Jesus
petitions and pleads with God to give Him an alternative route, yet submits to
the Father graciously throughout the entire ordeal. A heavenly angel comes to encourage
Jesus with strength from on high. The Bible says that “being in agony, Jesus
prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling
down to the ground.”
Jesus is so
distraught with the weight of the world’s sins on His shoulders. His body is
reacting to the extreme levels of stress by producing big drops of blood. Jesus’
way of combating the enemy of sin was through fervent prayer and submission to
God. As each drop of blood dripped from the Savior’s brow, He selflessly showed
that you, His child, do not ever need to sweat it. Whether you are battling an
addiction, fighting an illness, or upset by circumstances, remember that you
don’t need to sweat it. The Savior has already fought that battle for you and He won it victoriously.
When you are
tempted to think that your battle will never get better, remember that there is
a God who has already won the war. When you begin to go down the slippery slope
of sulking in reaction to your strife, remember that submitting to God worked
for Jesus and will work for you too. Make replacing your overwhelmed
countenance with an ordinary reaction to pray. Jesus felt the sting of every situation
that has ever and will ever try to weigh you down. The garden is where Jesus
willingly allowed every heartache and hard time to uproot from your life and
plant into His. There is no reason to sweat it, the Savior has already bled it.
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| Koko Head Honolulu, Hawaii |
