I just had a few more thoughts that I wanted to discuss. About some really powerful weapons in this fight.
We observe these tools in the life of Jesus. In the Garden of Gethsemane. I am not suggesting that Jesus was depressed or anxious but I do think that He was enduring great grief and stress, and Scripture shows us how He handled them. We do well to learn from His example. Several of the Gospels record this event for us - let’s look at the brief recounting in the book of Mark.
14:32-36 - And they came to a place named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, ‘Sit here until I have prayed’. And He took with Him, Peter and James and John and began to be very distressed and troubled. And He said to them , ‘my soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch. ‘ And He went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground and began to pray that if it were possible, the hour might pass Him by. And He was saying ‘Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will but what You will’
Three things we can glean from this text:
Pray
Lean on friends
Trust
Jesus repeatedly shows His dependence on prayer. When He is thankful or troubled, He turns to prayer. He gives praise to His Father and He pours out His heart. He shows us by His example that prayer is the avenue to peace and joy.
He also shows us that trusting our Heavenly Father - yielding what we feel and think and want - is the place of peace. Confidence in His perfect love for us, His sovereign plan for us , brings peace.
But there is another bit of helpful example here. A mighty tool He provides for us, just as He did for Jesus. The advice to lean on friends. Jesus had hundreds of followers. Twelve of those were His close disciples. And three of those were His inner circle. Those were the ones He was vulnerable with. The ones He revealed His distress and grief. And even though they temporarily failed Him, I believe that one of the reasons God shows us this story is to encourage us to invite 2-3 close and trusted friends to walk through our valleys with us.
It’s humbling. We would rather be strong enough to handle life on our own.
It’s risky. Those friends might fail us and cause us pain.
But it can be powerful. And mutually encouraging.
Ask God to give you 2-3 such friends.
AND BE ONE OF THOSE FOR SOMEONE ELSE <3