Life’s many challenges and problems confront us daily. Whether they are big or small, they can get to us, making us feel confused and not knowing where to turn. They can have us believe that we are less than who we are, question our faith, and seek to convince us to give up on life’s work.
How should we cope with these situations and challenges? We may follow the example of Jesus when faced with a challenging predicament. Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane resorted to prayer as he experienced the agony of his pending betrayal, condemnation, and ultimate crucifixion (Matthew 26:36-46). Thus, when confronted with challenges in everyday life, we need to be like Jesus and pray about it. As human beings, our natural instincts do not give us the impulse to pray, but to fret, to stress, to be concerned, to become angry, to fear, to sink into depression, to give up. We soon then find ourselves going in directions that make the situation and the pain worse than it was.
Prayer makes it much easier to get over hardships, fears, grief, discomforts, and conflicts. Prayer provides us with the strength we thought we did not have. Oftentimes, before we turn to prayer, the problem can have us worried, fearful, and overwhelmed. However, through prayer, we seek God and allow Him to work His answer through us and for us.
We know and realize that prayer changes things. Sometimes God responds to our prayers simply by removing the problem. And many of us prefer God to respond to our prayers in this way. However, that is not always the way in which God chooses to work through our circumstances, and this does not imply that God is not answering our prayers. His ways are not our ways, and his thoughts are not our thoughts. God always answers prayers.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” Proverbs 3: 5-6
Remember to pray! Whenever we experience predicaments, challenges, or crisis in our lives, let us not forget to follow the example of Jesus at the Garden of Gethsemane.
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