What do you do when your feelings seem bigger than your faith? Where do you go when you feel like giving up? Or feel like you can’t face what’s ahead? To answer all these questions let’s look to the One who knows, Jesus! Over and over scripture tells us that Jesus was both fully God and fully man. He experienced all the limitations of humanness. This includes feelings and emotions, which can limit us all at times.
Throughout the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) we read about Jesus and the disciples travel to a garden called Gethsemane. When He arrives, He asks most of them to wait nearby but asks three of them to follow Him and look out for Him because His grief and pain are so intense. In some passages, He describes the grief and agony to them as feeling as though He is dying. His pain comes from knowing He must be tortured and killed. His feelings come from knowing He is taking on the sin of the world.
Luke 22:41-44 TPT says “Then He withdrew from them a short distance to be alone. Kneeling down, He prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup of agony away from me. But no matter what, Your will must be Mine.” Jesus called for an angel of glory to strengthen Him, and the angel appeared. He prayed even more passionately until He was in such intense agony of spirit that His sweat became drops of blood, dripping onto the ground.”
So let’s break this down. What we see first is Jesus experiencing intense human emotion. What emotions do you imagine He was feeling? The scripture says agony, I believe there were also feelings of fear for the inevitable physical pain, feelings of rejection from the people He so loved, and feelings of abandonment from those who betrayed Him, and that’s just to name a few. How intense would your inner turmoil have to be for your sweat to become blood? Can you relate to any one of these feelings?
Next, we see Jesus’ heart. Under the immense pressure of His calling and all the feelings it created in His flesh, He sought the Lord. He asked to be delivered from the situation causing all of His feelings, but only if that didn’t disrupt God’s plan.
The last part of this verse shows us God’s faithfulness. An angel from Heaven came and gave Him strength! We know how the story ends. God didn’t just rapture Him up to Heaven. Jesus still faced the cross in order to fulfill the will of God. But God did give Him the strength needed to face it all. One thing we know to be true about the Lord, if He doesn’t deliver you from it, He will walk you through it!
Use this model when you’re faced with what seems impossible. Use this model when your feelings are feeling a little too big.
Step One: Identify the feeling.
Step Two: Call on the Lord to deliver you or walk you through.
Step Three: Allow the Lord to strengthen you.
By doing these things, you will be handling your feelings in the exact way Jesus did! We are praying for everyone reading this to allow their spirit to be stronger than their flesh. For you to understand that even when you don’t feel like shouting out with a voice of triumph, you still CAN! We are praying for the eyes of your understanding to be opened and for the areas of your life controlled by emotion to come under the control of the Holy Spirit!
