Pray Network Forum

How do you pray when your soul is troubled? In John 12:27,28 Jesus said His soul was troubled.

First, it is important to see that having a troubled soul is not necessarily sin. Jesus' soul was troubled. In fact, having a troubled soul may indicate spiritual sensitivity. It certainly did in the life of Jesus. His disciples couldn't see anything to be troubled about on that day. But look at these verses and see how Jesus dealt with a troubled soul.

“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name’. Then a voice came from heaven: ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again’.”

In this case Jesus did not pray for God to deliver Him from the hour of trouble. Instead He prayed for a higher purpose. We are always tempted to make comfort the primary purpose of our lives. Jesus shows us something much more important in these verses. He prayed for God to be glorified through what disturbed Him.

And after He prayed, a voice came from heaven. “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again!” This was so thundurus that the people standing around said, “An angel has spoken to him.” But Jesus told them that this voice did not come for Him but for them. When we see clearly enough to pray for God's glory, He will often give us great assurance. And it is important in that hour to recognize that God is speaking to us.

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Do your prayers reflect your purpose in life? I suspect they usually do. If the purpose of your life is success, your prayers will be driven by your ambition. If you just want to have fun, that purpose will certainly taint your prayer life. Is your ultimate purpose luxury or comfort? Do you live for pleasure? Is your life driven by fear or avoiding pain of any kind? Is your goal to always be at peace in yourself? That was not the purpose of our Lord.

In Matthew 12:27 Jesus said,

“Now is my heart troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.”

Scripture could not declare that Jesus was tempted in every way we are, (Heb. 4:15) if He were spared inward disturbances. Does that mean we should never pray to be delivered from them? Not praying such prayers may never have occurred to you. But I think this is an important question to ask.

We know that Paul prayed for his thorn to be removed. (2 Cor. 12:8) Whatever Paul's thorn was, it disturbed him. He prayed three times for the Lord to take it away. Then he heard the Lord telling him that His power was made perfect in weakness.

Let me suggest some principles of God's purpose in our prayers.

First, you need to understand that God has a purpose for your life too. His ways are certainly as far above ours as the heavens are above the earth. (Isaiah 55:9) And we may need God to shake us pretty hard before we can can understand that pain may be an important part of His will, even His joy in us.

And we need to know that God will tell us what His will for us is. This may be too small of a way to look at this. God may be telling you His will for all the earth, for all of history or eternity. Such cosmic perspective is crucial to our prayers and even our comfort in difficult and painful situations.

We need to trust that God's will is good. But to see problems as good we have to see the larger picture. You have to cultivate a whole life view of happiness. You need to see your growing faith and promised hope to properly rejoice in God's grace. The life of Annie Johnson Flint was crushed by grief, sorrow, disease and physical pain. I am convinced that God used her suffering to show her glories the rest of us hardly glimpse. Among many others she wrote this hymn.

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater.

He sendeth more strength when the labors increase.

To added afflictions He addeth His mercy,

To multiplied trials His multiplied peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance

When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,

When we reach the end of our hoarded resources

Our Father’s full giving has only begun.

Here is the chorus.

His love has no limits. His grace has no measure.

His power no boundary known unto men.

For out of His infinite riches in Jesus

He giveth and giveth and giveth again!

Is God molding your perspective and growing your prayers? Are you praying for or against God's purpose?

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