How To Pray When Life Gets Hard | Matthew 26:36

• Sermon Transcript

  Good morning. Nice to see you again. I got the message at nine o'clock last night that Pastor Charlie was sick. And he says, Would you be able to? I said, Absolutely. Because here's the thing, when many years ago when I was an associate pastor, my mentor who was the senior pastor, and one of my professors at Moody Bible Institute, he, unfortunately, suffered from migraines. So there were many times on a Sunday morning, I would get a call and say, now back in Chicago, many people call me Jimmy. And he called me up and say, Hey, Jimmy, you got anything for this morning on said, Sure. So I learned how to be prepared. So and then I go into this mode of well, portal I preach on. So I talked to Cheryl and you know, what do you think? And I go on my laptop, and I looked through things. And I kept coming to this one. Sermon. Now, I've already done this. Not only this morning, but but but before? And how do you pray when life is hard? You ever thought about that? And maybe you, you've gone through it. So I talked to her about it, prayed about it. So Lord, and it kept coming back. That this is the one that the Lord wanted me to do. And lo and behold, this morning after the service, this sweet dear lady comes up to me with tears in her eyes and says, that was for me. I so much needed to hear that. I said, well, thank the Lord, because he's the one that wanted me to preach it. So, Okay, you ready? If you got your bibles turned to Matthew, chapter 26. Okay, Matthew, chapter 26. So, how do you pray when life is hard? Hard to do. years ago, maybe you remember this. There was a movie that came out. There was a story about a famous boxer, James J. Braddock. He was known as the Bulldog of Bergen. And the movie was called Cinderella Man. And it's a great it's a great film. It's a lot about rags to riches story. He had it all he was he was moving up in rank, he was getting ready to be to be the top the top contender, and then the Great Depression hit. And he like many of many other people back then lost everything. I can remember growing up as a kid now. I mentioned to somebody earlier today, my name Toth is actually Hungarian. On the second generation Hungarian. My, my father's family came through came from Hungary to through Ellis Island settled in Chicago. And I can remember that when going up in my grandmother's attic when I was a kid there were barrels of clothes and brand new clothes, curtains, towels, things like that. And I remember going into the basement back then. And there was a separate part of the basement. There had shelves of canned foods and all that kind of stuff. Why? Because these were the people that went through the Great Depression and they were not going to be caught again with nothing. So this is a story about the famous boxer was so they lost everything they lost their house they get if you've never seen the movie, watch it. They're living in this little apartment at the ground floor even below ground of this run down apartment building They, and they got three small kids. And it comes time to eat. And they're eating bologna. One slice, per person. So he graciously gives his slice to his daughter. And that his wife looks at him and says, Well, let's pray. Let's thank God for what He's given us. And as she sticks out her hands to hold his to pray, he pulls his hands back and says, I can't. I'm all prayed out. You ever been there? When life is so hard, you're all prayed out. I've shared with you before about our journey with our 40 year old our 40 year journey with our 40 year old, disabled daughter. And it's hard just and we were back in Michigan, almost the whole month of November, and part of December because she had a have a feeding tube put in. So she's fed by a tube now. And lo and behold, at 430 Yesterday morning, we get a call that the tube had come out. And she was in the emergency room. And over the years as a pastor, I've had counselees tell me of how they're struggling. And the most thing people struggle with, when life gets hard, believe it or not, is prayer. Now, for believers, we would think that would be easy. But it's hard. It's so hard. And maybe you just maybe, maybe you've been there. Just maybe you're there now. Charles Spurgeon, the prince of priests, of preachers, and I can't wait to meet this guy. When we get to glory, He is caught. Did you know that Charles Spurgeon sermons are still printed in the newspapers in England today? Can you believe that after all these years, he is quoted as saying true, prayer is the trading of the heart with God. True prayer is the trading of the heart with God. So these so what I'm going to give you is for heart attitudes of surrender, because you know what? How do you pray when life is hard? So if you got your Bible there, turn with me to Matthew chapter 26. I'm going to read starting in verse 36. Then Jesus came with them to a place called, get 70. And he told his disciples, Sit here while I go over there and pray, taking along Peter, and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be so powerful and troubled. He said to them, I am deeply grieved, to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake with me. Going a little farther, he fell facedown, and prayed. My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will. Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. He asked Peter, soul, couldn't you stay awake with me one hour. Stay awake and pray so that you won't enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Again, a second time he went away and prayed. My father, if this cannot pass, unless I drink it, your will be done. And he came again and found them sleeping because they could not keep their eyes open. After leaving them, he went away again and prayed a third time saying the same thing once more Heavenly Father, I do ask you, Lord, that You would help us to see what we need to see. Help us to hear the things we must learn and change the things we need to change. Lord, may this be an encouragement to those who find it difficult to pray when life is so hard, especially encourage those who are having difficulty right now. And I do pray this in Your name, Lord, Amen. So this is our base text. Just think about a Jesus, His crucifixion is up is upcoming, and drawing close. So he withdraws to pray. And And the text says he is deeply grieved. And may I add, he is deeply frustrated. Why? Because the guys he brought along, keep going to sleep bottom. He's looking for their support and their string. And he turns around, says, What are you? What are you doing? Are you sleeping again? You ever been there? You ever been near so grieved and so frustrated? on what's happening with you. And like I said before, maybe maybe just maybe you're there now. But here's the thing in this text, Jesus doesn't give up. Now, that's a key for us. He doesn't give up and he doesn't throw in the towel. How many times when life gets so hard that you don't want the not only do we have a hard time praying, but we just want to throw in the towel. Can I tell you something after a 40 year journey with a severely disabled daughter, there have been times during those 40 years that I just want to throw in a towel I met I probably mentioned this long ago did it and and, and only by God's grace married couples with handicapped children. There's an 80% divorce rate. It was 80% 40 years ago, and it's still 80%. And only by God's grace Cheryl, and I celebrate 45 years of marriage this year. But so many times I want to throw in the towel. But Jesus stays with it, despite the circumstances that he's facing, and let me tell you something, we none of us will ever probably face what he faced none of us. So here we go. Attitude number one, on how to pray when life gets hard is to have the heart is to have the heart of a child. Well, how do you get that from there? How does Jesus address God? Father, and this is and this is something that I have to remind myself all the time, that first and foremost in my life, I am still a child of God. Still, no matter how young no matter how old we are, when we accept His free gift of salvation, we become a child of God. I'm going on 66 years old, you know what I am, I'm still a child of God. And he is my heavenly Father. And when life is hard, it's important to remember that we are His children, and that He hears us and cares for us. And this is something that you know, this is something then that I that I still have to grasp when I go to pray. Because here not only in his eyes, but here on Earth. When God has given me the the chance to preach this and to teach it you know to people and pastors here. Watch this. I'm a child of God. Then a husband then a father then a grandfather then a pastor. Do you get that A child of God, husband, father, grandfather, pastor I do strongly believe that we sometimes forget that As believers, we are as God's word tells us, we are His children. It sounds so simple. But it's also comforting because we have the Heavenly Father, who we can go to. Even when life is hard, you go through that right now. Have you gone through it? Attitude number one is to surrender and have the heart of a child. Attitude. Number two, is a heart that sacrifices to have a heart that sacrifices because Jesus says, My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me yet not as I will. But as you will. Many times when life gets hard, God is trying to do something in our lives, not only the changes, because the change come could have something to do is that he wants us to give something up. Years ago, I had a chance that at age 22, to be a professional, major, major league baseball umpire. Go through the schooling in Florida and and get all that done, start start from the bottom and work my way up. But when to start from the bottom, there's a lot of traveling and stuff. And I didn't think that that was a lifestyle that Cheryl and I wanted. So I passed it up. And as God worked out my life, he made me a pastor, something that was totally not in my eat my thoughts. But then he gave me this burden for people to help people and help churches. So I can remember sitting with three Moody Bible Institute professors, and we would have lunch. And as I was going through my studies and stuff, and I said to them one day, this is so cool. You you are going to get this. I said, You know what, I really got a burden in my heart, not only to help people, not only to help people who are struggling, but to help churches that are struggling to help them get through that. And I kid you not they all went like this. Oh, Jimmy, you have no idea. You have no idea what you are asking for. But that's been my heart of all of these years pastoring is is is to care for people and help them who are struggling in churches who are struggling. I've seen now I've pastored five churches, three of them were messy. real messy. And you know what, here it is to some people I'm like the like the white knight in shining armor. You know what I am to the other people, the Grim Reaper because you know what people don't like I heard it. Change. Come on. Don't Don't we all struggle with change. You know, it's bad enough. It's bad enough when? When God is calling me to change, but it's even worse. Don't you dare change my church. So if you've ever known a pastor, where God has given him that calling to help struggling churches, pray for that man because I'll tell you what, he's got a hard job. My wife could tell you how the battle scars have affected not only her but our six children. But when we have a heart that sacrifices and if you're going through a hard time right now, he's asking you to sacrifice something. Could it be something that means a whole lot to you? Absolutely. But I do know this that the Lord will purposely now get this the Lord will purposely at times make our life hard to get our attention because there's something in our life he wants to get rid of. It's something in the way of our spiritual growth and for everybody sitting here today, I can guarantee you I can guarantee you there's something in each one of our lives that the Lord is trying to get out are you there? You there right now? Cuz it can get hard. It can even get harder. Look, when David in Psalm 51 And Psalm 32, when God pressed on David, after finally after one year, after one year, he finally confessed his sin with Bathsheba one year. Why? Because the Lord because He wrote, because I felt the Lord's heavy hand upon me. So how do you pray when life gets hard? You pray with the heart of a child. And you pray with a heart that sacrifices attitude number three is the heart that gives up self What do you mean gives himself Do you know? I don't have to tell you this. Do you know that many times we are our own worst enemy. And I love this in Acts chapter nine, you don't have to turn there. But you know, you know this story. Paul meets Jesus on the road. Okay. And now there's this man called Anna Nice. So God calls Anand is listen, this is what he says. There was a disciple in Damascus name and an itis. And the Lord said to him in a vision and and is. This is a key phrase here. Here I am. Lord. He says get up and go to the street called straight The Lord said to him to the house of Judas and ask for a man from Tarsus name Saul, since he is praying, they're in a vision he has seen a man name and and is coming in and placing his hands on him so that he made regained his sight. And what does Ananias say, Lord that I'm paraphrasing you now Lord? Haven't you heard about this guy? You want me? You want me to do what? This is the guy who has authority from the chief priest to arrest all who call on your name. You want to do you know you want to do what? You got to be kidding me. But who was Anand is thinking about himself so let me ask you a question. Since it's just us, okay. When's the last time life when life was so hard? And you've been praying and you've come to the point and said, Here I am, Lord. Just us when's the last time? In sometimes, to say that he may require something of us even to the point of something like analyze, you want me to do what? And let me tell you from my own experiences that could be exactly what he's waiting to hear. Maybe you're afraid to do it? Was it? Joshua afraid? When God told them, you're the man, oh, no, not me, Moses Heaton, Matt, and Joshua, no, Moses is dead. Do not be afraid I will never leave you or forsake you. And I'll tell you what, if he said it to Joshua, it means the same to us. Here I am, Lord, what is it you want me to do? We can get so much in the way of God, try and what he's trying to do in our lives, when when we have the heart attitude, that everything is about us. And not about what he's trying to do. Last one, attitude number four, a heart that sees God's grace. Now in the biblical counseling world, because it's really, really what I do. In the biblical counseling world, this is called uncomfortable grace. You ever heard that? It's called the uncomfortable grace. Uncomfortable grace is something we often don't, don't consider when life is hard. But it's something the Lord extends to us, because of his love for us. And this is what uncomfortable grace does. It makes us uncomfortable. I went to school to learn that uncomfortable grace that the Lord gives us is, is supposed to make us uncomfortable. But it's full of His grace, because that's what he does to change us. Remember, change is hard. But in order for us to see this, here, here's the thing. We need to focus vertically and not horizontally. To get that the more we focus on what's going on here, in all the circumstances, and all life is hard in all what's going to happen now. And all day. You know what, I don't know what I'm gonna do you know, what's going to happen? What was tomorrow, Elijah, I don't know where Yeah, but it's probably going to be bad. But if we focus on vertically, in that, in the connection we have, between a Heavenly Father and the child of God, we said, Lord, You know what, even though I may not understand everything you're doing, I am here to learn to do whatever you want me to do. But it's hard to do that. And I'm not telling you, I'm not standing up here telling you that it's easy, it's hard. When life is hard, it's hard to pray this, Lord, do whatever you want to do with me. Here I am. If we focus the if we focus too much on everything else, and miss the vertical, Lord, we miss seeing his grace, and how life is. But uncomfortable. Grace is supposed to make us feel uncomfortable. And hear me hear me when I say that. That whenever life is hard, God is ruling over every situation. He is not up in heaven, going, Oh, man. I didn't know that was going to happen. He rules over every situation. He rules over every location, everywhere that he has sent Cheryl and I for churches, for me to pastor and try to get back on track. He has been there. In fact, he's even gone before me. And he has used everyone to change, to change me to to really helped me to see things in my heart that needed to be changed. That's what he does. And when Ever he does is always the best for us. We may not see it, we may not see it right away. We may not even believe it. But His Word tells us that it's for our good and his glory. And whenever he calls us to do, he'll give us the grace to do it. That's why when Anna and I it says, Are you wrong? Are you sure? What does Anand is do? He goes and does it? He does it. So let me ask you again, when's the last time when life was hard, and you had trouble? You had trouble praying that fight, were finally when you're able to talk to him, you said, Here I am. Do whatever you want to do. Because when life gets hard, we need to remember that we're children of God. Please never forget that. And then we need the heart attitude of one of sacrifice, to give up something that maybe he wants us to give up. We need to have a heart that just gets rid of self. And Lord, it's all about you and not about me. It's all about others and not about me. And to have the heart attitude that sees his grace, even though it may not be comfortable to us. So I'm going to close with this one thing. I got one word, I got one word for you to take this home. If you've taken nothing what I've said yet one word on how to pray. When life gets hard. One word, you're ready. Surrender surrender. Surrender. Father I thank you so much for your, your word. Your Grace. I thank you so much, Lord, that you will do whatever it takes in our lives, even through the hard times, to help us to take focus off of ourselves and put it on you put it on the vertical, that spiritual connection we have with you. Help us always to remember we are your children. And that the Lord give us the heart attitude. That is one of sacrifice. That we forsake ourselves and Lord and that we're able to see your grace. Lord, encourage those that are having a hard time right now. And Lord when when the hard times comes. Help us to remember these things. And I pray this in Your name, amen.