“And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” (Luke 22:44)
In yesterday’s devotion, I talked about turning your problem into a prayer. But what do you do when it is hard to pray? What do you do when praying becomes a struggle?
Well, first of all, prayer CAN become a real struggle. Don’t feel you aren’t spiritual just because your prayer time has become difficult. It will! When you pray, you are engaged in spiritual warfare. Satan fights our prayer time because it is the greatest weapon God has given us to defeat him with.
But the real question is what do you do when it becomes a struggle. What do you do when it seems your prayers are not rising past the ceiling?
Well, the Bible tells us that Jesus even struggled when He was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane before His crucifixion. In fact, it says He was literally “in an agony” while He was praying. So much so that “his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” Now THAT is struggling in prayer!
So, what did He do? It says, “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly…” He didn’t stop praying when it became difficult. Rather, as His agony intensified, so did His praying! Someone said it this way, “When it seems hardest to pray, we need to pray the hardest.” In fact, I believe that when it is hardest to pray God blesses our prayers that much more, because James said, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16).
Satan fights hardest when he is about to lose the battle. So, don’t be surprised when it becomes difficult to pray. It may just mean you are closer to a victory than you realize!