Praying with Tears
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Communion Sunday
Praying with Tears
36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
Have you ever gone to God in prayer feeling sorrow and overwhelmed?
39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
What was this cup? A cup often symbolizes divine wrath against sin in the OT.
He was about to “drink the cup” that His Father had prepared for Him, and this meant bearing on His body the sins of the world.
24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”
Communion:
23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Praying with Tears
True heart filled tears are important to God.
8 You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.
Every tear we shed is precious to Him. Not one single tear is missed by our Heavenly Father. He knows, remembers, and understands.
5 Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. 6 Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.
The poetic image is the farmer going out sowing tears. the poetic image is a little ambiguous but that's that's the job of poetry it's here to evoke thought.
One thought: Don’t avoid your tears. Second sow or invest them.
What if we invested our true heart felt tears and put them to work in prayer?
Do you ever cry or tear up in prayer? Men don’t cry. Jesus did.
7 During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
fervent cries and tears
41 He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” 43 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.
Anguish: Intense sorrow. He prayed more earnestly
This is recorded in all the gospels. The account in Luke says that being in agony, He prayed more earnestly and then his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Let me asked you a question. When was the last time you prayed that way?
When was the last time you found yourself in that place where you are wrestling with God, where your soul is in anguish, where you are pouring out your heart to God, where you are throwing yourself upon his mercy? When was the last time you prayed that way and with that kind of intensity and that kind of urgency?
I’m not suggesting that every prayer we pray is like this, but there ought to be moments where it is blood, sweat and tears.
The Salvation Army, and incredibly evangelistic movement at its inception with the goal of sharing the gospel with those who are lost because they don’t know Jesus Christ. There was zeal to what they did. So William Booth, the founder, the general, so to speak, would send out his Salvation Army and one day he got a note back from a couple of his officers and they said, ‘We tried everything and nothing has worked, it doesn’t seem like God is moving,’ and he wrote back a two-word reply, ‘Try tears.’
What would happen if we prayed the way Jesus prayed? What if we prayed with that kind of intensity and urgency?
In 1 Samuel 1, Hannah is broken because she was without a child. She poured her heart out in prayer through her tears.
9 Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s house. 10 In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly.
weeping bitterly
12 As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.”
15 “Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. 16 Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”
I was pouring out my soul to the Lord
Have you ever cried in anguish like that, where if someone could see you through the window they would think you were crazy?
Sometimes it can feel as though life has been sucked out of us and we have nothing else to give.
But that’s ok because our tears are important to our Savior. It may not seem like much to us, but it means the world to Him.
It’s ok if your only prayer is tears, because that is more than enough.
Sometimes our tears flow because we don’t know what to pray.
But we can rest in the assurance that even when that’s all we have to pray, it is enough.
We also have someone who prays on our behalf. In those times when we don’t know what to pray, the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness.
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.