Tired? Grieving? Overwhelmed? Pray Like Jesus

As the demands of back-to-school begin, so do your responsibilities of classes, work, homework, relationships, and campus club activities. I want to encourage you to draw near to God when you feel overwhelmed, knowing Scripture promises that he will draw near to you, too. 

"Everyone is looking for you," said the disciples to Jesus (Mark 1:36-37). 

Every time I read this line, I am caught off guard by the amount of anxiety my body feels. As a mixed Latino/Italian and first-born son, what often goes through my head is the weight of responsibility that is implied in this indirect comment from Jesus' disciples.

Just the night before, Jesus went to WORK. The whole town of Capernaum showed up at the door where he was staying, and they brought him their sick, crippled, and demon-possessed to be healed. He spent the entire day preaching and teaching, and the entire evening healing and casting out demons.  
 
Just when it seemed like things were at their peak, Jesus retreated to find a solitary place to pray. 

WHEN To Pray Like Jesus

About eight months after I started college, I had a radical and literal come-to-Jesus moment. I entered my campus full of passion to share the Gospel and see people come to faith. But with that passion, I was met with a sure dose of reality: 18 credit hours, two jobs, and meeting people with real life crises while navigating my own challenges.

I learned that my pace of "GO GO GO" was about to become unsustainable at best, with a burnout at worst. I needed wisdom. I needed to ask the age-old question, "What would Jesus do?" (Be patient with me; I was born in ‘91, and I lowkey miss my WWJD bracelet.)

As I was studying the gospels, I kept coming across this phrase in Luke 5, "Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed," and noticed a pattern. Almost every time that Jesus was at the peak of his ministry work, he would withdraw to spend time with his Father.

Although Jesus prayed many times in Scripture, there are three scenarios that helped me understand when we should withdraw and pray like him. 

1. To Receive Spiritual Refreshment

In both Mark 1:35 and Luke 5:16, Jesus was maxed out on everything he just did. Here, he models for us that when life's responsibilities are at an all-time high and we’re tempted to rely on our own strength, we need to allow God to interrupt our routines so that we can be refreshed by him. 

It's here that we can fully decompress before God and allow him to not only shape us, heal us, and nurture us, but to just BE with us. Psalm 23 says that God "refreshes" our souls.

2. To Hear from God

Jesus tells us that he does nothing from his own accord but speaks as the Father instructs him to (John 5:30). Like Jesus, we need to actively listen to God and put ourselves in the position to have space to hear. 

Take the example of Jesus intentionally choosing his 12 disciples. The disciples were a deeply important part of his ministry on earth, but before he chose them, he spent all night in Luke 6:12 praying and listening to his father. 

Part of why we learn to hear from God is so that we can develop discernment. We are in constant need of discernment, whether we’re making decisions about school, work, relationships, or ministry, or even when life is just overwhelming and we need to know what to let go of and what to keep. But we can’t expect to recognize God’s voice in those moments if we haven’t made space to listen to him in the first place.

3. To Get Through Grief and Pain

In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus had such bad anxiety that he literally sweated blood (hematidrosis). Even as I write this, I am perplexed and reminded of the God-Man who experienced anxiety. Let that sink in for a moment. Jesus, the God of the universe, the one who laid the foundations of the earth, the true archetype for mankind, the one who literally resurrected people from the dead, experienced anxiety.

There are a lot of ideas on how to approach God in prayer with reverence, awe, and wonder. While we should do this, our minds can deceive us into believing that we must approach God void of emotion, ready to say the "right" things. This causes us to pretend to be someone else in the presence of the one who created us.

But when Jesus says, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours” (Luke 22:42), he approaches God honestly with his grief, naming his emotional reality while anchoring it in the truth of God’s Word and purpose. In the same way, we can bring our pain honestly to God while grounding ourselves in the truth of who he is.

Pray Like Jesus in Every Season

A couple of years ago, I was going through some extreme levels of grief in my life. I felt alone, afraid, angry, bitter, anxious –– the list goes on. Every Monday, I drove to my church and literally shut myself in the sanctuary to scream at God. I would be there all day, praying, weeping, and singing before God. During this time, God firmly placed in my heart Psalm 27: "One thing I ask of the Lord, this only do I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, and to seek him in his temple."

This verse became a foundation for my prayer life. In a season of great pain, I heard from a God who met me and restored me. 

Your days on campus are for a season, but until the day you meet God face to face, that's what your entire life will be: seasons. One day you’re studying for finals, hosting an end-of-year event, and hustling away with campus activities, and the next, you're in your 30s with a whole new set of responsibilities and needs. No matter the season you’re in, you will always benefit from an active prayer life. If you make this a practice now — escaping to Jesus as Jesus fled to his Father — it will serve you well the rest of your life. 

What would it look like to be interrupted by God this week? Can you allow yourself the permission and space to encounter Jesus, regardless of what else is happening around you?