James Meehan - How Do I Pray Through Something Hard?
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Whitney: That's a big yell. Let's get into a big question we have this week.
James Meehan: Oh gosh, that was so good.
Whitney: We're talking about how do I pray through something hard?
James Meehan: What a wonderful question. So do what Jesus would do. Feels pretty basic.
Whitney: Yeah.
James Meehan: Most of us don't even know what Jesus would actually do.
Whitney: Right.
James Meehan: Because we haven't really taken the time to read the Gospels slowly and carefully and really pay attention to what did He really do and what did He really say? The amount of times I find myself in a situation where what I think Jesus would do is actually just what I would do and not actually what He would do is a little bit concerning.
Whitney: Right.
James Meehan: And so what I wanna do is always look to Jesus and let His actions, His words, His habits shape mine. Because if He is who He said He was, the Son of God, the greatest and wisest person ever lived, He's probably got some good advice for us.
Whitney: That's true.
James Meehan: So when it comes to praying through something hard, if we look to Jesus, I think He shows us three really powerful lessons. Lesson number one is that we keep trusting God. Lesson number two is that we ask for help. And then lesson number three is that we actually pray the Psalms. We'll get into the last one a little bit more because at first glance, that might be hard to notice. So let's start with keep trusting God. There's this scene in, I think all four gospels? I could be wrong. Correct me in the comments though. Don't quote me, but correct me, please and thank you. Where Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane and it's right before He's about to be arrested and then crucified where He is praying out to God asking, "If there's any other way, take this from Me. But not My will, but Your will be done". This is what's so beautiful about Jesus is that He trusts God more than He trusts Himself. But I think the lesson that we can take from this is that even when life is hard, God is still good.
Whitney: That's good.
James Meehan: And even when we start to doubt that, if we look at Jesus, we have good reasons to trust it.
Whitney: Right. So point number two that you were saying...
James Meehan: "We're more than good, we're great! Frosted Flakes".
Whitney: That's great. Okay. Is that decaf?
James Meehan: First of all, how dare you? Why would I drink decaf coffee?
Whitney: Explains a lot.
James Meehan: How do we pray through something hard? Big idea we learn from Jesus.
Whitney: Right.
James Meehan: Point number one, we keep trusting God. Point number two, we ask for help.
Whitney: Right? Who would be good resources to ask for help?
James Meehan: Just like any random person on the internet probably. What Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane is He asked His disciples to pray with Him.
— Right.
— And so what I would say is ask the people close to you. Ask the people who care about you. So if you're a part of Switch, ask your Switch group. If you've got family, ask your family, your parents, your grandparents, your guardian, whoever that might be. You've got people that you know love you. And maybe they're not really super into the whole Jesus thing. I think you can still ask them. Maybe they might be weird about the whole praying thing. They probably still do love you and wanna support you in some way. And it may not be through prayer, it might just be for offering an encouraging word. Anything I think is better than nothing. And so what I tend to do is I tend to have a small group of people that I will trust them with everything. Like I will tell them all of the icky parts of me, all of the things that I'm praying through that are a little bit more challenging. And so like, literally just this last week, there were some stuff going on where I was like, "Man, this is really tough, and I don't know if I can do this on my own". And so I had three different people that I specifically asked to pray for me because they're the kinds of people where I can tell 'em everything and they won't look down on me, they'll actually help build me up. And they'll also correct me if I'm out of alignment. And I think that's really a gift.
— That is. And another thing that I wanted to say as well is if you don't have any of those resources, or maybe you don't feel comfortable going to somebody that you may know because your fear of what they may think or see you. I want you to feel free to write it in the comment. We would love to pray for you or just talk to you about whatever's on your mind.
— Yeah, absolutely. I think that'd be fantastic.
— Third point. Pray the Psalms. So one of the most quoted books by Jesus is Psalms.
— Yep.
— What about it?
— So the Psalms is literally like the prayer book of the Bible. So it's 150 chapters that are all different prayers and songs that the people of God have written and passed down from generation to generation. Now I'm gonna offer you a few really specific ones that I think are helpful. Psalm 23 is the one that says, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil because my God is with me". So when you're walking through something really hard, I think that's a really beautiful Psalm to pray to remind you that God's with you. If you are just angry and ticked off because it doesn't feel like God cares, then Psalm 88 and Psalm 89 are a great place to go because those are two Psalms where the Psalmist is really ticked off at God. And the Psalmist feels abandoned. And praying those Psalms, I think, is a really powerful way to be honest about our emotions with God because He is big enough to handle them.
— Absolutely.
— And then Psalm 46 is the one where there's that beautiful verse that says, "Be still and know that I am God". That verse by itself is incredible, but the whole chapter makes it even more powerful because it's all about the chaos that's happening in life. And that when it feels like everything is spinning out of control, our response is to be still, get close to God, and trust that He's good and He cares even when everything is in chaos. And so that would be my suggestion to you is do what Jesus did. Pray the Psalms and those ones are a great place to start.
— That's really good. I feel like I need to insert, "Come on, somebody".
— Come on, somebody.
— All right, we'll go into news now. What's happening...
— Come on, somebody. Come on!
— So what's going on in the news today you may ask? First up, we have Olivia Newton John. Have you heard about this?
— Yeah, I have. She recently passed away. Which is always sad because we know that she was well-loved by many people because in her role in Grease as Sandy and probably the people that were close to her, friends and family, that right now I'm sure are mourning for this loss. And I think the thing that's important for us to remember is that God is close to the brokenhearted. He cares for those whose spirits are crushed. That's also a Psalm. So just connect that all there.
— I like it.
— But I think that's a thing for us as we go through hard times and people we love pass away. We can be reminded that God cares, that hard things don't take away from His goodness. But it's also important to remember that there are other people who might be hurting and one of the most powerful ways we can show them that God cares about them is by showing them that we care about them. And so if you know somebody who's been affected by this loss, then I would reach out to them and encourage them in some way, because this might be hitting them really hard.
— Well, it's something scary too, because she tragically passed away from breast cancer and cancer is something that a lot of us struggle with. And it hits home. So even if the news of her death doesn't hit hard, the news of just somebody battling that and passing away from that is very hard.
— Absolutely.
— Yeah. Second up, we have some more celebrity news. Jeanette McCurdy and Ariana Grande, you know? She just released a new memoir. Have you heard the title of the book?
— Yeah, what was her character? I've heard the title of the book. I'm trying to remember what the name of her character was on iCarly. So if somebody can post that in the comments and remind me, that would be great. But yes, I did hear about the title of the book and 100% judged the book by the cover, which I know is wrong. Like I know that it's the wrong thing to do. But the title of her book is, correct me if I'm wrong, "I'm Glad that My Mom Died".
— "I'm Glad My Mom Died". Correct.
— Yeah. And so like when I heard that, honestly, like my heart just broke that somebody would be grateful for that. And then as I learned a little bit more about the context of her childhood and her life, my heart broke because she experienced something that led her to a place where she would be grateful that her mom passed away. And like, that's really hard. And I think this is one of the things that's so important to remember about. Even the context of what we've already talked about today is that in life, we will experience significantly challenging things, and when that happens I think what I don't want to do, personally, is I don't wanna get angry at God and run away from Him because I don't think that actually helps. And when other people go through really hard things and maybe they respond in ways that I'm not really sure what I think about it, what I don't want to do is I don't want to condemn them or judge them. I want have compassion because I think that's what Jesus would do. And so as I learned more about the context of this book, I haven't read it. But as I learned more about it, my heart went out to Jennette of "Golly, like I really hope that she's able to find like peace and healing". And I don't know where she is on that healing journey from it, but I really hope that she's on that journey and that there's people around her to help carry that weight with her.
— I hope so. Tiger Woods. He's gone through it, man.
— That dude has gone through it.
— But look at him now.
— Look at him now.
— Back on top.
— Back on top. Dude's a freaking billionaire with a "B".
— Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. Have you seen his son play golf?
— No.
— He is so good. Watch him. He's great.
— I'm not gonna watch him. I think golf is the most boring sport to watch on the planet. If you're a golf fan, more power to you. I'm grateful that the body of Christ is made up of people with different gifts, passions, and experiences, because it's through our diversity that we can truly make a difference. See what I did there to cover up the fact that I hate golf?
— Same.
— Tiger Woods. Billionaire with a "B". When we see that, we might think to ourselves, "Man, that's what I want". But there is so much more to life than money.
— Absolutely. All right, we're coming into our challenge of the week, you guys. Our main question that we had was, "How do I pray through something hard"? So when you think of that, what kind of challenge would you like to give the watchers?
— In honor of Tiger Woods who, I don't know if he still is, but was a Nike-sponsored athlete.
— He is.
— Just do it. Pray, like just pray.
— Okay. Thank you for clarifying. So when I think of "how do I pray through something hard," I honestly was thinking of you and your son. So when you're thinking of praying something hard, when Quattro is talking or saying something, even though you may not understand what he's saying, you have the gist of what he's saying...
— Rarely understand what he's saying.
— It is the cutest thing ever.
— You're darn right.
— And most of the time you figure out what he's wanting, what he's needing.
— Yeah, some of the time.
— But God sees you just as James sees his son Quattro. So if he is singing a song, or talking, you care for your son just as God cares for you.
— Absolutely.
— So my challenge is to just pray. Talk, speak, sing. I don't care what it looks like for you, but if there's something on your heart, God hears you. He thinks it's the most precious thing ever, and He just wants to hear it. No matter how it comes out or how perfect you may think it may be or is, it doesn't have to be perfect. It's something and He hears you and He loves you. And that's what matters so speak it.
— Come on. It's amazing.
— Pray it. Sing it.
— Cry it.
— Just do it.
— Bop it. Well, thank you so much for joining us for this week of Culture Makers. If you have any questions, comment it down below. If you've got some prayers that are heavy on your heart that we can pray for you with, then please also add that below. If you haven't already, like the video, subscribe, and maybe share it with somebody that's going through a hard time to see if this can encourage them.
— Absolutely.
— See y'all.
— Bye.