An Angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him - The Reality of Gethsemane

I wanted to share a little about the reality of the Garden of Gethsemane and how it sometimes can be seen in our day and time.

Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, "Pray that you will not fall into temptation." He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood

Luke 22:39-43

The other day I listened to a preaching by a man called Dr Charles Stanley who is the pastor at the First Baptist Church of Atlanta. His sermon was on the short passage in Luke 22:39-43. He spoke about  God bringing you to your knees through certain circumstances.  Jesus was a prime example of being brought to His knees during a moment of pain before He was to go the cross.  I think sometimes we just become so familiar with this passage that we forget the actual reality of it. We just see it as a story which is read out on Easter Sunday.

Th passage illustrates the height of human anguish and turmoil, which I believe  not one single person on this earth  has experienced what Jesus felt.  Jesus in verse 42 saw what was  inside "the cup of suffering". What do you think was inside this cup that caused our Saviour to break out in a sweat which produced blood?  Good guess, I can't really imagine either but we know that it definetly wasn't orange juice. Jesus saw the wrath of God in that cup, he saw the affliction that was about to come upon Him. But most importantly (and I tear up everytime I read this),  He saw that for a moment He will have to be separted from God.  That was a little too much for Him but He persisted with the Father's will.

Let's bring the story home. What really struck me in this chapter had to be verse 44 " An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him".  Jesus was distressed in spirit, that an angel had to even come and intervene to strengthen him.

Have you ever gone to bed unable to sleep? You were so distressed that you cried and cried, turning from one side of the bed to the other so confused about life. Have you ever been in so much emotional pain that it felt like your insides were going to fall out there and then. Most of you can probably answer yes. I, too have experienced this. A while ago, I experienced  this feeling.  I could not sleep and sleeping pills were not an option for me.  I cried out " GOD SEND ME AN ANGEL!"  I literally looked around my room  hoping to see an angel there. Umm...no! Nothing appered. Not even a glimmer of light. Anyway, I eventually fell asleep and I dreamt the following:

I dreamt I was in church service. The pastor was Nigerian, and some of you probaly know that Nigerian church services are pretty intense. Well, the pastor went around prophesying over people in the congregation and he came to where I was sitting. "Why do you cry?" He asked. I was a little annoyed with that question. I responded: "Why should I not cry? I have a reason to". He dismissed my bad attitude and said thus " It's will be okay, go and read Psalm 77" and then I woke up from the dream.

Now here is the significance: If you have your bible look at what is says in Psalm 77. The writer of the Psalm is so upset that he hasn't slept all night, his soul can't be comfoted, he is distressed. But he remembers the goodness of God.

If I tell you that I had read that Psalm before the dream I would be lying.  Until that night I hadn't come across that scripture before but God in His infinte mercy sent the messenger in the dream to give it to me.

Now, the other day upon reading the scripture in Luke about Jesus on His knees, I managed to line the scripture up with the dream I had months before. I had seen the reality of angels coming to strengthen me in my own Gethsemane.

Just to encourage you,  I do not believe any of us will feel what Jesus felt but I do know that times will get rough but  look at Psalm  34: 7 the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and He delivers them.

God has not forgotten you in your Gethsemane. He knows the answer to every uncertainity and sometimes we have to trust God even when we don't have all the answers.

I hope this blesses someone! Sorry, it's so long.