Live with confidence. Don’t flee from your fears. Face them with the strength of your Heavenly Father, which comes through prayer.

Face-able

Then Judas, having received a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. John 18:3 (NKJV)

On the night before He was crucified, Jesus led His disciples from the inner city of Jerusalem to the outlying Garden of Gethsemane. Although Jesus knew He was a marked man by the religious establishment, He didn’t go to Gethsemane to hide. Instead, He went there to draw close to His Father in prayer.

Judas, the betrayer, knew that Jesus made it a regular habit to go to Gethsemane for this very purpose. So, under the cover of night, he led the authorities there so they could seize Jesus. And it’s as the arresting mob arrives at Gethsemane that we see a trait in Jesus that’s worthy of notice and imitation:

Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, “Whom are you seeking?” John 18:4 (NKJV)

God’s Word clearly tells us that Jesus was fully aware of what was about to befall Him. He knew this group of men was going to arrest Him, mock Him, spit on Him, torture Him, and ultimately crucify Him. And yet it also tells us that He “went forward” to face them.

Let’s be honest. If we were faced with the same scenario, most of us would have tried to escape. We would have fled in the night so we could live to fight another day. But Jesus didn’t. He very boldly and courageously faced the trial of all trials.

We can look at that and marvel, or we can look at it and imitate it. How? By being engaged in what Jesus was engaged in…drawing close to the Father. It's when we're in close contact with God through prayer that we're most bold and courageous.