Here is Peyton Synthetic Gospel Harmony for Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. I like Peyton b/c it blends all 3 accounts of his prayer into one.

FRIDAY

Jesus Prays in Gethsemane – Before Dawn (Mk 14:32-42; Mt 26:36-46; Lk 22:39-46; Jn 18:1)

Lk 22:39 Then Jesus went out and made his way, as he customarily did, Mt 26:36 to a place called Gethsemane, Jn 18:1 across the Kidron Valley. There was an orchard there, and he and his disciples went into it. Lk 22:40 When he came to the place, he said to them, “Sit here and pray that you will not fall into temptation Mt 26:36 while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took with him Peter, James, and John, the two sons of Zebedee, and became anguished and distressed. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, even to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake with me.” Mk 14:35 Going a little farther, about a stone’s throw, he threw himself down with his face to the ground and prayed that if it were possible the hour would pass from him. 36 He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Lk 22:42 If you are willing, take this cup away from me. Yet not my will but yours be done.” 43 [Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44 And in his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground 45 When he got up from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping, exhausted from grief. Mk 14:37 He said to Peter, “Simon, why are you sleeping? Couldn’t you stay awake with me for one hour? 38 Get up, stay awake and pray that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Mt 26:42 He went away a second time and prayed the same thing, “My Father, if this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will must be done.” Mk 14:40 When he came again he found them sleeping; they could not keep their eyes open. And they did not know what to tell him. Mt 26:44 So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same thing once more. 45 Then he came to the disciples a third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough of that! Look, the hour is approaching and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Get up, let us go. Look! My betrayer is approaching!”

Notice the words that describe Jesus’ mental and emotional state in the Garden. 1) Mt 26:37 “Anguished” (lupeó: To grieve, to cause sorrow, to distress). 2) “distressed” (adémoneó: To be distressed, troubled, or deeply grieved). 3) Mt 26:38 “Deeply grieved” (perilupos: Deeply distressed, exceedingly sorrowful, very sad). perílypos (an adjective, derived from 4012 /perí, “encompassing” and 3077 /lýpē, “sorrow”) – properly, being sorrowful “all-around,” i.e. engulfed in sorrow. AI: “The term “perilupos” is used to describe a state of profound emotional distress or sorrow. It conveys a sense of being overwhelmed by grief or sadness, often in response to a significant or impending event. In the New Testament, it is used to express the deep emotional turmoil experienced by individuals in moments of great trial or anticipation of suffering.” In other words, not just grieved (lupeo in 26:37) but overwhelmed with grief, perilupos 26:38). 4) Mt 26:38 “to the point of death”. What does that mean? “He confesses a deeply troubled state of mind. “Jesus describes this as being so distressed that He almost feels the emotion would kill Him.” Have you ever been so troubled, depressed, grieved that you just felt like you couldn’t go one, you couldn’t face life any longer? Jesus felt that. 5) Lk 22:44 “sweat like drops of blood falling to the ground”. 2 possible meanings for this: “Hematohidrosis: This condition occurs when blood vessels around the sweat glands rupture, allowing blood to mix with sweat. It can be caused by extreme distress or bleeding disorders.  Simile: The phrase “like drops of blood” could be a simile to compare the large, heavy drops of sweat to blood dripping from a wound.” Since it says “like”, I think it means a simile.

So, was Jesus depressed? It would seem so. He is “overwhelmed” with grief which is a symptom of depression. He feels that his grief and anxiety is going to kill him. He is sweating thick drops of sweat, which is a sign of a panic attack for me (I have awakened from a panic attack, sweating profusely even though the room temperature is cool). Is depression a lack of faith? Had Jesus lost his faith in the Father’s plan? Of course not.  Some might feel guilt b/c they feel that their depression is due to their lack of faith. That just adds more stress to their depression. Depression is just a fact of our human weakness that we all endure at one time or another, some for longer periods than others.

So how did Jesus handle his depression? He prayed. Mk 14:35 Going a little farther, about a stone’s throw, he threw himself down with his face to the ground and prayed that if it were possible the hour would pass from him. 36 He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Lk 22:42 If you are willing, take this cup away from me. Yet not my will but yours be done. 43 Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44 And in his anguish he prayed more earnestly.” He prayed this same prayer 3 times. Did he really think that it was “possible” that his impending hour of suffering and death would pass from him and not happen? He knew that his fate, dying on the cross, was imminent, but He knew it had to happen to do the Father’s will and save sinners. After his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, John 12:²⁷ “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. ²⁸ Father, glorify your name.” I think his mind knew that it was not possible at the last moment to change God’s plan for him to die, but his fleshly spirit was so overwhelmed that he asked the Father if there was any other way. He is so distressed that he even reminds the Father “all things are possible for you”. But then he adds, “yet not my will but yours be done”. He is totally ready to accept his fate, suffer, and die. I think he knew there was no other way.

When we pray for a loved one with cancer, we know that all things are possible with God. He can use doctors and medicine to reverse a death sentence, or He can just reverse it mysteriously without medicine. So our grief causes us to pray for healing. We pray with faith that God can heal. We don’t pray with faith that God will heal. We know, as Jesus did, that for whatever reason God might not let the fate of our loved one pass: he/she will die from the cancer. We should not feel guilty if our loved one dies, thinking that he/she died b/c of our lack of faith or lack of prayer. I have heard some expressing that thought when we had a loved one die and it devastating to the survivors, causing them to live with unnecessary guilt for years afterward. We lost a loved one in a car accident, and as she was in intensive care I was asked, “we prayed and we believe so she will be okay, right?” We lost another loved one in intensive care and I heard someone say that if we prayed hard enough and believed enough that the loved one would live. She did not live and I wonder how that statement affected others’ faith in God.

We just have to pray, believing that God might heal, but we must be ready to accept whatever the will of the Father is. Not some predetermined Calvinistic fate, but whatever the Father feels is best. Then we just leave the outcome to God. We don’t lose any faith in God is he doesn’t heal. We accept it and move on. If we pray like Jesus did, then the Father can say “yes” to all of our prayers. We pray, “heal my loved one, but if not, do what is best”. The Father can say, “yes, I wil do that”: even if our loved one dies, He has answered “yes” to our prayer. If we just pray, “Father heal my loved one”, then He can’t say yes. He can say “I hear your prayer, but “no”, I will not heal your loved one.”

We can learn so much from the prayer life of Jesus. Here is a great site that lists all the verses (and you can click on the verses for each time of prayer listed) in which Jesus prayed: https://jesusalive.cc/times-jesus-prayed/. Here is a great summary from the article by Steve Shirley:

“The Bible tells us in (1 Th 5:17) to “pray without ceasing.” While I don’t believe this literally means to never stop praying, I would say that Jesus probably came closer to never stopping than any person who has ever lived on this planet. He was continually in a prayer mode. He is shown to pray: alone (Mt 14:23)(Mk 1:35)(Lk 9:18)(Lk 22:39-41), in public (Jn 11:41-42)(Jn 12:27-30), before meals (Mt 26:26)(Mk 8:6)(Lk 24:30)(Jn 6:11), before important decisions (Lk 6:12-13), before healing (Mk 7:34-35), after healing (Lk 5:16), to do the Father’s will (Mt 26:36-44), among other things. He also taught on the importance of prayer (Mt 21:22)(Mk 11:24-26)(Mt 7:7-11)(Lk 11:9-13)(Jn 14:13-14)(Jn 15:7,16)(Jn 16:23-24)(Mt 5:44)(Lk 6:27-28)(Mt 6:5-15: including the Lord’s Prayer)(Lk 11:2-4)(Mt 18:19-20). If you take all of the places that show Jesus praying, you will have a PERFECT outline of how to pray (check out Jn 17).”
Go to the article and read this summary b/c you can click on the verses and see each verse for each category. You can’t do that from reading the summary in this blog article. The author lists 25 places, times, and occasions where Jesus prayed and you can click on the verses for each one.

I don’t know about you, but my prayer life is weak and I hope this article will help me be more prayerful.

So, add “prayer” to “heal to deal with depression.”