Change Church Podcast – Garden Prayers

Pastor Dharius Daniels

Date: March 23, 2026

Overview

In this concluding installment of the "Prayerology" series, Pastor Dharius Daniels explores what he calls "garden prayers"—those deep, pressure-driven prayers made during the most challenging "garden seasons" of life. Anchored in Matthew 26:36–46 (Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane), Pastor Daniels unpacks the emotional, relational, and spiritual dimensions of Jesus' anguished prayer, offering practical insights on how to pray when your life’s purpose brings you pain. He emphasizes authenticity, surrender, and the need for supportive relationships, challenging listeners to grow in both honesty and faith during their own garden moments.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Garden Seasons: Pressure From Purpose

• Definition: A "garden season" is a time when the pressure and problems you face are direct results of pursuing your God-given purpose.
  • “Every person that is passionate about pursuing their purpose will ultimately and eventually experience a garden season. A garden season family is where the pressure you are feeling is and the problem you are facing is because of the purpose you are chasing.” — Pastor Dharius (00:47)
• Pastor Daniels highlights that sometimes, the adversity believers encounter is not from the enemy, but allowed by God as part of their assignment.

2. Jesus’ Humanity in Gethsemane (03:11–05:57)

• Jesus’ Emotional Struggle: Even Jesus, both fully God and fully human, experienced stress, anxiety, anguish, and agitation.
  • “This Jesus is so stressed, so anxious, in such anguish that his sweat is dropping from his body like it is great drops of blood.” — Pastor Dharius quoting Luke 22:44 (04:51)
• This season involved a “collision of conundrums:"
  • Emotional: Facing imminent death.
  • Relational: Betrayal by Judas, which caused real pain despite not stopping the purpose.
    • “Just because it didn't stop his purpose doesn't mean it didn't cause him pain. I won, but I'm hurt.” (08:11)
  • Spiritual: The costly ‘yes’ to God’s will.
    • “At some point, we got to have conversations about how obedience is expensive.” (11:52)

3. Transformation Through Garden Prayer

• Jesus enters the garden overwhelmed but exits with confidence and composure (14:11–14:55).
• Garden prayer: Not primarily about changing the circumstance but about internal transformation—being changed so you can handle what God won't (yet) change.
  • “A garden prayer is a pressure driven prayer that produces internal transformation before external intervention.” (15:22)

4. Three Traits of Garden Prayers

Pastor Daniels identifies three qualities in Jesus’ prayer that listeners should emulate:

A. Sincerity — Emotional Honesty and Strategic Vulnerability (17:00–34:22)

• Emotional honesty is deeper than situational honesty: expressing how the situation affects your emotions.
  • “It's one thing to be honest about the situation. ... It's another thing to be honest about my emotions. This is how it's affecting me.” (17:58)
• Strategic vulnerability: Sharing your struggles with a trusted inner circle (“the three,” as Jesus did with Peter, James, and John), not with everyone.
  • “Cause your purpose will take you to a place of pressure where you got to leave some people at a certain place and some of us get in trouble because you try to take the 11 to places you should only take the three.” (20:11)
• Ministry of presence: Sometimes, just being with someone in their pain is the most powerful form of support.
  • “Sometimes your ministry is to be there. ... You don't have to have an answer. Just be there.” (30:09–30:14)
• Praying about your emotional state: Don’t just pray for solutions; pray about how challenges affect you.
  • “Emotionally honest prayer doesn't just pray about the issue. It prays about the emotional condition the issue is creating.” (33:50)

B. Submission — Surrendering Your Will to God’s (34:22–39:20)

• Submission is honestly admitting your desires, but yielding to God’s higher plan.
  • “He expressed desire without demanding compliance. He says, I'm gonna be honest about what I want, but I trust you enough to submit to what you want.” (38:01–38:24)
• “Submission isn’t what happens when you give up. Submission is what happens when you grow up.” (38:38)
• True worship is demonstrated when you’re willing to give up your wants for God’s will.

C. Synergy — Inviting Others to Pray With You (39:20–43:24)

• Power of partnership in prayer: Even Jesus sought prayer support from close friends.
  • “The power of all of us is greater than the power of any one of us.” (40:09)
• Interdependence: Not codependence (“I can’t without you”) or hyper-independence (“I don’t need you”), but:
  • “I can without you, but I'm better with you.” (41:21)
• Inviting others to support, pray, and watch with you is not weakness; it’s wisdom.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On emotional pain of betrayal:
  “It didn’t stop me, but I felt it. … I bounced back from it, but I felt it and I recovered, but I felt it and I won anyway. But I felt it.” (07:19)
• On obedience:
  “Obedience is expensive. But obedience never costs you something you can’t afford to lose.” (12:00)
• On submission:
  “Submission acknowledges desire, but then yields to a higher authority.” (38:25)
• On vulnerability:
  “Do you have anybody in your life that you can look at and say, ‘I’m scared. I’m tired. I’m not okay today’?” (25:10)
• On ministry of presence:
  “Sometimes your ministry is just presence. You don’t have to have an answer. Just be there.” (30:09)
• On the impact of unexpressed emotions:
  “Emotions that are unexpressed don’t stay contained to your soul. They migrate and they show up in your decisions, in your body and in your relationships.” (34:45)

Important Segments & Timestamps

• Opening/Scripture Reading and Key Theme: 00:00–01:51
• Defining a Garden Season: 01:51–03:11
• Jesus’ Humanity in Gethsemane: 03:11–05:57
• The Three Conundrums (Emotional, Relational, Spiritual): 05:57–12:11
• Transformation—Before-and-After Garden Prayer: 14:11–15:22
• The Purpose of Garden Prayers: 16:10–16:50
• Three Traits of Garden Prayers (Sincerity, Submission, Synergy):
  • Sincerity: 17:00–34:22
  • Submission: 34:22–39:20
  • Synergy: 39:20–43:24
• Relational Wiring and Interdependence in Prayer: 41:23–43:24
• Practical Closing, Ministry Application, Prayer: 43:25–end

Final Takeaways

• Garden prayers are born in pressure and don’t always change our situation immediately, but they change us so we can handle it.
• Jesus modeled that emotional honesty (sincerity), surrender (submission), and reaching out for support (synergy) are all key ingredients in enduring and prevailing through life’s most difficult seasons.
• Vulnerability and partnership in prayer multiply strength and lessen isolation in struggle.

Closing Blessing

“You can’t keep doing this by yourself. Jesus had a moment. You think you’re not going to have moments? … Praying that God sends someone into our life or shows you who is already in your life that you can invite into your garden season.” (43:25)