ListenDaily – 23 June 2010: Is it ever like this?
"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. And being in anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. When He rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, He found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. "Why are you sleeping?" He asked them. "Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation." Luke 22:39-46
I'm not sure what else to say about "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done" but I feel like something else should be said. I mean, this whole idea of honest communication with God is huge. Jesus went on to pray "more earnestly", so much so that He was sweating -- like He was bleeding. That makes me stop and think, do I pray earnestly? I have never gone through anything like what Jesus was preparing to do, but do my prayers even have a fraction of that intensity?
I am not saying every time we talk to God should be like this, nor do I mean that we should try to work up some kind of prayer frenzy, or compare our prayers and circumstances exactly with His. But to have honest prayer. Earnest prayer. Intense prayer. Fervent prayer. ("The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.") So focused going in that we insist upon privacy. So intense that it affects us physically. So incredibly honest that we are saying exactly what is on our mind, without holding back.
And so completely submitted that we are ready to, with all our being, move in the direction that God sends us.
Run to God.
Pour out your heart, all the good, bad, everything.
How He loves you!
Questions:
1. What do the terms "fervent prayer" and "earnest prayer" mean to you?
2. Have you ever prayed in such a way?
3. Should there be times when you do? When?
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May we keep listening. Jim.
INTERESTING THOUGHTS:
"Prayer - secret, fervent, believing prayer - lies at the root of all personal godliness."
William Carey
"You must pray with all your might. That does not mean saying your prayers, or sitting gazing about in church or chapel with eyes wide open while someone else says them for you. It means fervent, effectual, untiring wrestling with God...This kind of prayer be sure the devil and the world and your own indolent, unbelieving nature will oppose. They will pour water on this flame." William Booth
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