When He came to the
place, He said to them,
“Pray that you may
not enter into temptation.”
and He was withdrawn
from them about a stone’s
throw, and He knelt
down and prayed,
saying, “Father, if
it is Your will, take this
cup away from me;
nevertheless not My will,
but Yours, be done,”
Luke 22:40–42
A familiar
scene and narrative, is it not? What a pearl! Jesus, God Himself as a man, the
God/Man praying to His Father. How is it that Jesus would pray to the Father?
Was He not God? Yes! And, He was fully man! Jesus was about to enter into that
which He came to do: die! Not some simple death lying on a bed and not dying
from some disease, nor a taking of His own life, rather to die a death that was
reserved for the most vilest of criminals: crucifixion. As a man Jesus would
feel all the pain, the agony that comes with being nailed to a piece of wood
and then dropped into a hole with jarring of those hands and feet that had
nails driven through them. There was not some feeling to eliminate the pain of
those being crucified by the soldiers they then in some way slammed into a hole
creating agony, no, the soldiers had a job to do and this they have done
before; there was no remorse. Was this terrible: “And being in agony, He
prayed more earnestly. Then his sweat became like great drops of blood falling
down to the ground” (Luke 22:44).Yes! Jesus was innocent of any crime, and
was sentenced to this death by a governor who would not stand for truth and
relinquished this man to death so that he would pacify the demands of those
Hebrews that wanted Him dead so that he would not once again have trouble with
the Caesar. Let us for the moment look away from this scene and remember what
Jesus told the disciples to do: pray. Not just some pray, rather: “Pray that
you may not enter into temptation.”(Luke 22:40b). John the apostle was
present along with all the other ten (Judas had departed to sell the life of
Jesus for thirty pieces of silver to the Pharisees who wanted Him dead) and as
we study the book of John we must do the one thing that Jesus commanded His
disciples: pray. All the filth, the carnal affection cleansed from our eyes,
disposed of so that this one pearl, Jesus Christ will be formed in us so that
we become the image of Him.
Oh! How
many books are written on this subject of prayer: some good; some not so good:
and some horrible. Many tactics have been forward to get people to pray. Some
pray because the fear retribution from God. Others, that which is more common
today are that of the promises of God, great promises that they expect to
receive if they just pray. Some pray, because there is a movement among many
churches, their leaders and teachers call prayer “vital” as it is a blueprint
for success. Some pray because they it is the prescription for “healing,” as
this is what they are taught. All these
phrases or teachings try to motivate this and us to pray by appealing to our
desire for the “good life.” Yet, this is not leading us to what prayer is for
Christians and that which is leading Christians to the spiritual life. Oh!
These tactics seem to work, and they have created a barrage of books, and
writings, even sermons, but they have not created any improvement to the
quality or the amount of praying we do. Have you read any of those books? They
tell us what prayer is and what we can expect from prayer. They even tell us
why we should pray, how we should pray, when we should pray, and where we
should pray. I wrote in earlier blogs about idols, those things we venerate so
that they are part, and parcel of our worship and this is true of us when we
lack motivation to pray. We buy prayer rugs, prayer beads, or prayer calendars,
we rub and caress crosses that hang around our necks, and as some teach, we
empty our minds in some Buddha form of meditation, anything that will motivate
us to pray an attempt to make prayer easier.
All these
things are available for us so that prayer is understood, and practiced, but is
it? Yes! Prayer is to be practiced, a discipline of the Christian life. So why
is it not so? Prayer is work! Those authors of prayer so often will not teach
or write this fact: prayer is work. They instead use sentimental statements
that reach our emotions, our hearts, even soft bribery by promoting blessings
and promises, anything to get us to pray. Let us get this one thing straight:
God does not make promise that He does not fulfill. Prayer is work; it is an
act of the will, an act of obedience. It requires of us: boldness,
childlikeness, communication, concentration, discipline, faith, honesty, intimacy,
obedience, patience, power, purpose, silence, simplicity, wonder, worship.
When was
the last time you tried to see an issue from God’s perspective rather than ask
Him to see it from yours? Let us come boldly: “Let us therefore, come boldly
to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time
of need” (Hebrews 4:16). Prayer teaches us the wonderful power that we have
because we can talk to God, the Creator, and our Savior directly just as Jesus
did that night on the mountain. And this we can do because of the atonement
given to all of God’s children by the obedience of Jesus Christ the man who
died for His bride. It is not our obedience or that our need is so great, or
that we long for something that God hears us. No! God hears us because of Jesus
Christ, His blood shed for your sins, for sin in total.
As I write
through the book of John I will continue to impress prayer for you and me, a
work, an obedience just as that which Jesus Christ told His disciple to do: “Pray
that you may not enter into temptation.” Finally: “Therefore, brethren,
having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living
way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and
having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart
in full assurance fo faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience
and our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:19–22).
For yet a little while,
And He who
Is coming will come
And will
not
Tarry. Now the just
Shall live
by
Faith; but if anyone
Draws back,
My soul has no pleasure
In him.
Hebrews 10:37–38
Take time to pray today
Richard L. Crumb
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