Forward On Our Knees

Speaking of Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, it is written, "And He went a little farther, and fell on His face, and prayed." (Matthew 26:39) Unlike the popular picture of His hands folded in quiet serenity, with a halo hovering above His head and His eyes gazing up toward heaven, Matthew and the other gospel writers tell us Jesus fell prostrate on the ground and buried Himself in the arms of His Father!

Soon, He was to go to the cross. The baptism with which He was to be immersed (Lk. 12:50) was immediately in front of Him. Looking for some comfort in this final hour, He left His disciples in the shadows of that dark night. After He went a little farther, He fell on His face and emptied Himself to God. As the Hebrew writer related it, "who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear," (Heb. 5:7) Jesus resigned Himself to the will of The Father; a will which for our sakes demanded His sacrificial, agonizing death. (Rom. 5:6-9; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 12:1-4)

1) Prayer and Progress

The church which He purchased with His blood, like Jesus, must strip itself of all pride, envy and selfish ambition, "go a little farther" and fall on its face before God. We will be no stronger or spiritual than our prayer life. Our prayers will reach no higher than the depth of our longing for God and our remorse for sin. Are we earnestly engaged in talking and walking with God? I look up to Moses, admire Abraham, fear God with Noah, look into heaven with Elijah, weep with Jeremiah...but covet the walk of Enoch. Genesis 5:24, "And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him." Aren't you glad The Holy Spirit recorded this personal nearness and walking of a man with God?

If the world is to see Jesus through us, it must first see Jesus in us. If God is to empower our lives, we must spend time with Him who is the source of spiritual power.

2) Prayer and Change

Is the phrase, "like Jesus," followed by a question mark or an exclamation point? Far too few of us have really been to the foot of Golgotha. Beneath its shadow is the Gethsemane of prayer. Is there pleasure or pain in the words, "Not as I will, but your will be done"? The world is out in search of proof. Without much and constant prayer, we will never convince one life that it should change.

3) Prayer and God

Andrew Murray left us with a candid setting for the life alone with God. He said, "Humility is perfect quietness of life. It is to have no trouble. It is never to be fretted or irritated or sore or disappointed. It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done to me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised. It is to have a blessed home in The Lord, where I can go in and shut the door and kneel to my Father in secret, and am at peace as in the deep sea of calmness when all around and all above is trouble."

Many years ago I heard of a deeply religious college in which many gospel preachers were schooled and trained. Many of those students desired smaller, more humble and private rooms because they wanted to have time to be alone with God. It is not surprising to learn that Jesus spent time alone with His Father before He made Himself known to man. He was always "about His Father's business."

We each need that solemn retreat; a time and place of prayer. When we are among the crowd of the world we are prone to be molded into their image, often forgetting to look more like Him! Alone with God, we gain His character and become more like Him.

There is a march called prayer. God's soldiers advance one confession, one adoration, and one praise at a time...yet ever forward on our knees!
Luke 18:1, "Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart."

Abraham Lincoln said, "I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go."
                   
                                                     God bless until our next time together.