0320 SEEING HOW PRAYER WORKS

SEEING HOW PRAYER WORKS

Jesus was nearing the end, we could tell. Though we didn’t see clearly how it would unfold, Jesus knew His time was at hand. The atmosphere was foreboding, to be sure. 

That was when we overheard the Master praying. It was full of so many emotions, and after I had some time to reflect on it, I realized that it contained every theological and practical matter of prayer. Let me explain it to you.

I thought I knew how prayer worked. We begin our prayers with reflectively addressing God, revering His name, noting His attributes, rehearsing His history, and honoring His holiness. It was how Jesus had taught us to pray. “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.” That sort of thing, you know. 

But Jesus broke the mold when He fell to His knees, lifted His hands and looked to the sky. His voice was choking back tears as He spoke, saying, “Now my soul is in turmoil.” I had not heard a prayer begin with such a self-aware confession of emotion and inner conflict. It wasn’t even clear whether the prayer had yet begun, really. 

I guess that was when I first realized that it’s okay to be honest and transparent with God about my feelings.

I also thought I knew the purpose of prayer. Prayer was to bring our petitions before the Throne and plead our requests. We were to be like the widow and the unjust judge, and just keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. God would respond to our sincere requests, if we asked and did not waver or doubt. Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us our daily bread,” and all that.

But Jesus did not ask or seek or knock that day. He did the opposite. “And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’?” Certainly, His soul wanted to say just that. And if He had said it, maybe His Father would have delivered Him in answer to His request. But Jesus stopped to discern the Father’s will, not just His own. 

I guess before the “give us” comes the “Your will be done.”

I thought I had even understood God’s will. God’s will is to deliver us from evil. So our prayers should say, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” The Father wants to bless His children. So we pray with confidence because that’s His will.

But Jesus knew God’s will is more complex than that. He went on to pray, “But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” He knew that in order for God to bless the billions, One would have to be rejected. He would need to suffer the agony of His Father turning His face away, of being forsaken by His God.

I guess my purpose is to serve Him, not to have Him serve me.

And I thought I understood how God answers prayer. Slowly, through natural process, silently, through impressions and dreams, nudges and coincidental timing. My prayers end with, “For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.” It ends with my speaking, right?

But this day, God answered prayer in a way that I had never heard before. A voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” We had heard that voice twice before—at His baptism, and on the mountain. But those occurrences were declarations, not responses to prayer.

I guess prayers do not always end with the Amen.

There was a crowd there that day. They didn’t all hear the prayer, because it wasn’t delivered for thousands of people to hear it. But thousands heard the response of the Father! Some, because they didn’t know the context, thought that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” 

Jesus hadn’t needed to hear the sound. He answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine.” It was for my sake, and those who heard the prayer, to realize that God the Father is actively listening and involved with every prayer I pray, even when I don’t know what to say, when I am asking for something that is against my will, when I am about to do a hard thing.

The prayer of Jesus was a brief touchstone between Son and Father as they headed into the final stretch of Christ’s purpose for coming to earth. I came to know those kinds of prayer well over the remaining decades of my own life. 

So. Did I ever tell you about the time I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day while in exile for Christ? Did I tell you about how I heard a voice like a trumpet behind me? And the rest, as they say, is what is yet to take place.