I often wonder about my prayer life; maybe you do too. Recently, a friend shared this with me. “Bill, is your prayer life as desperate as the third monkey standing in line waiting to get on Noah’s Ark and the rain has already started?” It’s hilarious, but do we find ourselves in similar situations quite often? Sure, we all do. What are some of our deep concerns that would warrant fervent prayer?
Our current circumstances…marriage…
As I was writing this, I could not help but focus on the last day of Jesus’ life here on earth as the Son of Man. He had taken three disciples with him to the Mount of Olives to pray. And pray he did. He left the other three to go on a little farther up and encouraged them to stay alert and pray. They went to sleep. Sound familiar? His recorded prayer was… “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22.42).
And now is the depth of his fervent prayer. ‘And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground’ (Luke 22.44). He knew clearly what lay ahead of him. The Son of Man was going to be obedient, even to the point of death on the cross. But in order for this to happen, he knew that he had to pray to his father for strength to get him through it. Have you ever been there?
A Puritan pastor once delivered a sermon entitled ‘If prayer is anything; then it is everything.’ Of all the people who have ever dwelt on earth, Jesus knew the power of earnest prayer. And he is now our Intercessor offering up earnest prayers to the Father on our behalf. Should we not do the same?