alternatives: p r a y i n g or fainting. Notice what He says, “Men ought al ways to pray and not to faint.” James G. S. S. Thomson ir his monu mental work entitled, “The Praying Christ,” (p. 38) makes a veiy signifi cant statement about prayer in the life of our Lord. “If we would speak the word with power, or exercise the heal ing, soothing touch, there must be in Sufficient Is He His grace is sufficient, Then why need I fear, Though the testing be hard, And the trial severe? He tempers each wind That upon me doth blow, And tenderly whispers, "T h y Father doth know." His power's sufficient, Then why should I quail. Though the storm clouds hang low, And though wild is the gale? His strength will not falter, Whatever betide, And safe on His bosom He bids me to hide. His love is sufficient, the background, unseen, our own con scious communion with God. How soon our puny resources are exhausted unless constantly replenished from the reservoirs of God. How mechanical is our work, how intellectual is our wit ness, how powerless is our word, unless all is performed in the atmosphere of prayer. The harder Christ’s days the longer His prayer times. The busier He was the greater His insistence on the practice of the presence of the Father. Apparently Jesus Christ knew of no substitute for the daily practice of the shut door, the bent knee, the secret communion.” If Jesus Christ prayed concerning the 10 Yes, boundless and free; As high as the mountains, As deep as the sea. Ah, there will I rest Till the darkness is o'er. And wake in His likeness, To dwell evermore.
he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” Of particular interest in this story is the fact that it was the disciples witnessing Jesus in prayer that called forth from their hearts this significant request, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Though they had received some in struction on prayer, looking at Jesus Christ praying, they suddenly realized what prayer really was, and their hearts cried out to know this kind of experience. In Hebrews 5:7 we are told that Christ in the days of His flesh “offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears.” From a care ful study of the Gospels we leam that our Lord often spent entire nights alone in prayer. And we discover that there was a definite pattern to His prayer life. There are some seventeen refer ences to Christ’s active prayer life. A closer look at these reveal the fact that before every significant event of His life He spent time alone with the Father in prayer (Luke 6:12), before the great confession of His Messiah- ship at Caesarea Philippi (Luke 9:18), before the transfiguration (Luke 9:29), in Gethsemane (Luke 22:39), and be fore the cross (Luke 23:46). I’m sure that someone will ask why it was that Jesus found it so important and vital to pray since He was indeed very God Himself. However we need to remember that in His perfect hu manity, having limited Himself in the incarnation, He submitted Himself to the law of dependence upon the Fath er. It is the Son’s dependence upon the Father that points up the necessity of our Lord’s prayer experiences. In addi tion we need to be reminded that our Lord prayed in order that He might, as in other things, leave us an example, Finally, it is important for believers to pray because it is impossible to suc cessfully live the Christian life with out it. In Luke 18:1, it would seem that the Lord gives the believer two
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