“In His life on earth Jesus made His prayers and requests with loud cries and tears to God, Who could save Him from death. Because He was humble and devoted, God heard Him.” (Hebrews 5:7)
Paul in this Scripture tells about that night that Jesus prayed in the garden before He was arrested. We can say written prayers spelled out for us. They may very well use the words we cannot think of, but which tell what’s in our hearts. There’s nothing wrong with this. It’s how we learn to pray. There are memorized prayers. The problem with memorized prayers is that they become a routine and just some words we repeat without thinking. This is not prayer. It goes out of our lips but doesn’t reach heaven. We are just speaking in the air at no one.
Jesus’ prayer in the beginning of His most darkest hour was made with loud cries. It came from the core of His heart and soul (mind, will, emotions). When we pray it can contain words, but sometimes our minds can’t find the words that express our heart. That is when we need to humble ourselves and cry out like Jesus. He looks at the heart. He understands the cries of our hearts. Allow the Holy Spirit to express our need in the spiritual with cries and wails that we don’t understand, but which the Lord is familiar with because He knows our heart. He understands the cries of our hearts.
David wrote a song of thanksgiving when the Ark was finally returned to Jerusalem. In it he writes about prayer. It’s seeking the face of God, in other words His Presence. How can we speak to someone who’s not present. Seek His Presence. Then we can speak to the Lord. “Seek the LORD and His strength, seek His face continually.” (1Chronicles 16:11) James put it harshly. Most of us are just saying words. We think that’s prayer. “Come near to God, and He will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners! Purify your hearts, you hypocrites!” (James 4:8) Many want His benefits, but not Him. That’s what James is talking about. We come to Him in our need, but not for His Presence. We don’t want the Lord to change us or to change our lives. We love darkness. We love our sin. And yet we know that the Lord is our only help. So, we turn to Him for His mercy and help. James continues to instruct us on how to pray. “Be sorrowful, cry, and weep; change your laughter into crying, your joy into gloom! Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.” (James 4:9-10)
Paul tells us that after we have repented and by faith receive the cleansing of our sins, when the Word of God has cleansed our minds (soul) with the right attitude and purpose, then we can approach the Lord with a clean and clear conscious, free from sin which hinders our fellowship with the Lord. “So let us come near to God with a sincere heart and a sure faith, with hearts that have been purified from a guilty conscience and with bodies washed with clean water.” (Hebrews 10:22)
While our minds are in full knowledge of our unrepented sin, there’s a barrier that keeps us from coming before the Lord in prayer. We cannot approach the Throne of our Heavenly Father confidently. Yes, our sins have been forgiven, but our minds are clouded by our knowledge of our transgressions and iniquities. “But if we confess our sins to God, He will keep His promise and do what is right: He will forgive us our sins and purify us from all our wrongdoing.” (1John 1:9) We need to repent. That means to turn away from our sin. We are not talking about habitual and continual sin. We are talking about that sin that has been revealed to us in the process of perfection that the Lord is working in us. The Lord faithfully and continually reveals an area in which we need to repent. Paul writes that after that, we can come to the Throne of Grace confidently. “Let us have confidence, then, and approach God's throne, where there is grace. There we will receive mercy and find grace to help us just when we need it.” (Hebrews 4:16)
The Heavenly Father heard the prayer that Jesus offered. He will also hear our prayer. Jeremiah instructs the people how to have their prayers heard before the Lord. “Then you will call to Me. You will come and pray to Me, and I will answer you. You will seek Me, and you will find Me because you will seek Me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:12-13) We should seek His Presence as David sang and James wrote. Peter adds to what we’ve learned. “For the Lord watches over the righteous and listens to their prayers; but He opposes those who do evil." (1Peter 3:12)
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