05/18/2022
Have you ever faced a personal life or death situation, or prayed through one in the life of someone near to you? Have you come to a point in a long relationship with a loved one in which you find you have been taking them for granted, and their love for you is about to end because of your complacency? In moments such as these our feelings are suddenly heightened, reignited, reinvigorated, and we cling desperately to life, or to our love for another. Suddenly, in these desperate times, we realize the importance of life, or the depth of a relationship that is teetering on the edge of being lost. As Christian believers, these are situations that draw us closest to God, and in our suffering or despair we find our faith in Him has sprung to life, and reached a crescendo. These moments of suffering cause us to lean on the Lord in ways that might have grown cold in us during the calm and peaceful times when we felt in control of our own destinies.
“Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.”
2 Corinthians 1:9 ESV
We run to God in such times as these, and throw ourselves down before His throne. We call out for the intercession of Jesus, and pray in His name. We weep, and seek the prayers of others because the fullness of our belief is brought to bear in our suffering, and despair. Our trust in Him is made complete, and there is no end to His deliverance.
“He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.”
2 Corinthians 1:10 ESV
These are also moments of desperation for the intercessor, a time of fervent prayer, tears, and sweating over Holy Ground. Oh to have a single spade full of that soil from Gethsemane in our prayer closet, to kneel over that Holy Ground on which the bloody sweat of Christ’s own prayers fell on that faithful night.
“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 ESV
Then again, maybe we have already knelt in Gethsemane with Him. Perhaps as Christians, we have knelt there time and again to pray beside Him, praying across the ages, as we remember His suffering. Are we the Angel that was sent to strengthen Him? Do our prayers transcend time, and travel far to give Him strength, do our combined prayers strengthen Him enough to say “Your will not mine be done”?
“And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”
Luke 22:43-44 ESV
In as much as we can pray for saints around the world, are our fervent prayers of faith likewise linked with those of the suffering Christ? Are our tears joined with His, and does our sweat fall to the ground interspersed with His sweat and blood? Has our own agony, bolstered by His painful suffering, caused our faith to grow, and rise up within us?
“You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.”
2 Corinthians 1:11 ESV
So our suffering today causes us to find renewed faith, and the tribulation of others leads us to pray for them as well. In every moment of personal hardship, pain, and trial, we are lifted up in our faith… not just in this time and place, but across all time, and in every place in which those prayers are needed. Are we lifted up by our suffering? Are we praying across time and space… eternal, and unbound in Christ?
“And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.”
1 John 5:11 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for every moment of suffering or loss that reawakens our faith, and brings us closer to you. Thank you Lord for giving us eternity, and allowing our faith, and prayers to transcend it. Thank you for the taste of Christ as we take communion, and for the remembrance that He has instructed us to recall. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God, who was, and is, and is to come. Praised be your name for allowing us to kneel on holy ground, and offer up prayers that never end. Merciful are you who hears the intercession of your Son for us, and blessed is He whose blood covers our sins, and gives us life by your grace. On the day of our judgement we pray that the many prayers we have prayed, and all those that have been prayed over us, will cover us like a blanket, and that the blood and intercession of Jesus will flow like living water through us. Call us worthy on that day Father, and seat us at your table forevermore… your children, praising and praying to you without ceasing.
Rich Forbes