12/10/2024
In my devotional reading today, Pastor E. M. Bounds wrote of two prayers; the petition of faith and the prayer of submission. Praying in the Word and praying in the Spirit; both are incredibly important... praying in the Word is conveying our thoughts and needs using biblical constructs, while praying in the Spirit conveys the longings of our very souls. Pastor Bounds used Abraham's prayers for Sodom as an example of both petition, and submission, when he wrote these words:
"Abraham had no definite promise that God would spare Sodom. But the devoted leader gained his plea with God when he interceded for the Israelites with persistent prayers and many tears." - E. M. Bounds
Abraham was voicing his desire that God would spare Sodom in a prayer of persistent petition while in the Spirit his soul begged as it wept for Sodom; each asking that it be spared destruction. His prayer of petition used logic and reason, while in tears and heartbreak he prayed a spiritual prayer that came from the heart of his soul as an emotional upwelling.
This entire interaction, and story, can be read in Genesis 18:16-33, and ends with the final decision of God, that Sodom would not be destroyed if only 10 good people could be found there...
“And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty's sake. And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake.”
Genesis 18:31-32 KJV
And then there was the story of Joel. God told him to pray in submission, to weep and to rend his heart in prayer and fasting. The Lord told him not to rend his garments, which were earthly, but to rend his heart in spiritual solicitation...
“Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.”
Joel 2:12-13 KJV
It is puzzling to me that we cry when children are born, we cry at weddings, we cry at funerals, yet many of us try to deny ourselves that similar release of the Spirit in our prayers. Crying, utterances, and speaking in tongues during prayer, is a powerful joining of our mind and soul during times of fervent communion. Each of these types of prayers is individually powerful, but together they take our petition to unfathomable heights... they make holy the very words we speak; in this way our words take on the nature of our souls and from that depth comes the fullness of prayer and supplication.
So how are we accustomed to praying? Are we more intellectual, and construct our petitions of faith carefully through reasoned and logical arguments, delivered as ornate speech? Perhaps we are more inclined to lean on spiritual outpourings, and soulful tears of the heart, as we humble ourselves before God, and pray in heartfelt pleading, and utterances? Or, are we inclined to pray as we were created; creatures of body and soul, who will approach the throne of God with a combination of these two? Let’s consider these thoughts as we pray today. Let’s also think back on the prayers we prayed yesterday, and determine if we have a certain well-worn path that leads us up to the mercy seat, and on to the throne of God beyond. As men and women we tend to lean on liturgical processes… even in our prayer lives. Is ours propelling us on, or holding us back from all that prayer is meant to be?
Prayer:
Thank you Father for our prayers of petition where we present our needs to you, and justify them with logic and eloquently constructed oration, but we thank you more Lord for our prayers of submission when we open our hearts and souls to you, and pour out our spirits in tears, and a spiritual language that only you can receive in its fullness. Father, teach us to pray with not only our minds, as we recall your Word and our earthly desires, but with our hearts as you told Joel. Let us feel the fullness of our prayer in that moment when our soul wells up within us in waves of tears, and the Holy Spirit itself begins to speak through us. Lord, in tears, in tongues, in reason, we find your ear in each, and you touch our very spirits and souls as we plead with you to intercede in our affairs, and in the affairs of the world. Father God, we thank you for all prayer; for the intellectual, the heartfelt, and for our spiritually fervent prayer which brings us to you in humble completeness, and submission. Most of all Father, we thank you for simply hearing us always, and for your promise to answer us. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who wants our love, our emotion, our souls, and our minds. Holy are you who has formed us so wonderfully, and made us complex in both our thoughts, and natures. Hear us as we pray Father, and lead us purposefully into your presence as we do so. Holy are you whose Son Jesus wept, and cried out loud in tears to you. Teach us to pray as He prays Father, and show us how to do so with all our being… body, mind, and soul. Have mercy on us Lord, and hear our every petition as we deliver it to you humbly, righteously, and as your children to our Father. Great are you, and greatly to be praised! On our knees, we will worship and pray to you in never ending, and ever expanding, faith, and worship. This is our prayer, and our heart’s greatest desire… in this we pray that your will be done… Amen
“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”
Jeremiah 29:13 ESV
“And he [Jesus] said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.””
Matthew 22:37 ESV
“In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.”
Hebrews 5:7 ESV
“9 Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
10 Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread,
12 and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Matthew 6:9-13 ESV
Rich Forbes