The Power of Prayer
written by LLOYD
PRESTON TERRELL
Jesus showed us how to pray with emotional
intensity.
The memory remains vivid. When I was 12, I saw my
mother praying with tears streaming down her face. Being so young, I immediately thought,
Something bad must have happened. It would be years later that I realized the truth. She
was filled with emotion because something good had happened: Jesus had knocked at the door
of her heart, and she had let him in.
Seeing my mother cry while praying, however, left me perplexed about the role of emotion
in prayer. As I grew, I often wanted to cry out to the Lord in joy, distress, or
suffering. But I always held back. I never saw my father pray like that. Maybe baring your
emotions prayerfully was something only women did.
In Living Prayers, Maxie Dunnam, president of Asbury Theological Seminary, writes,
"God wants to be present with the real you." Real prayer emerges from a real
relationship with a God who always knows the real stuff we're dealing with.
Jesus' prayers were real because he was not a traditionalist. In fact, he spoke out
against the dangers of mere tradition in prayer (Mark 12:40). Jesus took risks in prayer
as well as ministry. The disciples saw raw emotion in his prayers. His prayers were
intense, agonizing, and from the heart.
An agonizing petition
Jesus'
most intensely emotional prayer is recorded in Matthew 26:3644. This prayer shows the real
Jesus- the Jesus who wore no masks when praying to God, who was not ashamed before God,
who withheld none of his feelings from God.
In the Garden of Gedisemane, on the night he
was to be betrayed, Jesus prayed alone in deep distress. His anguish had nothing to do
with the torment of physical death. Mark 10:33-34 tells us that Jesus had already resolved
himself to die. The despair of his prayer came from the impending separation from his
Father.
Luke 22:41-44 gives us an even more vivid glimpse of the emotional energy Jesus expended
that night His prayer was so intense that sweat from his head was like drops of blood
falling to the ground (v. 44). Jesus prayed with such intensity that a dangerous condition
known as hematidrosis developed. Hematidrosis is caused by extreme anguish and physical
strain.
God heard the agony of Jesus in the tears and blood. He answered with a ministering angel.
He answered by giving Jesus the strength to get up and walk out to meet his captors. He
answered by helping Jesus accept the sorrow,
suffering, and separation.
Our garden prayers
There are times when we face trials, and our fervent prayers don't seem to reach God. But
holding out our deepest feelings to God in prayer allows his grace and love to walk us
through suffering.
Last year our oldest son, Lloyd Jr., was lying in a hospital bed on the first floor of our
home. He and some college friends had been severely injured in an automobile accident.
Oh, God, why did this happen to our son and his friends? Will Lloyd and his friends live?
If he lives, will he be able to walk and live a normal life? These questions ran through
my mind. Satan tried to answer them by tempting me to doubt God's grace, love, and healing
power. But God had prepared me to trust him in this time of suffering.
My wife, Marguerite, and I laid aside our carefully worded prayers and had a talk with
Jesus. We got real with him. We told him all about our troubles, fears, and doubts. We
cried out to the Lord to help Lloyd and his friends.
Somewhere in the honesty of those prayers, angels ministered to our souls. God heard us
and gave us peace in turmoil. He did not remove our suffering, but he gave us the grace to
face each day knowing that our help comes from him.
Like a gospel refrain
Frankly, how emotional we are when we pray isn't the most important thing. What we learn
from the prayers of Jesus is that praying must be real and honest for each person. Some of
us will pray quietly. Some of us will be more emotional.
I come from the black worship experience, which goes to God with genuine intensity and
emotion. My ancestors cried out to God for deliverance from slavery, to end segregation,
to put food on the table, to educate the children, to find any kind of employment, to love
our enemies, and for God to bless any way he saw fit! They laid everything they
experienced before God.
Hebrews 5:7 says, "During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and
petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was
heard because of his reverent submission." I've tried to follow Jesus' model for
being real and reverent in prayer by using the following applications. I hope they'll
inspire you, too.
Reflect, renew, be real
Reflect on the gospel accounts of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mart.
26:36-44, Luke 22:41-44). What do they tell you? What is Jesus saying to you about being
real and honest as you go to God in prayer? Write your response in a prayer journal or
notebook.
Renew your relationship with Christ. Love Jesus with your whole heart, mind, and soul. Get
to know him by reading a new portion from the gospels each day. Pray daily. How many
times you pray in a day is not the issue. Just do it! The discipline to pray more
frequently will come as you further commit yourself to Christ. Not only will your
relationship with God grow deeper, but so will your level of prayer.
Be real in prayer. God knows the real you. He knows your weaknesses, strengths, and sins.
Don't try to be something you aren't. Don't try to pretend you have feelings you don't or
hide the ones you do have. Just be yourself when approaching God.
Our prayers should be like Jesus' prayers--wearing no masks, withholding no feelings. In
prayer, we can offer our best to God for his glory and our worst for his mercy. The loving
and almighty Father can handle it. He heard it from Jesus, and he can hear it from us.
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