Conversation

When I was just a lad, the church my family attended was in a little town about 2 miles away. It was old and elegant – white clapboard with tall windows and a gleaming steeple the pushed into the heavens. It was gilded with beautiful oak woodwork on the inside with the traditional center aisle and two opposing rows of wooden benches.

The benches were not upholstered – neither was the floor adorned with carpet as is common today. When it came time to kneel in prayer it was not a very comfortable position we took. And no more painful of a time was there as when one of our elders led in our corporate prayer. Elder V. A. LaGrone was his name and I must confess that when I saw his name in the bulletin listing him as the one who would offer prayer for the congregation, I would ‘groan’, for I knew the discomfort that awaited me.

For you see, when we knelt down to pray on those hardwood floors I knew that time would stand still. His prayers contained beautiful language, and were very descriptive and specific. Every saint who was sick was mentioned by name – each special interest group who had a need was stated in detail – the requests for God’s mercy on behalf of the church and all of its members were brought before the Lord…in a monotone voice with a syntax that could have been matched with a metronome from my piano teacher.

Minutes seemed like hours and my knees ached from bone on wood. I grew restless and my attention span grew shorter with each sentence. I would soon lose track of what was said and would begin focusing on shifting my weight from knee to knee to ease the suffering. Prayer became for me a biblical torture chamber.

Finally, after what I deemed to be an interminable and cruel length of time (especially for young children and the elderly), I would hear the customary ‘Amen’ and I would attempt to rise from my bent position in what can only be described as being like a duck attempting to run up a set of stairs.

It's because of this childhood experience that I am amazed at the biblical description of what Jesus did so often in His life. The gospels contain a number of accounts of how He would depart from the crowds and pray. Luke 6:12 (NAS) states “And it was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.”

How did He do this? There is not any doubt about His spiritual attitude during these ‘nighttime’ encounters with His Father. But did he kneel the whole time or did he sit? Was His language that of the 15^th and 16^th centuries…you know…’Thank you Father that thou hast been with me on this day’. I have spent time praying but never all night – more like 30 minutes to an hour - tops. After that I’ve lost my train of thought or just fallen asleep.

I don’t mean to trivialize my prayer life or prayer in general but I am fascinated by the frequency with which our Lord would depart to a quiet spot to pray. He didn’t do this because He was taught by the Rabbi’s, nor because it was expected of Him by the people. The biblical accounts of these all night prayer sessions suggest that this was normal for Him and not just a rare occurrence.

I believe that His very survival depended upon this special time. The success or failure of His mission was directly related to His staying connected and re-connecting in the evening with His Father. It was so important that He would spend all night. It was critical to the mission that plans were discussed – what towns to visit next, which of the disciples needed affirmation or instruction tomorrow – how much time was left before the cross.

Just as Jacob’s eyes were opened to see angels ascending and descending from heaven to earth, if our eyes were opened to see ‘behind the scenes’ we would witness angels tending to an exhausted and weary Saviour. Comfort and compassion are brought straight from the throne room and ‘angels that excel in strength’ are dispatched from the heart of God Himself to strengthen and fortify Jesus to continue with the plan of salvation for a fallen and needy world.

If Jesus needed to spend whole nights in prayer for the strength to withstand temptation, for wisdom to know how to deal with a ‘stiff-necked’ people, how much more do we need that connection with our living Saviour? All night in prayer? Maybe. Dedicated quiet time in contemplation of Christ, our example, so that we are enabled to stand against the wily foe? Definitely!

But what do you say? It is not just a quantity issue but one of quality. If your friend, or spouse, or confidant was with you and you had an issue to discuss what would your language be like? Say…”what do you think about my plans to…” or, “When I meet (fill in the blank), what should I say to her/him.” Or, “How should I respond when I’m faced with that situation at work again.” Maybe you need to vent some frustration and tell God what you really feel about something. Don’t worry, He can handle it…remember Job? Personally, I warn Him first just out of respect.

What’s most important is that you just talk. Just the two of you. Tell God what’s on your mind. Are you happy…or sad? Are you struggling with a particular sin and need forgiveness? Or maybe your life is just one big struggle and you need something major…like deliverance? After all He calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee…after an ‘all-nighter’ in prayer. How hard could it be to calm His child? And just like any important conversation…it’s not polite to interrupt. If you ask Him something He’s probably going to answer you, so don’t monopolize the conversation, it’s crucial that you stop once in a while and listen. You might find He knows just what you need!

As our example, Jesus showed us how to access the mind and heart of God. All of heaven is at our command! While on this earth He would spend whole nights in prayer for you and me and the neat thing is He’s still awake all night just waiting for us to call!