He was a giant amongst men but his son did not see him that way in the wake of a new day. Unable to sleep he groped his way to his parents bedroom and there on bended knees was his father in prayer. Though the hours that clung to the new day were few he was preparing himself to contend with whatever lay ahead of him. The picture etched on the young boy’s eyes seemed to be ever the same, his father ever active, when not working to provide for his family the answer made to a request from a neighbour. A body and mind ever alert to stand and witness to the truth that filled his heart, to share the joy that was set before him with others in the firmness of his voice that spoke only of Jesus Christ and his kingdom.
Where did He get his Strength?
In play and fun the body grew tired and the eyes sought the haven of sleep but as the veil of darkness fell he glimpsed the portrait of his father with pen in hand reaching out to help and comfort others in their seeking after that day of eternal rest. Where did he get the strength and energy from? The answer came quickly for he was taught to make his life one of prayer. To seek often the bedside on bended knees and there assemble with that “great cloud of witnesses.” To know the feeling of being borne up on the wings of prayer and join the heavenly throng of angels gathered there around the mercy seat. Made stronger in the moment that such companions are ever present with him. “The angels of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.” A witness in his short stay in the house of God, “that the prayers of a righteous man availeth much.” He could say quite readily with his father in the thoughts expressed in his open exhortations that his strength came not always from his own prayers but more often from the awareness that others were praying for him.
To climb a mountain alone is difficult and dangerous, but in the company of others that will encourage and help to hold on to the Rock it is a lot easier and more enjoyable. Such are the ways of a pilgrim who travels to the city whose builder and Maker is God.
It was not often he asked for Help
Would it not have been easier for the way of the cross if Christ had known that his own brethren were praying for him in the agony of the garden. Prior to his arrest he told his disciples that his life was exceeding sorrowful even unto death. It was not very often he called on them for help, but this time he asked that they should tarry, and watch with him. “Tarry ye here, and watch with me.” To watch is to be vigilant, to be on guard. Would they through their prayers watch with him, to guard against falling short of doing his father’s will in this greatest moment of trial in his life. He needed the bulwark of their vigilant prayers that the power of sin should not enter the fabrication of his faith. Three times he returned to them seeking assurance that they were with him watching and praying only to be disappointed that sleep came easy to them. In the gospel of John chapter seventeen we see how he cared for them in his prayers. “I pray for them; I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are mine.” ‘What a disappointment in those he loved to say on finding them asleep. “What, could ye not watch with me one hour?”
The Children of Darkness Sometimes Wiser Than Children of Light
If there is a shortcoming in the brotherhood it would have to be this, made known more than once in the life of the young man once he had joined ranks with his father as a disciple of Christ. That we do not take the freedom easy to let others know that we are praying for them and to feel at ease asking for others to “pray for me.” Christ said on one occasion that the children of darkness are wiser sometimes than the children of light and this was made known in an experience when preaching the truth. Having spent a few evenings in discussions with one of the leaders of the local churches, at short notice one of the appointments had to be cancelled because of a small crisis in the family. Making this known by way of a telephone conversation the gentleman asked if he could “pray for me.” He was staggered not alone by the request from one of another way, but more so the sudden realization that never had one of his own brethren or sisters asked for such permission. Then again what of his own shortcoming, when he would meet his Master would there be reason for him to say “What, could you not watch with me but one hour?”
Pray for Me
Since that lesson he was endeavored to make amends and try to make known to others that he is praying for them. Embarrassment removed, there are times when he asks others to “pray for me.”
At the bedside of a friend stricken with an incurable disease though not given over to ways of the Truth an appeal is made to “pray for me.” What satisfaction to seek the Physician on high and call on his healing hands. The elderly sister having fallen and broken a number of bones in her body is rushed off to a hospital and it would appear there is little time left. Through whispered lips she asks only for a moment of prayer.
Such requests remind us well of the Apostle Paul who as a pillar of the Ecclesias and yet more than once he sought out his brethren and asked them to “Pray for us.” The introduction of his letters were always seeded with the note that he prayed for them all and thanked the Almighty for their presence and the joy they gave him. He knew the energy that came from having to confess before them all, “What, could ye not watch with me one hour ?” While at Miletus he sent a massage to the elders at Ephesus asking them to visit him. It’s possible the highlight of his prayerful life came on the eve of his departure from them to go to Jerusalem. There on the dockside, maybe with hands clapsed linking one with the other like the chain of an anchor we are told in Acts 20 verses 35 to 37 “He kneeled down, and prayed with them all.” “I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is better to give than receive. And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down, and prayed with them all. And they all wept sore, and fell on Paul’s neck, and kissed him.” What a contrast to the picture we view when he made his first defence in Rome. Having to write Timothy and tell him, “At my first answer no man stood with me; I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.” He felt a tingle of the nails that were driven into his Master’s hands when he looked around and found they had all forsaken him and fled. Yet there were but a handful that watched even at the foot of the cross.
Behold Thy Son
While he hung there he found strength to lift his head and ask but once more for their help. Not this time to watch and pray for him, but they should be vigilant one to another. John 19 verses 26 to 27, “When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and his disciple, standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son. Then said he to the disciple, behold thy mother. And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.”
While the world will make inroads to tear apart the fiber of the household there must be a greater vigilant of watching and praying for one another so that none might be lost to the forces of evil.
“Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God.”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One