Pray with Fervent Cries and Tears
- Michael E.B. Maher
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
Being real before God
Hebrews 5:7 “who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear.”
We have looked at the above quoted passage of scripture to discuss the godly fear that our Lord Jesus displayed before God in prayer, nevertheless this same passage reveals something else to us about the prayer ministry of our Lord Jesus. This passage teaches us that our Lord prayed with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death. The word “vehement” is also translated as strong crying. And so we see that when our Lord Jesus prayed during His earthly ministry, very often His prayers were with loud crying before the Father and with many tears. It is for this reason that very often our Lord went up mountains alone to pray before the Father, so that He could offer unrestrained prayer to God. You will recall that the final time that our Lord Jesus knelt in prayer before the Father before He went to the cross, that He prayed with such intensity that He sweated blood through His pores (Luke 22:44). The apostle James teaches us that the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much (James 5:16), and our Lord Jesus has certainly shown us what it means to offer fervent prayers before the Father.
Psalms 119:86-88 “All Your commandments are faithful; they persecute me wrongfully; Help me! (87) They almost made an end of me on earth, but I did not forsake Your precepts. (88) Revive me according to Your loving kindness, so that I may keep the testimony of Your mouth.”
The book of Psalms is full of prayers that our Lord Jesus prayed to the Father while He was on the earth. The above quoted passage of scripture is one of the prayers recorded that our Lord prayed, which reveals to us the complete reliance on the Father to save Him and keep Him. How much more do we need to humble ourselves before the mighty hand of God that He may save us and keep us? There is a reason that our Lord Jesus taught us to pray in secret before the Father (Matthew 6:6). Prayer is our time before God. It’s during our time of prayer that we need to be completely real before God. God knows everything about us before we ever come into His presence. He knows what we need before we ask Him (Matthew 6:8). We do not go before God our Father and “say our prayers”. We kneel before God Almighty our creator, and we pour out our hearts before Him. God is the one who understands everything about us, and knows us more intimately than we know ourselves. Prayer is real, it is not a religious duty; it is our time of communing with God our Father through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The name of Jesus
John 16:23-24 “And in that day, you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. (24) Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”
As with sin, there is another aspect of our prayer ministry that differs from that of our Lord Jesus, which is the use of His name. In the above quoted passage of scripture our Lord Jesus has taught us that under the new covenant when we petition our Heavenly Father, we are to do so in His name. The Old Testament saints did not have access to the name of Jesus, but the New Testament saints do.
Philippians 2:9 “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name.”
The above quoted passage of scripture teaches us that when God the Father raised Jesus from the dead, He gave Him the name which is above every name. And so we see that New Testament believers have been given the absolute privilege to use the name which is above all names when we petition the Father. Our Lord Jesus has taught us that our Heavenly Father hears our prayer when we petition Him in the name of Jesus. The reason that God the Father acknowledges the name of Jesus is because He is the one who gave it to our Lord.
Michael E.B. Maher
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