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.”
In the above quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit reveals to us another reason that the prayers of our Lord Jesus were always heard by the Father. This passage reveals that the prayers of the Lord Jesus were heard because of His godly fear. Some translations of this passage refer to the Lord’s reverence of God our Father. Our Lord Jesus had come from the Father and He knew the awesomeness of God Almighty. And so when He knelt before the Father in prayer as the Son of Man, He gave God the reverence due to the Creator of all things. If scripture teaches us that our Lord Jesus who was the spotless Son of God, had His prayers heard because of His godly fear, then we fool ourselves to think that we can come before God in prayer in any other attitude than reverence for Almighty God.
Revelation 4:9-11 “Whenever the living creatures give glory and honour and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, (10) the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: (11) "You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honour and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.”
When we look at the above quoted passage of scripture we see an example of the same reverence shown to God Almighty by those in heaven, who prostrate themselves before His physical presence. Unlike those in heaven, we have no concept as to the awesome power and majesty of God the Father, who is the creator of all things. Nevertheless if we see their display of reverence before God, how much more should we who are on the earth show reverence and godly fear before our God when we come before Him in prayer.
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.
Michael E.B. Maher
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