The battle ground of prayer… the war is won there! on our knees and on our faces.
For the Lord Jesus the battle was yielding to God’s will. I am so thankful He yielded to His Father on that night in the Garden of Gethsemane.
After the Passover meal, after Judas Iscariot left to betray Jesus, after walking to the mount of Olives with the other eleven of His disciples… Jesus “withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and began to pray.”
NASB Luke 22:41
Jesus did not pray in a crowd or even with His disciples. Some battles have to be private, secluded, and honest with God, to be won.
Battles on our knees, or on our faces before the living God, are necessary before they can be won. Coming to the conclusion that we have to be yielded to God’s will, that we come to say “yes” to God’s way is winning the battle…in the privacy of prayer.
Jesus agonized in prayer… His prayer involved His mind, His emotions, His body, and His will.
Jesus prayed fervently… it was not a mild mannered, timid prayer.
Jesus’ “sweat became like drops of blood, falling upon the ground.”
Luke 22:44
After praying three different times – He was yielded to His Father’s will, He was ready to be the sacrificial Lamb who took away my sins, and yours.
Matthew 26:39, 42, 44
“When He arose from prayer…” He was ready to face the coming crisis, the coming chaos, the coming commitment that His Father prepared for Him to do… on a cross.
~ Take it to heart ~
Where do you fight your battles?
On your knees before the living God?