Luke5:16: “But Jesus withdrew himself to the wilderness, and prayed.”
It seems I am in good company when comes to spending time in silence. Jesus did pretty much the same thing often. In fact he spent 40 days in the wilderness fasting. Luke’s account suggests Satan tempted Jesus during the forty days and Matthew’s account suggest that the devil appeared only after the forty days. No one scholar or church fathers seems to give an explanation as to why the accounts differ. Generally it is accepted that Satan tempted Jesus after the forty days and I will go along with that. I accept that theory through personal experience. Perhaps you have also had that experience. It seems that after a time of fasting or living in silence the enemy initiates an attack. I have heard many testify that they suffered attacks from the enemy right after a period of fasting. Why, I do not know. Perhaps the enemy planned the attacks and God calls us to fasting and prayer to prepare. Whatever, if God calls us to fasting and prayer and/or a period of silence we best heed that call. I would hate to come under attack without that preparation of prayer and fasting.
Many have wondered about Jesus praying. If He is God why does he need to pray? Who is He talking to if He is God? That, gratefully, is a question for theologians and not a student of ancient languages. So I will not concern myself with that and I will only look at the fact that Jesus did pray.
That brings us to the question of what is prayer? What did Jesus do for forty days and nights, was He talking the whole time in prayer? That is a good question for someone who goes into a period of silence. What do I do all day while living in silence? My answer is simple, I pray. The disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray after having watched Jesus pray. Then they say a curious thing, “as John taught his disciples.” Where they asking for the mechanics of prayer? You know, bow your head, fold your hands, close your eyes, and start with Dear Lord end with Amen?
Jesus answered by giving the Lord’s prayer which has been used as a model. Start with Our father who art in heaven, say a little praise like hollowed be thy name and then a little affirmation, they kingdom come thy will be done etc. Unfortunately my prayers never follow that pattern, perhaps they should. I usually jump right into the good stuff, my petition.
In I Thessalonians 5:17 the Apostle Paul tells us to pray without ceasing. The word pray in Greek is proseuchomai which means to exchange wishes or desires or to interact. We are to interact without ceasing. The word ceasing in the Greek is adialeiptos which means just that unceasing, without an interval. We are to live in a state of continually interacting with God. This is what I discover to be happening in my time of silence. I am praying without ceasing.
The word for prayer in the Hebrew is palal. It means intercession, supplication and making a petition. It comes from an old Canaanite word for the notched edge of a sword. A sword with a notched edge has been damaged. The notch occurs when a strain is placed on the blade as it strikes a blow. When a blade strikes something kinetic energy flows through the blade and into the hand of the sword bearer. A mighty force will cause a notch in the blade. So this would be palal or prayer. It is the release of kinetic energy or setting energy in motion to create a physical effect such as a notch on the blade.
Prayer is pouring our energies toward God to create an effect. The Bible says you have not because you ask not James 4:3. The verse further explains that we do not receive because we ask with the wrong motives. Far too often we exert our energies in the wrong direction and our motives are not always pure. I may say, “Lord give me a candy apply red Porsche so I can drive little children to Sunday School” but a beat up old Ford Focus would get them there just as easily. I may pretend my motives are pure but they really are not, I just want a candy apply red Porsche and the kiddies are just an excuse. Sometimes our impure motives are not that obvious and we need to spend time in fasting and praying to reach our pure motives.
The Talmud teaches that it is like a battle between kingdoms. The winner is the one who kills the king, like in a game of chess, once you captured or killed the king, the game or war is over, you are defeated. So when a king goes to war he dresses just like one of his soldiers so the enemy cannot spot him or target him. Yet the king is surrounded by the most skilled, brave and dedicated warriors and you must break through these elite guards to reach the king. So too God is surrounded by some pretty tough soldiers whose only desire is to keep you from reaching God. These are desires of the flesh, the distractions of every day. So we must be in a continuous attitude of prayer, which is continuously interacting with God until we break down all these barriers of the flesh and get to the purity of our motives.
The Jews wear a skull cap to remind themselves that they are always in the presence of God and everything they do they do as unto God. The skull cap is a reminder that they are to always be in interaction with God or praying without ceasing. I’m not Jewish so I do not wear a skull cap but I wear a baseball cap for that purpose with the name Chaim Bentorah on it. Ok, so I do a little advertising, is that so bad?
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