Modernizing texts of scripture has many landmines; sometimes we seek to interpret into our convenience.
A fellow trying to diminish the practice of aggression in prayer quotes:
But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
Matthew 6:7 KJV
He claims it means don’t talk much, shout, etc. He hasn’t read the Bible.
This context was a comparison, not a negation.
“They shall be heard” by who?
And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily, I say unto you, They have their reward.
Matthew 6:5 KJV
Two verses before
Heard and seen by men!!
He’s speaking against hypocritical prayer and eye service, not praying in men’s presence or praying for long hours.
The Prayer Life of Jesus Christ
Jesus sure prayed long and loud, and men heard him many times all night.
And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.
Luke 6:12 KJV
However, he continued his habit of retiring to deserted places and praying.
And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.
Luke 5:16 KJV
he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.
Luke 9:28b
And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.
Mark 1:35 KJV
Also early in the morning
He definitely prayed for VERY long hours; He did it regularly, both day and night; this was Jesus prayer life, and it was often not-so-quiet times too.
Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;
Hebrews 5:7 KJV
He prayed and pleaded with loud crying and tears, and he was heard because of his devotion to God.
Obviously, men saw and heard his cries in prayer.
He must have screamed! Maybe he rolled on the ground, jerked often, He is God in the flesh and maybe He didn’t have a good relationship with God, Lol, He is God!
Prayer often takes the whole of our being; He wept and groaned while at Lazarus’ tomb, in prayer too.
Luke gives a graphic picture.
And being in agony [deeply distressed and anguished; almost to the point of death], He prayed more intently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down on the ground.
Luke 22:44
It has been identified as a medical condition; Jesus Christ experienced hematohidrosis while praying in the garden of Gethsemane before his crucifixion, as mentioned in the Defenders Bible by Physician Luke as “and being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground (National Library of Medicine).
Hematidrosis is a rare condition that causes a person to sweat blood; it may happen as a result of physical or psychological stress. Mythology and religious texts are full of stories of leaders and heroes sweating blood; this phenomenon is not just fantasy, however, but very real (medical news today).
What an awesome ministry!
When prayer is a ministry, such encounters occur.
Adam Clarke’s commentary says it this way:
(Drops of blood) See Clarke on Mt. 26:38. Some have thought that the meaning of the words is that the sweat was so profuse that every drop was as large as a drop of blood, not that the sweat was blood itself, but this does not appear likely. There have been cases in which persons in a debilitated state of body, or through horror of soul, have had their sweat tinged with blood. Dr. Mead from Galen observes, Contingere interdum, poros ex multo aut fervido spiritu adeo dilatari, ut etiam exeat sanguis per eos, fiatque sudor sanguineus. “Cases sometimes happen in which, through mental pressure, the pores may be so dilated that the blood may issue from them, so that there may be a bloody sweat.” And Bishop PEARCE gives an instance from Thuanus (De Thou) of an Italian gentleman being so distressed with the fear of death that his body was covered with a bloody sweat. But it is fully evident that the fear of death could have no place in the mind of our blessed Lord. He was in the bloom of life, in perfect health, and had never suffered anything from disease of any kind; this sweat was most assuredly produced by a preternatural cause.
Such was the prayer life of our Lord Jesus. We can’t modernize prayer today to the gentle, cool-like cucumber method.
It’s a burden!
A responsibility!
God shares His pain and agony with us!
We bear it!
We carry it!
We make tremendous power available!
The effect and efficiency are much greater with much more energy, attitude, and time.
The heartfelt and persistent prayer of a righteous man (believer) is able to accomplish much [when put into action and made effective by God—it is dynamic and can have tremendous power]
(James 5:16b
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James must have seen Jesus pray, not some modern theorist.
“I don’t need to shout in prayer for God to hear me.”
“I don’t need to spend hours; it’s ignorance or poverty.”
Such men need to teach Jesus how to pray and also rewrite the Bible for us who believe.
We are willing to shout, scream, and roll on the floor, spending hours in prayer places just like Jesus. Amen!
Credit: Pastor Onayinka Olusegun
