Superhuman Prayer
In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. Luke 6:12 ESV
Prayer – “And all night he continued.” Are you kidding me? Who can stay up all night praying? I dare say that most of us fall asleep after twenty minutes attempting to pray. How is it possible to stay up all night speaking with God? Most of us probably read this verse and chastise ourselves thinking that somehow we just aren’t spiritual enough if we can’t pull off an all-nighter. Or we decide that this is really superhuman behavior; something only “Jesus” could do. At any rate, we find it nearly impossible for us. But we feel guilty nonetheless.
Perhaps we need some encouragement from Heschel.
“What takes place in a moment of prayer may be described as a shift of the center of living—from self-consciousness to self-surrender.”[1]
“Prayer is a moment when humility is a reality. Humility is not a virtue. Humility is truth. Everything else is illusion. In other words it is not as an ‘I’ that we approach God, but rather through the realization that there is only one ‘I.’ Now it is our being precious to Him that sets us apart from being merely an accidental by-product of the cosmic process. This is why in Jewish liturgy primacy is given to prayer of praise. One must never begin with supplication. One begins with praise because praise is the prerequisite and essence of prayer. To praise means to make Him present, . . .”[2]
“All of life must be a training to pray. We pray the way we live.”[3]
Luke uses the Greek proseuche (prayer). We know that this Greek word encompasses more than two-dozen Hebrew words describing prayer. Most of the Hebrew words are words of action, not contemplation and meditation. In other words, prayer is movement. It is movement of the lips, the head, the hands, the body and the soul. It is up, down, sideways, falling, jumping, back and forth engagement with God. It’s on your knees and in your face, up the stairs and out the door. If you pray like this, sleep is banned. Perhaps we haven’t entered into all-night prayer because we don’t shout our praise, don’t run to meet Him, don’t clap for joy, don’t train for the task. We are even more in need than the disciples when it comes to being taught to pray. If Heschel is right, if prayer is the pathway to make God present, then we need a lot more instruction. We need to put away those Puritan prohibitions and let prayer loose. Then we can stay up all night too.
Topical Index: prayer, proseuche, Luke 6:12
When I did a comparison in the Septuagint, I thought that proseuche and palal were the most common pairing.
Jesus gave us the Lords prayer as a model. Have you ever considered that His life was the active answer to that prayer? We actively pray, God actively answers. In Jesus’ name.
Paul, no doubt, was inspired to speak from his
personal revelation.
“Pray without ceasing” 1 Thes 5:17
Years ago as a new believer, I thought that was
impossible. Now, it almost seems instinctive.
Rich, I don’t know if this is socially acceptable of not, but often I find myself doing this when out with friends at a restaurant.
Someone inevitably asks me if I would ‘give thanks’ for the food. I say, “Sure.” When the stop, bow their heads, I say, “Hey,” and look them in the eyes and ask, “Are you thankful to God for this food?” They say, “Of course!” I look at the next person, and the next around the table until I ask them all if they are thankful. After they all, naturally, answer in the affirmative, I say, “Me, too.” Let’s eat!
I’ve received a lot of weird and startled looks, but they all usually share a smile and nod and seem satisfied in a new approach to a ritual.
I don’t do it all the time though. Whenever I’m energized to do it. There are variations on this theme of public prayer. It just morphs depending on the conversation and situation.
Personally, I just love it because it seems to help take me and others out of a common, taking-for-granted “praying over a meal in a public place” mode. For a brief time there is life back in an expression again.
Hi Michael,
I think God’s all ears,
especially to our creative hearts.
No formulas required.
But of course the commandment is to praise God AFTER we eat, after all, we are only eating what He has already sanctified. Imagine why the Church turned this clear commandment of Torah around.
How about those Pharisees who established a tradition of blessing YHWH before one ate. We definitely see Yeshua following this tradition in the Gospels.
“We need to put away those Puritan prohibitions and let prayer loose.”
I’m not sure what this means.?????
“fold your hands, close your eyes, bow your heads, etc.” In other words, conform to a set style of prayer rather than let the emotions of your life be expressed to God
Ahhhhh Got it. Never have been able to do that anyway!
BTW I believe I’ve figured out how davening came about. My back can’t stand erect long enough at my age to get through any single portion of the prayer book. It had to come from some old rabbi’s need to stretch a bit and like good disciples his understudies copied him! 😉
That reminds me of the song that ahs the phrase, ” let my life song sing to you, I want to sign your name to the end of the age ,let my life song sing.”
1 Timothy 2:8. Uplifted hands were not something I saw at the wall in Jerusalem. Has this aspect of bodily involvement in prayer been lost in Judaism?
Maybe you didn’t wait long enough..I have certainly seen it.
Awesome!
Did the Puritans have only one mode of praying or is what described meant for public gatherings. Perhaps the Puritans were much more spontaneous in their own individual praying? Are contemplation and meditation modes of praying or are they modes of thinking?
I guess, if we are in a situation of desperation to seek YHWH for a solution, we would naturally be in a state of seeking to hear from Him, all night long,
and sleep would evade us anyway.
In this case, Yahushua was perhaps perturbed with the accusations and the folly of the folks around Him, that He was confronted with, through the healing of the withered hand on Shabbat. That doing right/good on shabbat was considered wrong in their eyes!
Praise is the gateway tp prayer. Personally I had this experience. I was in an all-night prayer chain for a sister, in hard labour in UK.
Time I was alloted was at 4am! Try waking up, or staying awake at/until 4am! But the committment has been made, so I tried sleeping earlier, but could not.
So, when the time came, i got out of bed to seek ABBA’s will for the birth of her baby. I was half asleep, and really sleepy.
I could only praise, and thank ABBA, Who graciously gave a vision of a bouncy baby boy. I knew then our prayers had been answered. I went joyfully back to bed, and fell instantly asleep! HalleluYAH!!
Praising works wonders!
“Prayer” is really a communication between ABBA and us, a conversation, with no repetitions, but a conveying of our situations to Him. It is a one-on-One conversation. Such a blessing!
Shalom!