Standing Strong On Bended Knees, Part 1of3, Evans Olang

Mark 6:30-32, vs. “30, Then the apostles gathered to Jesus and told Him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught. 31 And He said to them, “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. 32 So they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves”

To be used of God in my judgment is one of the most exciting things, however I believe the greatest of all is learning to slip away to a deserted place and spend time with Him in prayers. God’s work must be done by God’s Spirit which is not in active operation unless prayer power is activated. The point is, it is not if you are doing God’s work that matters, but how you are doing God’s work, and by what means you are doing it.

The tragedy today, we have become too busy working for the Lord that we have neglected spending time with Him. We love the thought of being used of God than communing with Him in prayers. For this reason, I draw our attention to Mark 6 because “The greatest thing anyone can do for God or man is pray“, S.D. Gordon

We begin with vs. 7, “And He called the twelve to Himself, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them power over unclean spirits”. Who would not want to receive such a call accompanied by power?, and vs. 12-13, “12 So they went out and preached that people should repent. 13 And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them”. In response to the call, wonderful things happened and they were driven to do more for the kingdom and testify of it. What they failed to learn was that the power was prayer driven by Christ. Jesus never engaged in anything but first pray, for example, the appointing of the 12 disciples came about after He had prayed all night, Luke 6.

If you recall in Matthew 17:14-20, the disciples in the same enthusiasm tried to heal a boy but failed. Then here comes Jesus who does it on no time, Matthew 17:19-21, “19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?”, 20, “So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; … 21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting”. They themselves forgot the secret of slipping away to be in prayer before attempting to perform miracles. When Christ sent the disciples, He explicitly commissioned them to do these kind of miracles. Less than a year later, they failed where they had succeeded before. Christ explanation for the failure was that their faith was deficient. The deficiency did not consist of lack of confidence, the problem was failure to make God the object of their confidence rather than their own. This is where faith, power, God’s will etc. is activated. Here was Jesus’ pattern and order of doing ministry, Luke 5:16, “So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed”, and the effect, vs. 17, “Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them”. “No learning can make up for the failure to pray. No earnestness, no diligence, no study, no gifts will supply its lack”, E.M. Bounds

This is where our generation is today, needing the power but neglecting to labor for it in prayer. Jesus went up the mountain of transfiguration to pray, He took Peter, James and John with Him. The experience the disciples had was not because they were praying, they wanted to stay up there to build tents for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. While this sounds good and should be, “Too many of us today prefer the supernatural display on the mountain of transfiguration to the agony of watching and praying in the garden of Gethsemane”, David Wilkerson. Those who are praying may not be known, they may not be in the spotlight but they have power. Most appreciate trees for their beauty and their fruits, however people forget that the life of the tree is in their roots which are out of sight. The men quoted in this article are mostly appreciated for what they did, if we were to dig deep to discover the success of their ministry, you discover that it was not how gifted they were (are) that paved the way, but their prayer lives as the root digging deeper and deeper to display the quality of life and ministry we enjoy. blessings Ev

*** I had the priviledge of being one of the writers for Pastor Gregg Johnson’s Leadership Teaching Magazine in 2012, for more on prayer articles, please check out www.leadershipteachingmagazine.com