Author: Pastor David Page 16 of 22

“By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.” (Hebrews 11:8)

Abraham is called to a great act of faith in the Lord. He is commanded to leave and begin a journey to a foreign land but is not given the destination by the Lord beforehand. How did Abraham leave and journey with such uncertainty in his walk of discipleship? “By faith Abraham…obeyed, and he went out, not knowing whither he went.” Rarely in life will we fully see the final destination of the Lord’s will at the beginning of that journey. That’s just fine because our responsibility is simply to walk by faith, just like the example of Abraham.

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I have spent my last few Sunday morning messages considering different prayers and aspects of prayer. One theme that has really stood out to me throughout those studies and messages is this: one of the chief purposes (if not the main purpose) of prayer is to more fully conform ourselves to submission to the will of God in our lives.

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“And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he [blind Bartimaeus] cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called…” (Mark 10:48-49)

As Jesus passed through Jericho, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus cried after the Lord to have mercy on him and heal him. Jesus did not answer him at first and those in Jesus’ crowd told Bartimaeus to hold his peace, to be quiet, to which he responded by crying even more. Jesus took note of the tenacity and persistence of Bartimaeus’ petition. Jesus “stood still” and heard the cries of this beggar. Even when our prayers might not seem to be “getting through” to the Lord, we can always know that Jesus “stands still” to take note of the cries of his children.

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“And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.” (John 5:37)

Jesus was speaking to men here in John 5 that had no desire for the true things of God, even though they gave the outward pretense of religion and piety. He tells these men that they had “neither heard [the Father’s] voice at any time, nor seen [the Father’s] shape”. It’s certainly true that the natural man cannot hear God’s voice or see God’s shape, but for the born-again child of God, we can hear the gentle voice of the Lord guiding us in our lives and we can also see the imprints of God’s shape in the world all around us.

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“And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives…Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder.” (Matt. 26:30,36)

Just hours before his crucifixion for the salvation of God’s people, Jesus went into the garden of Gethsemane to pray unto the Father. Just like so many of the places and events surrounding the death of Jesus Christ, Gethsemane carries profound significance as well. Gethsemane means “oil press”, referring to the olive press that produced olive oil for the Jews, and this garden was located on the mount of Olives. Jesus was pressed and crushed under the weight of our sin to produce the “pure olive oil” that is signifying of our anointed and cleansed standing before God based on Christ’s work. Gethsemane once again points us to the work of Christ in the redemption of his people.

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