THE CROSS IS CENTRAL TO THE WORK OF PRAYER

Precisely how does a human being, with all their feelings and emotions, relegate his (or her) natural sense, ignore what his eyes and ears tell him, and really get into a place in God where he can pray in cooperation with God's Will? What we have called "taking up the Cross" is now about to hit home for many of us who have held it as a mere doctrine, but not an experience. For only someone dead to himself can do it, and this is exactly what the Cross is meant to accomplish in the life of the Christian. The very struggle itself is necessary, not too unlike the baby bird which must struggle with its own shell before it can be free of it. We see this pointedly illustrated in the Garden of Gethsemane by Christ Himself, when He prayed:

"Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not My will, but Your Will be done (Matthew 26:39)."

His sweat mingled with His tears, and He wrestled with Himself three times before He could settle the issue, but once it was settled, He gave no resistance, and within a few hours everything was accomplished. Oh! That is where we are lacking today! How long will we kick and struggle against the pricks? How long will we argue and complain against God and resist His dealings with us? If we have to die in order to truly live, let us be about the business of dying! If we must be crucified in order to have Resurrection Life, then let us just submit to it and get it over with!

Some very telling features are found in this passage and in the ones related to it. We see at once that there is a thing called God's Will, and there is a thing called My Will. If this was true of Jesus, believe me when I say it is abundantly true of us. Forget about the devil for a moment, this issue of God's Will versus My Will is one hundred thousand times more intense than any fight with some devil or demon. God's Will and My Will are not always in agreement, and that is going to be a problem for God and for me until it is resolved. How can I represent His Kingdom in the earth and talk about His preeminence over all creation if He does not have the preeminence in my own life?

HENCE THE PURPOSE OF PRAYER: to get aligned with the Mind, Will, Heart, Desire, Purpose, and Aim of God Himself. It is a fight and a struggle just to get to Gethsemane. It is a battle to get your brethren to stay awake with you for even one hour; and it is an all-out war to "pray thrice" or ten times or twenty times or one hundred times, as the case may be, until you have gotten the victory over yourself, and come away soaked with the blood, sweat, and tears of that early morning wrestling. But once the outcome is decided in God's favor, what awesome power and Life one receives, to drink that Cup that looked so impossible before, and to go forth bearing the Cross in the strength and power of God Himself, to do whatever He requires!

Admittedly, the kind of prayer we are calling the Church to will require a great deal of self-denial and work, more work than most of us are accustomed to, and for that reason the majority of people who read this will give it up as too laborious. Like the disciples who fell asleep, some simply cannot stay awake (literally or figuratively) to watch and pray for any length of time. This is due in part to the "lazy man's" way of praying that we have been taught and have followed for so long. Now we are not talking about how many hours per day you should spend in prayer. You can be effectual and fervent for twenty minutes per day, and you can be totally ineffectual and half-hearted for several hours straight. Which fulfills God's purpose? We need to work on the quality of our intercessions first and foremost, and then we can work on the quantity of them.

Thus, a serious call to prayer and fasting involves something more than an occasional prayer meeting, an hour-long prayer vigil, or an occasional skipped meal or two. It is a call, not to the world in general, but to the Church, for it is the Call of the Cross all over again: to give no place to the flesh, even in prayer; to subjugate all that pertains to the natural man; to get aligned with something larger and bigger than myself; to get one's own house in order; to bring a message of warning AND mercy to the unsubmitted earth; to prepare the way for the preeminence of Christ, and to demonstrate that preeminence to the rest of the world. Towards this End, we pray that the Lord will raise up more of the saints to represent His interests as the House of Prayer for All Nations.