Magnificent Prayer #33
Magnificent Prayer #33
Concerning the work of my hands command ye me.
Isaiah 45:11 KJV
Joshua used this commanding tone when, in the supreme moment of triumph, he lifted up his spear toward the setting sun, and cried, “Sun, stand thou still!”
Elijah used it when he shut the heavens for three years and six months, and again opened them.
Martin Luther used it when, kneeling by the dying man of God whom he loved, Philip Melanchthon, he forbade death to take his prey.
It is a marvelous relationship into which God bids us enter. We can more easily understand the verse which follows: “I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.” But that God should invite us to command Him, this is a change in relationship which is altogether startling!
What a difference there is between this attitude and the hesitating, halting, unbelieving prayers to which we are accustomed, and which by perpetual repetition lose their edge and point!
How often during His earthly life did Jesus put men into a position to command Him! When entering Jericho, He stood still, and said to the blind beggars:
“What will ye that I shall do unto you?” It was as though He said, “I am yours to command.”
Can we ever forget how He yielded to the Syrophoenician woman the key to His resources and told her to help herself even as she would?
What mortal mind can realize the full significance of the position to which our God lovingly raises His little children? He seems to say, “All my resources are at your command. Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do.”
F. B. MEYER
Pray About It: There is a form of praying given to us whereby we are able to speak boldly our requests to God. We are, after all, seated in the heavenlies and we have the powers of heaven at our command. When circumstances threaten to bury us, we must remember to stay on top, seated in our position in Christ, whereby we are able to command great things in prayer.
How are we able to do this? Isn’t this presumption on our part?
Not if we know our true nature as fallen men and women who must rely unceasingly on Christ for everything. When we humbly recognize that any power we have isn’t us at all, but Him working through us, we understand that boldness isn’t presumption but obedience. It’s only presumption if we’re clothed with the pride that masquerades itself as humility.
Commanding prayer isn’t for every occasion. But when it’s needed, it’s the most powerful weapon in the Christian arsenal.
Now obviously this in no way can imply that we can force God to do what He will not do, not at all. Rather it simply means that we may command Him to do what He desires to do. It is because we know God’s will that we may say to Him, “God, we want You to do it, we are determined that You do it. You cannot but do it.” And thus shall we have strong and powerful prayer.
WATCHMAN NEE
From the book
