And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. (Luke 22:44, NIV)
Throughout my years of coaching high school golf, I would sometimes find myself cataloging with the athletic director all the ways golf is not like other sports. Some of these have to do with the way the game is scored (upside down!) or how the rules are applied (no money needed to pay referees).
But there were also questions of how the game is coached. Pep talks don’t go very far in golf. We’re not really trying to get a player’s adrenaline pumping. You can’t bench a player in the middle of a round to give him a breather or reset her thinking. And I can’t think of one reason you’d ever tell a golfer, “Play hard!”
Not long ago, I encountered a list of ways to stand against temptation. The last item was one I’d seen in other contexts: Pray hard. And I asked myself, just as I have done before, “What does this look like, and is it something we should be urging a believer to do at all?”
Let’s start here: You won’t find “pray hard” anywhere in your Bible. Not in that form. But perhaps the idea is there all the same, as we can absolutely point to the sweat like blood that oozed from Jesus’ pores in Gethsemane. But Jesus was in special anguish in that hour, and his prayers were fed by the urgency of the situation. Can we expect the same of every believer at any time just by saying, “Pray hard”?
You won’t find “pray hard” anywhere in your Bible. Not in that form. But perhaps the idea is there all the same.The answers to my questions (and maybe yours) come more in a collective sense, gathered from a survey of Scriptures. We don’t have time for a complete picture, but all these ideas touch up against the possibility of praying hard.
Pray persistently. Jesus told the story of a woman who would not let her appeal for justice rest (Luke 18:1-8). She appeared before the judge again and again until she got her answer. Then Jesus said in comparison to this woman, “Will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night?”
Pray attentively. While Jesus was praying in Gethsemane, the disciples were falling asleep. He urged them, “Get up and pray.”
Pray righteously. James wrote, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” To pray meaningfully, we need to live properly. A weak life produces weak prayers—or, in an athletic sense, an ill-conditioned athlete cannot “play hard.”
Pray earnestly. This is how Luke described Jesus’ prayer in the garden. Yes, his anguish produced a deep prayer, but earnestness is something we can all employ. Set aside distractions, get to a place of concentration, stay engaged—these are practices for earnest prayer, no matter the circumstances.
Pray with faith. Before healing two blind men, Jesus asked them if they believed he could heal them (Matthew 9:28). They stood face to face with the one who could answer their greatest prayer, and he wanted to know if they believed he had the power to answer.
Have we learned to “pray hard” today? Perhaps. Or maybe we have learned so much more.
—
Jeff Hopper
December 18, 2019
Copyright 2019 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.