The Faith to Fall First
Praying at the Top of Your Leadership To-Do-List
Why pray?
Jesus prayed. I think that’s a good place to start.
As Jesus walked the same earth we walk, prayer was a daily practice for Him and should be a daily practice in the life of any leadership strategy. In Matthew 26, Jesus is troubled by His upcoming suffering on the cross. In fact, in verse 38 Jesus says to His disciples, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” He was in agony and struggling with his last assignment on earth.
In verse 39 it shows His resulting action, “Going a little farther, he fell with His face to the ground and prayed.” What is even more interesting is a few verses later, Jesus tells His disciples, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.” Did you catch that? Both instances use the verb “fell/fall.” Jesus “fell” on His face to pray. Then He encourages His disciples to pray so that they do not “fall” into temptation.
It’s almost as if Jesus is saying, “You can either fall to your knees to pray on the front end or end up falling to your knees in defeat on the back end.” Perhaps there is a direct correlation between the way your posture begins and your circumstance ends.
Proverbs 16:18 (NIV) says, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” Psalm 145:14 (NIV) reads, “The Lord upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.” 1 Peter 5:6 (TPT) reads, “If you bow low in God’s awesome presence, He will eventually exalt you as you leave the timing in his hands.”
What if how you start determines how you finish?
In many ways, our society would view a bended knee as a submissive posture, but what if it’s your greatest battle stance? Jesus fell to his knees to pray in the garden, but the devil would fall to his knees in defeat on resurrection morning. In Mark 9, the disciples asked Jesus why they were unable to cast a demon out of a young boy. In verse 29 Jesus answers, “This kind can come out only by prayer.” In this instance, the enemy could only be brought to his knees, from the bent knee of prayer.
So how about you? In your leadership journey, what is keeping you up at night? What financial burden has you straining and stressing? What person on your team is causing you the most trouble? Or what void do you have on your staff that needs to be filled? Whatever is keeping your mind spinning, perhaps Mark 9 would apply to it: “This kind can come out only by prayer.” Instead of prayer being a last resort, perhaps we should make it our first priority.
Action step:
Today may we be reminded to bend our knee in prayer. Perhaps the best reminder to bend our knee and pray is in Philippians 4:6 (NIV) which reads, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition…” In the Greek, the word anxious is translated, as “to care for, to look out for.” Rick Warren once said, “If it’s big enough to worry about, it’s big enough to pray about.” What are you anxious about today? What is it that you care about or are looking out for? Your action step today is to write down all of the things you are anxious about (to care for, to look out for) and then realize that you just created your prayer list.
Such a great article! How we fall on our knees and faces in prayer is vital to how we will be able to walk through any trying situation or temptation. I think it's interesting that you said many times we see falling as defeat, but with Jesus, this posture was preparing Him for victory. The second part of the verse in Matthew gripped my heart as I thought about the concept of having the faith to fall first. When He went back to the disciples, He said, " Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!”
The posture of their weak and fleshly bodies was slumped over and asleep, but Jesus, as Spirit, modeled what it looks like to not grow weary in prayer because it determines how we overcome temptation. He did it in the wilderness, and again in the garden ❤️
Loved the question: "What if how you start determines how you finish?" Perhaps I recognize that subconsciously, but how great is it to ask question that intentionally before our prayers.
The thing that really jumped out to me is the invitation to actually bend a knee in prayer. Literally, not metaphorically. It ties into something I learned on Thursday from a well known pastor who prays on his knees at the outset of the message. Every single time he explains to the listener the "why" of doing it this way. It is both a physical reminder of God's majesty, and yet, a sign of the privilege we have in the relationship. He goes on to say that the relationship of prayer is "actual and not transactional", but kneeling keep him in the proper alignment of humility and service.
Just a great reminder that we never have the fullness of when, how and where to pray on lock-down.