When I pray for the Lord to comfort someone, I picture Jesus embracing that person in a warm and tender hug. When I pray for a specific thing to happen, I visualize the desired event in my mind.
One of my favorite ways to pray is to imagine myself walking along with Jesus and the Twelve, or sitting on a hillside with them.
Sometimes I imagine hanging out with them in the rec yard at the prison, along with the ladies from our Monday chapel gathering.
“Come now; let us leave." (John 14:31)Jesus and the Twelve always seemed to be on the way to somewhere. The majority of the events and teachings in the Gospels took place while they were on their way to somewhere else.
I think that's because Jesus wasn't interested in just talking. He talked a lot, teaching the 12 and the crowds of followers. He also spoke one on one to people He met along the way.
But He was always on the move, walking toward His destiny, headed to fulfill His Father's mission.
Even on this last night, it appears that most of Jesus' final conversations with the
Could it be they were carefully navigating through the dark streets and byways of Jerusalem, avoiding people who would turn them in to the authorities, when Jesus said, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first." (John 15:18)
Perhaps they were walking through a vineyard when Jesus said "“I am the vine; you are the branches."
When Jesus "looked toward heaven and prayed"(John 17:1), they were likely standing outdoors and they might have followed His gaze as He was looking up into the night sky. (He certainly, it appears, did not bow His head, close His eyes, and fold His hands like we were taught as children.)
Try, some evening, praying through the scriptures of John 13-17 while walking about outside. Picture being the Twelfth Man, if you will, listening to Jesus as He talks, asking questions. Imagine the uncertainty and fear you and your fellow disciples must have been feeling as He spoke of death and sacrifice and persecution.
Imagine.
No comments:
Post a Comment