Dr Paul Allen

 Hebrews 5:7–10 “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence” (v. 7). John Calvin notes that “the days of his flesh” refers to the earthly ministry of Jesus before His death, resurrection, and ascension. The author is not telling us that Jesus divested Himself of His humanity after the cross. After all, we know that the Son of God retains His human nature after being raised from the dead (Luke 24:36–43; John 20:27). The stress on Jesus’ humanity is important because Christ could not have saved us unless He became like us, albeit without sin. A high priest, we have seen, can represent us only if he shares our humanity (Heb. 5:1). Moreover, without taking on human nature, the Son of God could not have offered up “prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears” (v. 7). In the course of Jesus’ life, our Savior regularly dev...

Why do so many followers of Jesus suffer with such unsatisfying prayer lives and consider themselves hopelessly second-rate Christians because of it? Method Is Our Madness For almost all followers of Jesus, I believe the problem in prayer is not with the quality of the Christian, but with the method of their prayer. Of course, no change in method will make prayer consistently meaningful to someone who is spiritually dead. But it’s different for those who are spiritually alive. They are born again through faith in Christ and indwelled by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit’s presence causes them as God’s children to cry, “Abba, Father!” (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6), giving them a Godward orientation they didn’t have before. In other words, all those indwelled by the Holy Spirit really do want to pray. And if an individual Christian sincerely seeks to live for Christ, and has no specific sin issue that he or she refuses to confess and fight against, then the basic problem in prayer is not ...