DROPPING TO MY KNEES, PART 2
by Eric Elder
The Ranch
Spontaneous prayer backstage last Sunday.
Last week I wrote to you about how I’ve been doing a lot of praying on my knees lately, something that I’ve done from time to time over the years, but not as often as these past few months. After I wrote that message and sent it out, an interesting thing happened.
I was at church later that night for our Sunday evening service. I was on the worship team at our church for the day and had already played the keyboard for the morning service. We have an identical evening service, so I thought I knew the routine just fine. Our worship team was waiting backstage in the green room for our cue to go out and take our places when our senior pastor, who was preaching on stage, decided to have a special time of prayer with the congregation before we came out to lead worship. With all of the recent violence in the world, he felt we needed to pray in a special way. He didn’t say anything other than to pray along with him.
I had just stood up to get ready to go on stage, along with the rest of the worship team, as we were watching him on the monitor in our room. Without giving any other direction, our pastor simply knelt down on the stage and began to pray. When he dropped down to his knees, I remembered my message from earlier that morning which I had titled “Dropping To My Knees.” I thought, “I should probably get down on my knees right now.” But I also thought, “But they’re about to send us out on stage; I’d better be ready.” Yet without another moment’s hesitation, I was compelled, once again, to drop down to my knees. I did,and began praying backstage.
Within seconds of my going down, I noticed our whole worship team had done the same. There was no question; no hesitation. It was the only response that seemed right. I was floored, quite literally. We all prayed like that for several minutes, and when we were done, we simply stood up and walked onstage to lead worship. It didn’t interrupt the flow one bit. In fact, I’m sure it helped the flow tremendously.
Why am I so resistant sometimes to just drop down on my knees when it seems to be the most natural thing in the world after I’ve done it? Later that night, I saw that the production assistant who was giving us our cues backstage had snapped a picture of our prayer time and posted it on Facebook, thankful for a church and a worship team who were willing to get down on their knees and pray. I normally wouldn’t post a picture like this, as it seems odd to do so. But like the production assistant, I too was just so thankful. I felt there was no better response that I could make to our pastor’s call to pray than to join him by praying on my knees.
Last night, I had another experience down on my knees. I was playing a game with my kids out in the backyard when the ball we were playing with bounced out into a field of soybeans that had grown to about two-feet high. We could see the direction the ball went, but we couldn’t find it when we walked out into the field. I said to my son, “If we could just lay down on the ground and look under the leaves at the base of the beans, I think we could see it. But,” I added, “I really don’t want to lay down on the ground.” A moment later, guess where I was! Laid out flat on the ground!
Not seeing anything, I got back up onto my knees. And there, a few rows over, nestled at the base of the plants, and hidden from view by the leaves above, was the ball. I was instantly transfixed, thinking, “Some things are simply seen better when we’re down on our knees.”
As it is with finding lost balls, so it is with prayer: some things are simply seen better when we’re down on our knees.
Will you pray with me? (I also have two Post Scripts below, one with a retreat update, and one with a new song I’ve just recorded that I’d love for you to listen to!)
Father, thank You for letting us get down on our knees at any time (in our hearts at least, even if it’s not possible physically) and come to You in prayer. Thank You that You hear our prayers and answer them, sometimes showing us things that we never would have seen had we not been on our knees. Thank You for others who model this kind of prayer for us, whether it’s our pastor, our friends, or even Your Son, Jesus in the garden. Thank You for helping us to see on our knees what we might never see any other way. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
P.S. Retreat Update! I also asked last week if any of you would want to join us for a guided prayer retreat in December, whether in person or online, saying that if 20 people would respond by today to tell me that they were “strongly interested” in coming to such an event in-person, then I would strongly consider booking it! As of this morning, I’ve had 21! So I’m strongly considering booking it.
I’ve also had over 50 people respond to say that they would like to join us for the retreat online, writing from places like Kenya, England, Turkey, Nigeria, India, Ireland, Uganda, Jersey (an island in the English Channel), Zambia, Canada, South Africa and Seychelles (an island off the northern tip of Madagascar). Praise God! Some days I have to remind myself just what a blessing it is to live at a time like this when we can interact with people around the world instantaneously! Thanks for your responses as they really help us to know how to proceed.
P.P.S. New song! I’ve also just recorded a beautiful song on the piano this weekend for a friend’s wedding in Scotland in a few months. The song is so beautiful, rich and moving that I wanted to share it with you, too. You can listen to it for free on The Ranch website at the link below. It’s called “Fairytale,” written by Ludovico Einaudi. Enjoy! Click here to listen.
