"HE(Jesus) fell with his face to the ground and prayed" Mathew 26:39 Why dont Christians do such now?

Question

The Holy Bible(new international version) in Mathew 26:39 says"
Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."
Jesus prayed in this manner why dont Christians now follow this method of prayer?

This posture makes one completely surrender to God and adds to man's humility and powerlessness doesnt it?

Answer 1

Who said they don't?

Oh, do you mean why don't Christians always pray like this? Did Christ always pray like this?

You have to love uneducated people who constantly take scripture out of context.

Answer 2

Who says that Christians don't kneel or pray with face on the ground? The assumption is wrong, therefore the question is wrong.
Since it is wrong, I will clarify some matters.
Prayer is talking to God from your heart. It is not really the physical aspect that really matters to Him but the attitude of the heart.
Some people in the Bible pray with their face on the ground because of the gravity of what they are praying for. But prayer is not always that way. As I have mentioned it is the attitude of the heart.
During the time of Prophet Jona, people in Nineveh repented and they put sackloth, the King tore his robe. Yet they were answered in their prayer. Because what really matters is the attitude of the heart.
If you are driving and you lose your break, then you will pray. What are you doing to do? Close your eyes, kneel with face on the ground? That's rediculous.
When Jesus was on the cross, he prayed. He prayed while still there nailed on the cross.
Please don't read the Bible just to find ways how to attack Bible-beleiving people.
Read it to learn and gain from it.

...ntc4bread

Answer 3

Your quote is from the scene in the garden of Gethsemane, in which Jesus, overwhelmed by the ordeal he was about to endure, prayed with extreme fervor. But he is not shown as doing this at other times when he prayed. Neither does he tell his disciples do do so. Instead, his focus is on the *manner* in which they should pray. They should not pray in public, but in secret; they should not babble on without meaning; they should pray according to the model of the Our Father ( Matthew 6).

There are prayer postures that are more ancient than others, for instance, praying with hands extended in the "orans" position. But this does not make the prayer more effective in reaching God. From the same chapter of Matthew, Jesus makes it clear that "your Father knows what you need before you ask him"!

I hope it's clear by now that posture is not an issue when it comes to prayer!

Answer 4

Because most of the time we are not faced with a situation like he had...don't you understand the "may this cup be taken from me" part...knowing you were going to have to suffer and face a painful death anyone would fall on their face to pray...

or are you eluding to the "Yet not as I will, but as you will"...any Christian who has actually read and understands the Bible does pray in that manner...exactly like Jesus commanded.."thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven..."


***EDIT*** Answer to 2nd question...yes...as it should be when addressing a superior being...

Answer 5

I am amazed with the love of God in his many know, when the know, is open to the Son. For the form of the know is my portion of him to boot, to Son. I think the soul-mate in God is this form when one may think not. If one see a good Move part, of a love scene, it is the gathering of the two that made the part good, and it is the word that cause that to be. Every scene; is by faith in love when loving God and the Holy Spirit is a new each time. The nature is in us already, having to do is believed, and acts upon, at first the natural will tell, and then life will know. No ease fix, but honest shows for its self, Lord.

Answer 6

Even Non-Eastern Christians, when faced with the greatest challenges, adopt a posture that reflects their feeling of being completely oppressed by their circumstances. This was customary in Jesus' day as an expression of utter perplexity and desperation. Consider the following material from John Gill's Commentary on Matthew 26:39:

"This was not to be done by any person, or at any time; the rules are these (h):

"no man is accounted fit ליפול על פניו, "to fall upon his face", but he that knows in himself that he is righteous, as Joshua; but he inclines his face a little, and does not bow it down to the floor; and it is lawful for a man to pray in one place, and to "fall upon his face" in another: it is a custom that reaches throughout all Israel, that there is no falling upon the face on a sabbath day, nor on feast days, nor on the beginning of the year, nor on the beginning of the month, nor on the feast of dedication, nor on the days of "purim", nor at the time of the meat offering of the eves of the sabbath days, and good days, nor at the evening prayer for every day; and there are private persons that fall upon their faces at the evening prayer, and on the day of atonement only: they fall upon their faces because it is a time of supplication, request, and fasting."

Therefore, Jesus does this as a twofold expression: First, it expresses the extreme trauma of anticipating taking our punishment in death, and Second, it shows, in the context of First Century Jewish culture, His self-knowledge of His own good standing with God.

Most Christians simply do not pray under similar oppression, because Jesus did in fact take away from us the single greatest source of oppression, the punishment due us for our many sins. Furthermore, we do not see ourselves primarily as righteous, but as those who continue to strive to be righteous precisely because we have been forgiven of our many failures in the attempt to please God. Finally, it would seem to be the utmost hypocrisy to reduce to a formulaic ritual that which was designed to be an honest expression of a person's present state of mind. If my heart is low, my body will and should reflect that, but if my heart exults in the glory of my God, I will stand on the rooftops with arms outstretched in prayers of praise. Prayer, to be real, must above all other things, be honest. For Jesus, it was. He is our model, not so much as to the form, but as to the substance, of a heart reaching out to God in truth. We can do no less.

Answer 7

Christians are free to pray with their faces to the ground if they so desire, but they are not commanded to do so.

Answer 8

Colin....

YOU... do not appear to be Christian!

Are YOU?

HOW... do you know.... WHAT ALL CHRISTIANS....." DO..... or.... NOT DO? "

IF NOT..... why then don't YOU Obey.... GOD....?

(Acts 17:30-31) Truly, then, God overlooking the times of ignorance, now He strictly commands all men everywhere to repent,

(Acts 17:31) because He has appointed a day in which He is going to judge the world in righteousness by a Man whom He appointed, having given proof to all by raising Him from the dead.

ALL YOUR Question will LOOK Different in the LIGHT OF GOD!

Thanks for Asking ! RR

Answer 9

in all old religions it says that kind of prayer but people r lazy to do it , and dont want 2 look like muslims maybe thats why they change the real prayer ,

Answer 10

I do.
Many Eastern Christians do

Answer 11

interesting, how do the christians pray then according to the bible?