Learning to Pray From The Prayer Life of Jesus

Thursday mornings have been a blast.  A group of men have been working through the “I AM” passages of Jesus seeking to understand the leadership of Jesus and apply the Biblical principles to our homes, work places and church ministries.  Every now and then we discuss Spiritual Practices.  Today we were challenged to use Scripture in our prayers.  The thought kept going through my mind, “We can learn a lot from the Prayer Life of Jesus!”

Isn’t it interesting that out of all the options open to the disciples the primary request was to teach them to pray? Jesus obliges, in fact, we can learn a ton from the prayer life of Jesus.

We can get into ruts when it comes to prayer so let me encourage you to check out the prayer life of Jesus.

We talk about prayer, we study prayer, we say our prayers, but how many of us actually seek earnestly for God to teach us to pray?

Luke 11:1 reads, “One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples’”

Why did Jesus pray?

One way we can learn to pray is by looking at the prayer life of Jesus.  But it might not take a person long to ask, “Why did Jesus pray?  Did he even need to?  After all, if Jesus is God, why did Christ need to pray?”

• Jesus prayed as a MODEL.
• Jesus prayed because He was fully human and as Jewish man would have fully committed his life to prayer naturally.
• Jesus prayed because He was God and as God He enjoyed a thrilling community with the Trinity.

Jesus and Prayer

• Jesus prayed for others. In Matthew 19:13, we read, “Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them.” In John 17:9 we read, “I [Jesus] pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given Me, for they are Yours.”

We call this intercessory prayer.

• Jesus prayed with others. Luke 9:28 reads, “[Jesus] took Peter, John and James with Him and went up onto a mountain to pray.”  Acts 1:14 says, “They all joined together constantly in prayer …”

We call this corporate prayer.

• Jesus prayed alone. Luke 5:16 reads, “But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” Mark 1:35 says, “Jesus went out to a solitary place where He prayed.“

We call this solitary prayer.

• Jesus prayed in nature. Psalm 19:1 reads, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” Luke 6:12 says, “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray …”

We call this creative prayer.

• Jesus could pray all night long.  Luke 6:12, Jesus “spent the night praying to God.”

We call this marathon praying.

• The prayers of Jesus were heartfelt. Hebrews 5:17 says, “In the days of his flesh, Jesusoffered 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.”

We call this passionate praying.

• Jesus taught persistence in prayer.  Luke 18:1 says, “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.”  The parable depicts a pestering person but is meant to be understood as faithful persistence.

We call this persistent praying.