Prayer: The Jesus Way part 1
Scripture: Galatians 2:20. Luke 3, Luke 5, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17, Romans 8:26
Abiding is a two-way process…we share with God, but He also shares with us. He speaks to us as we hide His Word in our hearts. Jesus is our model on how to remain in the Father and the Father’s work. He prayed constantly, so it makes sense that we would also model our prayer after Him. Today, we will look at two of Jesus’ prayers from His early ministry and discuss common questions regarding prayer. We learn we can’t truly abide if we are not praying without ceasing.
Luke 3:
We see Jesus praying as He is being baptized. This was a very public place, not one that you would typically see people pray, but He did.
1 Thessalonians 5: 16-17 it calls us to pray without ceasing… morning, noon, and night. Not always on my knees praying. It can be that at times, but it can also be in the car as you drive or in a private setting. What does praying without ceasing mean? It is always communicating with the Lord. Anytime I have a thought about the Lord or what He has done, I begin that conversation prayer with Him.
Second Prayer: Luke 5: 12
After healing the leper, great crowds came to hear Him and be healed. His response? Verse 16: But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray. As the ministry grew, Jesus slipped away more and more to seek the Father. Instead of staying in that crowd, gaining glory for himself, we see that ALL He did was to glorify God the Father only.
Could He stay in those crowds and gain glory for Himself if He wanted to? Yes. But he chooses to step away and get back into His time with the Father. Modern day: Instead of posting it on twitter or staying in the crowd to get the praise and admiration. Jesus demonstrates that we should do the exact opposite. We should run to our Father and time with Him alone.
Motivation/intent behind these two prayers:
He got alone to pray….
He got alone to pray as he transitioned into ministry.
He got alone to pray because crowds were growing bigger and bigger
He got alone to pray as He was anticipating all the needs of the future.
Common questions: How do I pray?
Don’t fixate on meeting a standard, rather it is a conversation. We don’t ask how I speak to my dad; how do I speak to my mom. You may ask what should I say on a first date with someone you don’t know. However, with those that we have a relationship with, this is not something we typically pray.
Another question is, when should I pray? When we get bad news, often our first response is to call a friend or parent to ask them to pray for us. Jesus in that same circumstance, would have gone to the Father. He wouldn’t have gone to Peter for prayer first. This demonstrates to us, in good news and bad news, God is the first person we go to.
Sometimes we can get to a moment when we have no words to pray. We know we need to pray, but no words come to us. Romans 8: 26 provides us direction here. “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. (NIV)” The Holy Spirit can and will pray on our behalf.
Book Discussed: Praying Jesus’ Way Curtis C. Mitchell
