Lessons in Prayer from the Life of Christ
Part One: The Priority of Prayer
In these days He went out to the mountain to pray… (Luke 6:12a)
If you could ask Jesus one question, what would you ask Him? Perhaps you would ask Him to help you better understand the nature of God, how He can be 3 Persons in One? Maybe you would ask Him to help you to understand the hypostatic union; that mysterious joining together of the two natures of Christ, both human and divine. In other words, how can Jesus be both truly God and truly Man? Or perhaps you would ask Him about some of the great mysteries of theology such as how do God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility coincide? Or maybe you would ask Him what happened to the dinosaurs? Just think of the endless possibilities of questions that you could ask the One in whom dwells all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
The Apostles had this opportunity. They walked with Christ throughout His ministry hearing His marvelous teachings and witnessing His incredible miracles. They were there when Jesus fed the 5,000 and when He raised Lazarus from the dead. Walking with Him as they did, they had the opportunity to ask Jesus anything that they wanted. But what did they ask Him? What was the pressing question that was in the mind of the apostles? The disciples went to Jesus one day and they said, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1b). Of all of the things they could have asked Him, they wanted to learn how to pray!
Why was this such a pressing concern for them? I believe it was because they had witnessed the prayer life of Jesus. In fact, the first half of that verse explains the occasion of the apostle’s request: “Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when He finished, one of His disciples said to Him” (Luke 11:1a). Here we find what prompted their plea: they saw Christ at prayer. They were witnesses to the prayer life of Jesus Christ, and seeing how committed Christ was to prayer, they too wanted to know how to pray.
The Lord Jesus Christ was devoted to prayer. It was a priority in His life. In our text that we are considering, we are told that “In these days He went out to the mountain to pray” (Luke 6:12a). Jesus went off by Himself to pray. This was something that Jesus did on countless occasions, always making time to spend in prayer with the Father. Earlier in Luke’s gospel we are told that Jesus “would withdraw to desolate places and pray” (Luke 5:16). In Mark we see this same pattern: “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, He departed and went out to a desolate place, and there He prayed” (Mark 1:35). After Jesus fed the 5,000, He again desired to spend time with the Father in prayer: “And after He had taken leave of them, He went up on the mountain to pray. And when evening came, the boat was out to sea, and He was alone on land” (Mark 6:46-47).
When Jesus went up on the mount of transfiguration, He did not go for the purpose of being transfigured before them. That isn’t the reason why He made the trip up the mountain that day. No, the Bible explains that “He took with Him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray” (Luke 9:28). Christ, as He often did, went up on the mountain to pray. It was while He was praying that He was transfigured before them. The occasion of one of the most significant events that took place in the gospels was in a moment of prayer for the Lord Jesus.
Here are five occasions where we are told that Christ sought the Father in prayer. It is clear that in His life and ministry, Christ made prayer a priority. He was always finding time to get alone with the Father to pray.
What are your priorities? One of the things that we often say is that we do not have enough time in the day. One of my favorite excuses for skipping exercise is that I do not have enough time. But the fact is, we make time for what is important to us. Is prayer important to us? It is clear that Christ was devoted to prayer as He made time to get alone with the Father for countless hours of time for communion with the Father. Are we devoted to prayer in our personal lives?
I believe that one of the reasons why we do not prioritize prayer is because we do not realize how dependent we are upon God. God holds our very breath in His hands. Our heart is beating right now only because He wills it to continue to do so. In His hands are life and death, blessing and curse. How dependent are we upon Him? Jesus instructed us in the model prayer to pray in this way, “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). In other words, we are dependent upon God for our most basic need: our daily sustenance. In prayer we recognize that our daily bread is provided by the hand of God. But I fear that we have forgotten this.
We have become self-dependent and self-reliant. We have done exactly what God warned the people of Israel about in the Old Testament. What do I mean? When God was preparing the people of Israel to enter into the land that He had promised to them, He reminded them of how good the land was going to be that He was taking them to. In that land they would lack nothing. They would have bread without scarcity; they would have honey and wheat, and barley; they would have vines, figs, and pomegranates; they would have everything that they could want. They would be rich! They would be full! They would live in bounty.
But God had a warning for them: “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God… lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Deuteronomy 8:11-14). Remember Me, God says, lest when you arrive in the land of bounty, you forget that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt and provided you with all of this bounty. Israel was not to forget that they were dependent upon God for everything, even when they were rich.
Later in that same chapter, God warns them again: “Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth” (Deuteronomy 8:17-18). The people were to remember that it was God who provides, and not the might of their own hand. This message applies to us today. How so? It is difficult for you and I to recognize our dependence upon God when we can walk over to the refrigerator and find plenty to eat anytime we want it. It is hard to see our dependency upon God when we can drive our car to the grocery store, or to the restaurant, and buy whatever we want to eat whenever we want it.
We are rich and full, we lack very little, and so we live our lives in self-dependence! Everyday we wake up and go to work and we rely upon the work of our hands to provide for ourselves. We have forgotten that it is the Lord who gives us the power to get wealth. We have forgotten that we are dependent upon Him for our very bread. If we are to make prayer a priority, we must begin by recognizing our dependence upon the Lord for all that we have and all that we need.
This is why when we experience adversity in our lives that prayer becomes a priority again. It is during times of adversity when we recognize our helplessness and begin to cry out to the Lord for help! But the fact of the matter is, we are not just helpless during times of adversity! We are dependent upon the Lord every moment of every day! We are dependent upon Him for the air in our lungs and the beating heart within our chests. He sustains us by the word of His power! When we recognize this reality and our reliance upon God for everything in our lives, we will begin to see prayer as a priority!
My friends, if Christ made prayer a priority, how much more so ought we to have prayer as a priority? Christ, the perfect Son of God, did not rely on His sinless flesh, how can we rely on our sinful flesh! Prayer should be to us a priority because apart from Him we can do nothing!
This is the reason why God’s Word commands us to pray. The Bible says that we are to “Pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1st Thessalonians 5:17-18). Many Christians are constantly asking, “What is God’s will for my life?” Paul tells us very clearly what God’s will is for us: we are to pray without ceasing and give thanks in all circumstances. God’s will is that prayer be a priority for us.
In Colossians we are commanded something similar: “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving” (Colossians 4:2). We are to be steadfast in prayer; watchful in prayer. We are to be people of diligent prayer!
My friends, pray! Pray always! Pray diligently! Pray fervently! Pray without ceasing! Make prayer a priority in your life because you need it! More specifically, you need Him.
Part One: The Priority of Prayer
In these days He went out to the mountain to pray… (Luke 6:12a)
If you could ask Jesus one question, what would you ask Him? Perhaps you would ask Him to help you better understand the nature of God, how He can be 3 Persons in One? Maybe you would ask Him to help you to understand the hypostatic union; that mysterious joining together of the two natures of Christ, both human and divine. In other words, how can Jesus be both truly God and truly Man? Or perhaps you would ask Him about some of the great mysteries of theology such as how do God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility coincide? Or maybe you would ask Him what happened to the dinosaurs? Just think of the endless possibilities of questions that you could ask the One in whom dwells all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
The Apostles had this opportunity. They walked with Christ throughout His ministry hearing His marvelous teachings and witnessing His incredible miracles. They were there when Jesus fed the 5,000 and when He raised Lazarus from the dead. Walking with Him as they did, they had the opportunity to ask Jesus anything that they wanted. But what did they ask Him? What was the pressing question that was in the mind of the apostles? The disciples went to Jesus one day and they said, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1b). Of all of the things they could have asked Him, they wanted to learn how to pray!
Why was this such a pressing concern for them? I believe it was because they had witnessed the prayer life of Jesus. In fact, the first half of that verse explains the occasion of the apostle’s request: “Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when He finished, one of His disciples said to Him” (Luke 11:1a). Here we find what prompted their plea: they saw Christ at prayer. They were witnesses to the prayer life of Jesus Christ, and seeing how committed Christ was to prayer, they too wanted to know how to pray.
The Lord Jesus Christ was devoted to prayer. It was a priority in His life. In our text that we are considering, we are told that “In these days He went out to the mountain to pray” (Luke 6:12a). Jesus went off by Himself to pray. This was something that Jesus did on countless occasions, always making time to spend in prayer with the Father. Earlier in Luke’s gospel we are told that Jesus “would withdraw to desolate places and pray” (Luke 5:16). In Mark we see this same pattern: “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, He departed and went out to a desolate place, and there He prayed” (Mark 1:35). After Jesus fed the 5,000, He again desired to spend time with the Father in prayer: “And after He had taken leave of them, He went up on the mountain to pray. And when evening came, the boat was out to sea, and He was alone on land” (Mark 6:46-47).
When Jesus went up on the mount of transfiguration, He did not go for the purpose of being transfigured before them. That isn’t the reason why He made the trip up the mountain that day. No, the Bible explains that “He took with Him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray” (Luke 9:28). Christ, as He often did, went up on the mountain to pray. It was while He was praying that He was transfigured before them. The occasion of one of the most significant events that took place in the gospels was in a moment of prayer for the Lord Jesus.
Here are five occasions where we are told that Christ sought the Father in prayer. It is clear that in His life and ministry, Christ made prayer a priority. He was always finding time to get alone with the Father to pray.
What are your priorities? One of the things that we often say is that we do not have enough time in the day. One of my favorite excuses for skipping exercise is that I do not have enough time. But the fact is, we make time for what is important to us. Is prayer important to us? It is clear that Christ was devoted to prayer as He made time to get alone with the Father for countless hours of time for communion with the Father. Are we devoted to prayer in our personal lives?
I believe that one of the reasons why we do not prioritize prayer is because we do not realize how dependent we are upon God. God holds our very breath in His hands. Our heart is beating right now only because He wills it to continue to do so. In His hands are life and death, blessing and curse. How dependent are we upon Him? Jesus instructed us in the model prayer to pray in this way, “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). In other words, we are dependent upon God for our most basic need: our daily sustenance. In prayer we recognize that our daily bread is provided by the hand of God. But I fear that we have forgotten this.
We have become self-dependent and self-reliant. We have done exactly what God warned the people of Israel about in the Old Testament. What do I mean? When God was preparing the people of Israel to enter into the land that He had promised to them, He reminded them of how good the land was going to be that He was taking them to. In that land they would lack nothing. They would have bread without scarcity; they would have honey and wheat, and barley; they would have vines, figs, and pomegranates; they would have everything that they could want. They would be rich! They would be full! They would live in bounty.
But God had a warning for them: “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God… lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Deuteronomy 8:11-14). Remember Me, God says, lest when you arrive in the land of bounty, you forget that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt and provided you with all of this bounty. Israel was not to forget that they were dependent upon God for everything, even when they were rich.
Later in that same chapter, God warns them again: “Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth” (Deuteronomy 8:17-18). The people were to remember that it was God who provides, and not the might of their own hand. This message applies to us today. How so? It is difficult for you and I to recognize our dependence upon God when we can walk over to the refrigerator and find plenty to eat anytime we want it. It is hard to see our dependency upon God when we can drive our car to the grocery store, or to the restaurant, and buy whatever we want to eat whenever we want it.
We are rich and full, we lack very little, and so we live our lives in self-dependence! Everyday we wake up and go to work and we rely upon the work of our hands to provide for ourselves. We have forgotten that it is the Lord who gives us the power to get wealth. We have forgotten that we are dependent upon Him for our very bread. If we are to make prayer a priority, we must begin by recognizing our dependence upon the Lord for all that we have and all that we need.
This is why when we experience adversity in our lives that prayer becomes a priority again. It is during times of adversity when we recognize our helplessness and begin to cry out to the Lord for help! But the fact of the matter is, we are not just helpless during times of adversity! We are dependent upon the Lord every moment of every day! We are dependent upon Him for the air in our lungs and the beating heart within our chests. He sustains us by the word of His power! When we recognize this reality and our reliance upon God for everything in our lives, we will begin to see prayer as a priority!
My friends, if Christ made prayer a priority, how much more so ought we to have prayer as a priority? Christ, the perfect Son of God, did not rely on His sinless flesh, how can we rely on our sinful flesh! Prayer should be to us a priority because apart from Him we can do nothing!
This is the reason why God’s Word commands us to pray. The Bible says that we are to “Pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1st Thessalonians 5:17-18). Many Christians are constantly asking, “What is God’s will for my life?” Paul tells us very clearly what God’s will is for us: we are to pray without ceasing and give thanks in all circumstances. God’s will is that prayer be a priority for us.
In Colossians we are commanded something similar: “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving” (Colossians 4:2). We are to be steadfast in prayer; watchful in prayer. We are to be people of diligent prayer!
My friends, pray! Pray always! Pray diligently! Pray fervently! Pray without ceasing! Make prayer a priority in your life because you need it! More specifically, you need Him.
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