Prayers

 

Why did Jesus prayer? After all, He was God so was He just praying to Himself?

Jesus prayed as an example for us. And yet, it was not a hollow exercise. Yes, Jesus was, and is, God, but He was also human. The human side of Him was vulnerable and in need of guidance. The divine side of Jesus knew that the best way to gain wisdom and understanding was to seek it from His Heavenly Father.

Jesus’ Prayer Life

 

Right after feeding the 5,000 we read:

Matthew 14:23, “After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone.”

Mark 1:34-35, “³⁴ And He healed many who were ill with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He was not permitting the demons to speak, because they knew who He was. ³⁵ In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.”

Luke 5:15-16 “¹⁵ But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. ¹⁶ But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.”

We can see a pattern here. When Jesus finished something big what did He do? Did He go home and relax in front of the TV? Did He celebrate with a big ice cream sundae with lots of whipped cream and fudge? No, He went off by Himself to pray. The best way for any us to recharge our own batteries is to get alone and pray.

Though praying in groups is good as is saying the “Amen” at the end of someone else’s prayer, there is no substitute for getting off alone and praying. This time is crucial. Some of our greatest times with God will be when we are with God alone. When we can spill out our every emotion, desire, joy, confusion, and hurt.

Hebrews 5:7, “In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.”

Jesus’ prayers were not technical. They were not meant to impress anyone, either those listening or even God. They came from His heart; they were filled with emotion. At times they were loud and at times He cried. “Piety” means to respect or reverence God. Jesus’ prayers were answered because He was pious. When we approach God in prayer, our focus should not be on our prayer but on God.  In the former, we are more concerned about our words, what we are saying. In the latter, we are more concerned about our hearts and who it is to whom we are speaking. Our prayers are not directed to some clerk nor to someone that we just want to speak at. They are communion with the living God Almighty. We should approach with piety and not with glibness.

Jesus’ Prayers

 

There are 26 recorded prayers of Jesus.

1	prior to Bethlehem	Hebrews 10:5,7
2	at His baptism	Luke 3:21,22
3	before His first preaching tour of Galilee	Mark 1:35-39
4	after the healing of a leper	Luke 5:12-16
5	before choosing the twelve disciples	Luke 6:12,13
6	after being rejected by certain cities in Galilee	Matthew 11:25-26
7	prior to the feeding of 5000 people	John 6:11
8	after feeding 5000 people	Matthew 14:22,23
9	as He healed a deaf man	Mark 7:32-37
10	prior to feeding 4000 people	Mark 8:6
11	before Peter's great confession	Luke 9:18; Matthew 16:14-17
12	during His transfiguration	Luke 9:28-35
13	after hearing the report of the seventy	Luke 10:17-21
14	before teaching the Lord's Prayer	Luke 11:1; Matthew 6:9-13
15	at the grave site of Lazarus	John 11:41, 42
16	over little children	Mark 10:13-16
17	in the temple on Palm Sunday	John 12:20-28
18	over Jerusalem	Matthew 23:37-39; Luke 19:41-44
19	in the upper room prior to His death	Matthew 26:26-28
20	for Peter	Luke 22:31-34
21	His great High Priestly Prayer	John 17
22	in Gethsemane prior to His death	Mark 14:32-42; Matthew 26:39-46
23	on the cross	Luke 23:34; Matthew 27:46; John 19:30; Luke 23:46
24	at His resurrection	Hebrews 2:12,13; John 20:17
25	at Emmaus	Luke 24:13-35
26	at the Ascension	Luke 24:50-53

Note: This table was adapted from http://www.askapastor.org/prayers.html

There are also verses that talk about Jesus still praying for us today: Romans 8:34; I John 2:1; Hebrews 7:25; 9:24.

We’re going to look at some of these passages.

At His baptism

Luke 3:21-22, “²¹ Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened, ²² and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, ‘You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.’”

We can see here that the beginning of Jesus’ ministry started with two things: 1) obedience to the Father via baptism and 2) prayer. The result was the Father’s confirmation of Jesus’ ministry.

Whenever we start a new and important stage in life our first instinct should be to go to God in prayer. We will need direction, guidance, and grace.

But in fact, any step that we take in life should begin with prayer. It doesn’t have to be a day of fasting but it needs to be sincere. Jesus’ prayer at His baptism couldn’t have been long, but it was definitely in faith and sincere.

God’s guidance and blessing comes through obedience followed by prayer. We should not be so presumptive so as to think that God will listen to and heed our prayers no matter where our lives are at spiritually. To put a twist on an old saying: We can’t kill our parents and then pray for God’s assistance because we are now an orphan. If we are in sin then our first prayer should be repentance. But because God is merciful He will listen to and answer our prayers even when in sin. We just shouldn’t count on it.

Martin Luther said, “I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer.” Of course it helps that he was a monk whose business was to spend time with God. But still, the point is clear; it is God who blesses and God who curses. Prayer moves God.

When choosing His 12 Apostles

 

Luke 6:12-13

¹² It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God. ¹³ And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles:

The twelve Apostles were going to be Jesus’ key men. They were the ones who were going to take His message to the rest of the world. They would be with Him all throughout His public ministry and they were going to record what He said and did. They would also include the one who would betray Him. Getting these twelve right was vital to the course of history. So what did Jesus do? He didn’t go through resumes. He didn’t consult a public relations firm. He spent all night in prayer.

Likewise, when we have important decisions to make--college, marriage, career, moving, church—we should spend much time in prayer. It doesn’t have to be overnight or all in one shot, but it should be significant.

We see the same principle in Mark 1:35-39

³⁵ In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there. ³⁶ Simon and his companions searched for Him; ³⁷ they found Him, and said to Him, “Everyone is looking for You.” ³⁸ He said to them, “Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for.” ³⁹ And He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out the demons.

We see here the same situation. Before Jesus took His ministry throughout all Galilee He spent much time in prayer.

Our actions may be like a car, but it is prayer that is the gasoline.

After being rejected

 

Matthew 11:25-26

²⁵ At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. ²⁶ Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.

Jesus had been preaching and doing miracles in many cities. The result was not that the people were in awe. Rather, they rejected Him. So when He was rejected what did Jesus do? He praised God because even though the majority of people rejected Him there were still some who believed. Jesus did not dwell on the negative. He did not scheme against them. He did not defend Himself and pump Himself up as being too good for the treatment that He got. Rather He found the positive and thanked God for it. He was less interested in how His reputation looked than in the desire that the Father be pleased.

When we are betrayed, rejected, and treated unfairly, one of our first responses should be to look to God and praise Him for whatever good there was in the situation. This reflects Jeremiah 15:19, “Therefore, thus says the LORD, “ If you return, then I will restore you— Before Me you will stand; And if you extract the precious from the worthless, You will become My spokesman. They for their part may turn to you, But as for you, you must not turn to them.” Our sinful response to rejection is usually two-fold: 1) condemning the other person and 2) justifying and building up ourselves. Rather, Jesus was more concerned in that God was pleased. In our rejection or betrayal, did we do what was right? Did we show grace even in the midst of sin? If so, then we should be glad that this was pleasing to our Father.

Thanksgiving

 

John 6:11, “Jesus then took the loaves, and having given thanks, He distributed to those who were seated; likewise also of the fish as much as they wanted.”

This is the situation where Jesus fed the 5,000.

Notice here that Jesus gave thanks before the miracle. He didn’t wait to see if the circumstances turned out the way that He wanted and then, if so, He would thank God. He gave thanks to God for the result even before He knew what would happen.

This exemplifies:

Ephesians 5:20, “always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;”

1 Thessalonians 5:18, “in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

If we give our plans to God then we should thank Him no matter what happens. Life is not divided into A) if all goes the way that I want then thank God or B) it does not go the way that I want  so don’t thank God.  Give thanks in everything.

The person that you tried to reconcile with snubbed you. Thank God that He gave you the grace to do what was right even if it didn’t turn out how you wanted. You didn’t get the job. Thank God for His sovereignty in that perhaps there was a really good reason for you not to get that job that you may never know about. That relationship fell apart; thank God. You lost your job; thank God.

An unknown author said:

Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you desire. If you did, what would there be to look forward to?

Be thankful when you don’t know something for it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times, during those times you grow.

Be thankful for your limitations; they give you opportunities for improvement.

Be thankful for each new challenge which will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes; they will teach you valuable lessons.

Be thankful when you’re tired and weary, because it means you’ve given your all.

It’s easy to be thankful for the good things. Yet a life of rich fulfillment comes to those who are thankful for the setbacks.

Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive. Find a way to be thankful for your troubles and they can become your blessings.

Over little children

 

Mark 10:13-16

¹³ And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them. ¹⁴ But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁵ Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” ¹⁶ And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them.

Many different types of people were bringing children (babies to preteens) to Jesus so that He might bless them. However the disciples were trying to prevent these people from doing that. Most likely they felt that babies and small children were unimportant and were not worth Jesus’ time. They felt that He should be spending His time on big and important matters and not on those who cannot contribute to the Kingdom. But Jesus was indignant at the disciples. This word “indignant” shows a strong emotional reaction from Jesus. It is from a Greek word that means “to feel pain” and is an ingressive aorist which means that Jesus entered in a new state. Jesus did not give a dry explanation. He did not get all theological. Jesus got indignant. When people were not acting right towards others, no matter who those people were, Jesus was outraged.

We also should not turn a blind eye towards those who are being oppressed by others. It is in the nature of God to stand with the oppressed. We should stand with those who are being bullied, with those who are being excluded and isolated, with those who are being treated with less dignity than that which God has bestowed upon them, with those who are being sold in slavery.

Then Jesus didn’t just give a speech about how people should act; rather, He called the children over to Himself and He blessed them. But this blessing was not just a hug and a “Go in peace.” The Greek word here for “blessing” indicates two things: that the blessing was fervent and that He kept on blessing them. Jesus was passionate and He went on as long as they kept bringing children to Him. Jesus didn’t complain; He blessed. He didn’t snuggle up to the rich and famous in a splendid banquet hall; He got down on His knees in the dirt with the smallest ones and with the ones who couldn’t contribute much in return. We need to have the same attitude.

Foreshadowing His death

 

John 12:27-28

²⁷ “Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. ²⁸ Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came out of heaven: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.”

When Jesus says here, “My soul has become troubled” this phrase, once again like we see with so much of Jesus’ reactions, was full of emotion. “Troubled” can also be translated as turmoil, stirred, or agitated. As we read the Gospels we do not see the Jesus of so many movies: someone who is stoic and humorless, someone whose face looks like it was covered with wax. We do not see a God who knows what He wants to do and then carries it out with cold calculation. Rather we see someone who is passionate; someone who is filled with emotion. Someone who reacts to people and situations with His heart and with His feelings. Christians, too, should be easily stirred by things such as injustice, cruelty, and violence. But also stirred by worship, evangelism, and righteous victory. Luke 10:27 says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your…” What is the first thing mentioned: Heart? If our heart is dull then our spirit will be dull. If our hearts are dull then what will motivate us to evangelize the lost? What will drive us to show compassion? What will take us from merely singing hymns to praising God with a worship that soars?

Of course we still need to have self-control. We shouldn’t fall to our knees crushed and weary from every set back. We shouldn’t beat our breasts and wail over every sin. But self-control does not mean suppressing our emotions until there is nothing left to control.

But here, in anticipation of His horrific death, Jesus’ prayer was not, “Don’t make it hurt” or “Take it away.” It was that He should be in total submission to the Father’s will and that, in the end, God be glorified. Even in our most trying circumstances, we, likewise, need to submit to God’s will. That means doing what is right no matter what. Even if doing what is right might cost us more.

For Peter

 

Luke 22:31-34

³¹ “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; ³² but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” ³³ But he said to Him, “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!” ³⁴ And He said, “I say to you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me.”

 Jesus knew that Peter would desert Him and deny Him three times. But knowing that Satan wanted to sift him like wheat (i.e. put Peter and the others through the wringer), Jesus didn’t take the attitude of “Good, he deserves what’s coming to him.” Instead, Jesus prayed for Peter to have strength and perseverance.

When someone is against us and then something bad happens to them aren’t we generally glad? Don’t we take the attitude of “They got what they deserved”? We need to be more like Jesus. We need to prayer for God’s grace for that person, that they might be saved through this, or, if they are already a Christian, that they would become more like Christ through this. But not necessarily that their times would be rough to get there, but that God would give them strength and grace, that God would be merciful to them.

Jesus’ prayers on the cross

 

Luke 23:34a, “But Jesus was saying, ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.’”

These few words as so packed with truth and application. We’ll just look at a few.

For one, Jesus forgave those who hadn’t asked for it. We, also, should be willing to forgive people even when they deliberately hurt us and do not care or, oftentimes, even think that they are justified. If we only forgive those who humbly repent then we will carry lifetimes of grudges.

Secondly, Jesus didn’t demonize them or exaggerate their actions or thoughts to make them out to be worse than they really are. We want to justify our hatred or bitterness, so we magnify the bad that they did. We like to hold grudges. We like to not be reconciled. So how can we justify our bad thoughts and behavior if what they did wasn’t really so terrible? We are forced to do one of two things: 1) vilify them, or 2) forgive them which is harder. Jesus didn’t vilify them. In fact, He understood that they were weak, ignorant people.

Thirdly, these are the first words of Jesus on the cross. So the first thing that Jesus did in His agony and Passion was to forgive those who did this to Him. He forgave the very soldiers who mocked and scourged Him and who were still standing right in front of Him. He forgave the crowd that screamed, “Crucify Him.” He forgave the disciples who deserted and denied Him. He forgave you and me, the ones whose sins actually put Him on the cross. This was the basis, this was the foundation for Him being able to do the rest of what He did on the cross. He could not harbor unforgiveness and then say to the thief next to Him, “Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” And this must be our basis and our foundation to move beyond the hurts in our life. This harkens back to Job 42:10 which says, “The Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the Lord increased all that Job had twofold.” Notice that Job was blessed after he prayed for those who accused and judged him. Before moving ahead, we must forgive.

Matthew 27:46, “About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’”

This is actually the fourth words, out of seven, that Jesus spoke on the cross.

Here we see in all of the horror of the cross, in all of Jesus’ loneliness and abandonment, He cried out to the Father. He did not hold back His feelings and emotions. He asked God, “Why is this happening”? We, too, when in trials and pain can cry out to God and ask Him what is going on. We can be unreserved in our emotions. We can lay it all out before God. God doesn’t want us to pretend. He wants us to be real; He wants to hear what we really think and feel.

Luke 23:46, “And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.’ Having said this, He breathed His last.”

And these, the seventh and final, words of Jesus on the cross show that no matter the result, no matter the terrible pain and horror, He always trusted Himself to the Father. And therein, no matter our situation, we need to always say, “God, into Your hands, I commit myself.”

The Great High Priestly Prayer

 

John 17:1-26

Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, ² even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. ³ This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. ⁴ I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. ⁵ Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

⁶ “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. ⁷ Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; ⁸ for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me. ⁹ I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; ¹⁰ and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. ¹¹ I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. ¹² While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.

The Disciples in the World

¹³ But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. ¹⁴ I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. ¹⁵ I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. ¹⁶ They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. ¹⁷ Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. ¹⁸ As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

²⁰ “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; ²¹ that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

Their Future Glory

²² The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; ²³ I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. ²⁴ Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.

²⁵ “O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; ²⁶ and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

This is Jesus’ longest prayer recorded in the Bible. Of course, He had longer prayers because there are times where He prayed all night. But this is the longest one that was written down.

This prayer comes between Jesus’ final instructions to His disciples in John 16 where He foreshadows His impending death but with His promise that He has overcome the world and the events leading to His crucifixion. We need to always keep in mind when studying this prayer that it immediately precedes the most horrific few days of anyone’s life in all of history. Jesus knew that He was about to be scourged and mocked, that He was to become sin and pay that infinite penalty, and that He was to be abandoned by all of His friends and even by His Father.

You can easily spend months, even years, teaching about this prayer, but we are going to cover just a few points.

1) At the very beginning of this prayer we can see several keys points. He starts off with the word “Father.” Just like “The Lord’s Prayer” in Matthew 6:9-13 which starts off with “Our Father” we see how Jesus in His prayers instantly draws into the relationship that He has with His Heavenly Father. So many of Jesus’ prayers start off with “Father.”

Matthew 11:25, “At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,…”

John 12:37, “Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’?

Luke 23:34a, “But Jesus was saying, ‘Father, forgive them…’”

Luke 23:46, “And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, ‘Father , into Your hands…’”

Just to point out a few.

Jesus’ prayers were just requests. They were communion.

Of course, this isn’t a formula. Starting everyone our prayers with “Father” does not make them more spiritual or efficacious. But in all of our prayers, we should always be aware of communion; we should always be aware of whom we are addressing. Prayer is not filling out a lay-away form and then handing it to the person on the other side of the counter. It is first and foremost us being with our Heavenly Father. This is part of the gist of 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Requests generally focus on our wants and needs. I am the center of attention. Not that this is terrible. God does want to hear our requests. The Psalms are full of requests. But giving thanks focuses on God and what He has given to us. Worship, however, is a complete focus on God.

In all of our prayers just don’t merely think “God,” but also think “Father.”

2) This prayer can be divided into four sections:

Verses 1-5: Glorification of the Father and of the Son

Verses 6-10: Petitions for his disciples

Verses 11-19: The preservation and sanctification of believers

Verses 20-26: The union of God the Father, God the Son, and believers

Notice that three of these four are focused on believers. Even though Jesus was about to be nailed to a cross, His thoughts were still focused on others.

When we pray, our prayers should not be all about ourselves. There should be a pretty hefty section devoted to others. However, we see in this prayer that Jesus did pray for Himself. So there is nothing wrong with praying for ourselves. We just need to be careful that our prayers are just not all about ourselves.

I remember once praying with someone. I prayed first and I prayer for several things in her life. Then she prayed and prayed for several things in… her life. At the end I remarked, “Well, I prayed for you and you prayed for you.”

3) When I mention “eternal life” what do you think of? Is it Heaven? Streets of gold? Angels and clouds? Living forever? Eternal happiness; no more tears? Yes it is all that. But notice Jesus’ definition of “eternal life”: “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” Eternal Life is being with God. When Jesus came to give us eternal life, He didn’t merely come to deliver us from Hell nor was it merely brining us into a really wonderful place. He came to bring us into the arms of the Father. If our Christianity is merely seeing what we can do for God then we’ve missed the point. There are times when we need to “Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:10). “Eternal Life” is not what we become or where we go; “Eternal Life” is Who we are with.

4) A key component of this prayer is the intimacy of all parties involved these being the Father, the Son, and believers.

First we see that the Father is in the Son (verses 21, 23)

Then we see the Son is in the Father (verse 21)

Believers are in the Father and the Son (verse 21)

And finally, the Son is in believers (verses 23, 26)

Christianity is primarily not about rules, not about a book, and not about doctrine. Those are all important and necessary, but Christianity is primarily about relationship: A relationship between God the Creator and His people. So much so that it is more than just being close to each other, but, more so, being within each other. This does not make us all equal, but it does make us forever intimate.

We can see this same unity in how many times the word “one” appears in this prayer. In this 649 word prayer, “one” appears six times regarding unity.

Verse 11: so that they may be one like us

Verse 21: May then all be one

Verse 21: just as, Father, you are in Me and I am in You, so that they also may be one in Us

Verse 22: I have given them the glory you gave to Me, that they may be one

Verse 22: as we are one

Verse 23: With Me in them and You in Me, may they be so perfected in one that the world will recognize that it was You who sent Me

This is not a God who is an aloof king, a benevolent despot. He is a God who is right there with us and right there for us. And, likewise, He wants us to be there for each other. The church is not where we get stabbed in the back; it is where we come for encouragement, support, comfort, and prayer. We should never try to build ourselves up by putting others down. Rather, we should build others up even if it means that they must stand on our willing backs.

Summary

 

Of Jesus’ 26 prayers we looked at 11 of them. What were some of the key things that we learned?

·         We learned that Jesus prayed often and that oftentimes He prayed for a long time.

·         We learned that He prayed a lot alone and a lot with others.

·         We learned that He prayed before big events and stages in His life and also before making big decisions.

·         We learned that the praise and glory of the Father was preeminent.

·         We learned that He often prayed for others but He also prayed for Himself.

·         We learned that Jesus was strongly emotional but controlled.

·         We learned that He entrusted Himself to His Heavenly Father.

·         We learned that His prayers were communion and relationship.

·         We learned that His prayers were hopeful.

A person’s prayers can tell a lot about that person. Jesus’ prayers give us a lot of insight into who He is. As we study His prayers our response should be a greater desire to draw nearer to Him, to worship Him, and to become more like Him in our prayer life also.