The Prayer Life of Jesus – Introduction

The Prayer Life of Jesus – Introduction.

“Tremendous power is released through the passionate, heartfelt prayer of a righteous man!” (James 5:16).

The Lord Jesus always was and still continues to be the ultimate prayer warrior. He prayed to the Father even before He was born (Hebrews 10:5-7), and He kept praying until the moment of His ascension (Luke 24:50-53). But He didn’t stop praying when His work on earth was done, for He continues to intercede for us at the right hand of the Father as we read this! (Hebrews 7:25). His ministry was largely a prayer ministry in the sense of prayer being the foundation for everything He did. He prayed for saints and sinners, privately and publicly, with His face to the ground and His head up facing the heavens. He prayed in grief and He prayed in gratitude, while exhausted and while full of energy. Jesus prayed with His dying breath and He prayed after He rose from the dead. He prayed before major decisions and during dramatic miracles. He prayed spontaneously and He prayed in words prepared thousands of years before Him. He prayed short, one-sentence prayers (John 12:28), and He prayed in at least one long prayer that seemed to encompass just about everything (John 17). Jesus developed a lifestyle of prayer that was common to observant Jews, but nonetheless uncommon in its intimacy with the Father.

Jewish Lifestyle. Being born and raised in an observant and orthodox Jewish household, Jesus was immersed from Day One on earth in prayer, in the centrality of prayer to one’s life and faith. Observant Jews practiced formal prayers frequently during the day, and spontaneous prayers throughout each day. They would pray the Sh’ma twice a day, the primary statement of faith for all biblical Jews, starting with its first line, “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your might…” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9). Then there’s the Amidah, a series of 18 sacred benedictions that each Jewish father would recite at home twice a day, or perhaps each rabbi in the local synagogue. The Psalms were memorized and on the lips of all believing Jews, as were other classic prayers from the Hebrew Bible, most notably Aaron’s Priestly Blessing in Numbers 6:24-26, “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn His face towards you and give you peace.”  But by no means were the Jews content with all those formal prayers each day. The rabbis taught each Jew to offer up sincere blessings for just about everything in the course of each day, as many as a hundred blessings, giving God praise and thanks for every common blessing enjoyed. There were blessings for practically every conceivable grace and event, from successfully going to the bathroom, to waking up each morning, to the blessing of being able to retire at the end of the day. These formal prayers and the more informal blessings developed a habit of prayer in each earnest Jewish believer, and made sure that God was seen as the main reference point all day for everyone in the faith. The Jewish prayers were constant reminders of God’s grace and goodness, and made sure that each Jewish home and synagogue were cultures of prayer. Jesus was shaped and directed and nurtured in this Jewish prayer life, and since He was a faithful Jew, prayer was certainly second nature to Him throughout His time on earth.

Inner Dialogue. Few mysteries in the faith are less likely to be understood than the union between the Father and the Son. Their level of intimate, eternal communion is well beyond our grasp. “The Father is in me, and I am in the Father.” (John 17:21). The prayer life of Jesus has everything to do with their intimacy. Somehow, the Father and the Son were inside each other in Spirit. So when Jesus prayed to the Father, He was spiritually looking inward to the Father’s presence. Jesus was speaking to the Father in a secret place within Himself where the Father dwelled. The prayer life of Christ was an inner dialogue between Father and Son, a private conversation of two divine Beings who love each other. Jesus said that He would not even take a step without the direction from the Father, He wouldn’t say a word without the Father’s approval. Jesus placed Himself completely at His Father’s disposal, such was the level of trust between the Father and the Son. Certainly, Jesus was the perfect example of one who “prayed without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:16-17). Jesus’ prayer was conscious and deliberate, and it was also subconscious and intuitive. Jesus walked prayerfully every second of every day, out of devotion to the Father.

References to Prayer. In the Gospels there were many times Jesus was said to have prayed, without Him being quoted in His prayers. All these references point to the dominant place of prayer in Jesus’ life:

• At His Baptism: “Now while all the people were being baptized, Jesus had also been baptized; and while Jesus was praying, the heavens opened up…” (Luke3:21-23);
• After a Day of Healing: “ That evening, the whole city was gathered around the door of the house… And in the morning, while it was still very dark, Jesus got up and went out to a deserted place; and there He prayed.”  (Mark 1:32-35);
• After Fatiguing Ministry: “But now more than ever the word about Jesus spread abroad; many crowds would gather to hear Him and be cured of their diseases. But He would withdraw to deserted places and pray.” (Luke 5:15);
• Choosing the Twelve: “Now during those days Jesus went out to the mountain to pray; and He spent the night in prayer to God. And when day came, He called all His disciples and chose twelve of them.” (Luke 6:12);
• Grace Before Multiplication: “Taking up the five loaves and two fish, Jesus looked up to heaven, spoke a blessing, and broke the loaves…” (Mark 6:41). Note: Jesus no doubt offered up to the Father the traditional Jewish grace before a meal, “Blessed are you, Lord God, King of the Universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.”
• Before Walking on Water: “Immediately (after the multiplication of loaves and fish), Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side to Bethsaida, while He dismissed the crowd. After saying farewell to them, He went up on the mountain to pray.” (Mark 6:45-46).
• Healing the Deaf and Mute Man: “Jesus put His fingers into the man’s ears. Then He spit and touched the man’s tongue. Jesus then looked up into heaven in prayer, and with a deep sigh said to the man, ‘Ephphatha!’ which is Aramaic for ‘Be Open Now!’ (Mark 7:32-35);  
• Before Peter’s Confession: “Once when Jesus was praying alone, with only His disciples near Him, He asked them, ‘Who do the crowds say that I am?… But who do you say that I am?” (Luke 9:18);
• At the Transfiguration: “Now Jesus took with Him Peter, James and John, and they went up on the mountain to pray. And while Jesus was praying, the appearance of His face changed, and His clothes became dazzling white.” (Luke 9:28-29);
• Blessing the Children: “Little children were being brought to Jesus in order that He might lay His hands on them and pray a blessing over them. The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them, but Jesus said, ‘Let the children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.’ And Jesus laid His hands on them and went on His way.’ (Matt. 19:13-15). Note: As an established and well-respected rabbi, Jesus probably prayed the Aaronic Blessing over each child;
• Offering a Model of How to Pray: “Jesus was praying in a certain place, and after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray like that….” (Luke 11:1)
• Grace at the Last Supper: “When the hour came, Jesus took His place at the table, and the apostles with Him… He took the cup, and after giving thanks Jesus said to them… Then He took a loaf of bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them…” (Luke 22:14-19). Note: The grace that Jesus had offered in gratitude to God at this Passover celebration was most probably the traditional Jewish blessings before meals: “Blessed are you, Lord God, King of the Universe, who gives us fruit from the vine.” And the blessing before the bread was, “Blessed are you, Lord God, King of the Universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.”  
• In Emmaus after the Resurrection: “When Jesus was at the table with them, He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized Jesus; and He vanished from their sight.” (Luke 24:30-31);
• During His Ascension: “Then Jesus led them out as far as Bethny, and, lifting up His hands, He blessed them. While He was blessing them, Jesus withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.” Note: It is fairly certain that Jesus blessed the disciples with the traditional Aaronic Priestly blessing noted above.

Spoken Prayers of Jesus. There were also at least eleven prayers of Jesus that were quoted in specific Gospel passages. They will receive a lot of attention in this blog theme of “The Prayer Life of Jesus.”