Chapter Eight – Jesus Teaching on Prayer
Read Matthew 6: 5-13; 21:22; Luke 14: 22-23; 18: 9-14; John 17: 1-26
We cannot have a discussion about Jesus without
spending time understanding His prayer life and what we can learn from that.
Most if not all of the prayers that we have in the Gospels are there to teach
us about prayer. Whether the discussion is Jesus teaching the disciples and
ultimately us or reading Jesus prayers, they are there for our benefit. Jesus
believed in the power of prayer which surely had been ingrained at an early
age. Every devoted Jew would have learned early on the Shema, the daily prayer from
Deuteronomy 6: 4-5,
“Hear, O
Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. 5 You shall love the
LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your
might.”
The Shema as it is called
would have been the prayer at rising in the morning and before ending the day
as well as at the two meals of each day. Jesus would have followed in the
traditions of the Hebrew people in learning and reciting this prayer. Without
delving into the divinity of Jesus, the human Jesus would have followed a
devoted prayer life at table, at the Temple and during worship services. When
we begin to delve into the unique relationship as the Son of God, prayer would
have been a constant communication with God the Father for Jesus.
Jesus believed
that prayer was an important aspect of life and His teachings indicate that we
should have a deep conviction to have a prayer life in our lives. If we read
the Gospel accounts of Jesus prayer life, we will find that the stories and
prayers of Jesus provide for us an example of what our prayer life should be. I
have divided this discussion into two parts, How to pray and when to pray.
Others may divide His teaching in different ways but I believe if we learn from
Jesus how and when to pray, we will have all we need in our discipleship
journey.
So how are we
supposed to pray? We start by understanding that prayer is our conversation
with God. I liken it to a relationship that you desire to strengthen and grow.
Your work would be to learn as much about the other person, about their likes
and dislikes, about their habits and their desires and dreams. We do this by
watching and listening. The more we communicate in verbal and non-verbal ways,
the closer we get to the answers about the other person we need. Unfortunately
for us, the non-verbal is not possible except through those who have journeyed
deep in their relationship with Jesus. So we are left to delve into the Gospel
accounts of Jesus life to gain an understanding. All that to say this, in order
to grow closer to God we must be in constant communication with God and the way
to do that is through prayer. Jesus showed us by example that prayer should be
private and personal as much as possible. Jesus daily routine was to pray. In
the Gospel accounts listed below we see that He prayed in the morning as was
the custom of His day, or when He had finished the work of the day, He would go
to a place where He could be alone and pray.
Mark 1:35; 35 In the
morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted
place, and there he prayed.
Mark 6: 45-46; 45
Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the
other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 After
saying farewell to them, he went up on the mountain to pray.
Luke 4: 42; 42 At
daybreak he departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowds were
looking for him; and when they reached him, they wanted to prevent him from
leaving them.
Luke 5:15-16; 15 But now
more than ever the word about Jesus spread abroad; many crowds would gather to
hear him and to be cured of their diseases. 16 But he would withdraw
to deserted places and pray.
Luke 22:39-4139 He came
out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples
followed him. 40 When he reached the place, he said to them,
"Pray that you may not come into the time of trial."
He even goes so far as to teach us
that in Matthew 6: 5-6, "And whenever you pray, do not be like the
hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street
corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have
received their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your room
and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who
sees in secret will reward you.
But all prayer is
not in private and Jesus also wants us to know when we pray what is important
for us to know in those prayers. Jesus would often pray in public, whether He
was blessing the meal or thanking God for healing or asking God for direction,
many of those prayers are in the public eye. But Jesus was specific in His
teaching about what is important in prayer. He reminds us that whatever we ask
for in His name will be given to us. That reminder comes to us from three of
the four Gospel accounts (see Matt 7: 7-11; 21:22, Mark 11: 24-25, John 14:
13-14). But Jesus clarifies what it means to pray in His name in John 15: 7, If you
abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will
be done for you. Prayer should be
about the will of God. I am often asked how to pray or is there a right way and
wrong way to pray. I believe that what we can glean from John 15: 7 is that
Jesus is telling us that when we pray, it does not matter so much the method of
prayer as it does the content of that prayer. In other words, if we are seeking
guidance or intercession in Jesus name, then we are praying as if we are Jesus
seeking those things from God.
Now all that may be a bit confusing so let’s
solicit the text to see if Jesus can clarify it further. There are actually
three that I believe do this nicely. John 14: 13 is one of those texts that
tell us if we ask for it in Jesus name we will receive whatever we ask. But
Jesus adds to this that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments. Well
that’s easy, so exactly what did He command us to do? He commanded us to love
God with all our hearts, minds and souls, straight from the ancient Shema in
Deuteronomy. He also commands us to love our neighbors. Between these two are
all the commandments of life. So it says to us, if we pray with those two
commandments in our heart, whatever we ask for will be given.
But there is further clarification in Luke 18:
9-14, one of the passages you were asked to read. It is the story of the
Pharisee and the Tax Collector. Both of these two men come to the Temple to
pray. The Pharisee prays a prayer that is both self-serving and a violation of
the second commandment of God, to love your neighbor. In fact, we would
probably classify the Pharisee’s prayer as arrogant. The tax collector on the
other hand knows where he stands in life. He is hated by the people of the
town, his dealings would be classified as shaky at best in the ethical scheme
of things and he comes to God asking for forgiveness. He knows that he has done
wrong and so he comes to the one place and the one being that could possibly
provide forgiveness in his repentative prayer. Jesus tells us that he is
justified in his prayer.
Finally we have the Lord’s Prayer (see Matthew 6:
7-13; Luke 11: 1-4). I suspect that if we had the opportunity to talk with
Jesus about His teaching of prayer to the disciples, He would be surprised that
we have made it liturgical. I believe that if we look at what He said, it was
meant to teach us about how to pray, a guideline for the proper way to pray. So
if we were to look at it with that in mind, what does Jesus tell us? Jesus
teaches us that we begin each prayer acknowledging and praising God and living
as if the Kingdom has already come. We pray for sustenance and provision, the
things we need, that God would provide for those things. Then we ask for
forgiveness and we share in the love of God by forgiving others as God forgives
us. We ask God to protect us from temptation and the consequences of making bad
choices. End of prayer!
Before
I go on to when to pray, I want to go down a little bunny trail that might be
helpful. One of the best types of prayers to communicate with God is Centering
Prayer. In centering prayer we clear our mind and invite God to direct, lead
and guide us. Part of the process of clearing our mind is finding a word or
phrase that helps us. Many people use what is commonly referred to as “The
Jesus Prayer.” It comes directly from the story about the Tax Collector and
Pharisee and is the prayer of the Tax Collector, slightly modified. It goes
like this, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
John Wesley said,
“God's command to "pray without ceasing" is founded on the necessity
we have of his grace to preserve the life of God in the soul, which can no more
subsist one moment without it, than the body can without air. Whether we think
of; or speak to, God, whether we act or suffer for him, all is prayer, when we
have no other object than his love, and the desire of pleasing him. All that a Christian
does, even in eating and sleeping, is prayer, when it is done in simplicity,
according to the order of God, without either adding to or diminishing from it
by his own choice. Prayer continues in the desire of the heart, though the
understanding be employed on outward things. In souls filled with love, the
desire to please God is a continual prayer. As the furious hate which the devil
bears us is termed the roaring of a lion, so our vehement love may be termed
crying after God. God only requires of his adult children, that their hearts be
truly purified, and that they offer him continually the wishes and vows that
naturally spring from perfect love. For these desires, being the genuine fruits
of love, are the most perfect prayers that can spring from it.”[i]
We
should pray continuously all throughout the day, short prayers of thanksgiving
and need, longer prayers of intercession and hope. Jesus prayed before meals as
we find in Matthew 15:36 before He distributes the seven loaves and fish. He
prayed to give thanks for the healings that He was allowed to perform and for
the things that God had given Him. Probably the most important example that
Jesus gives us is that He prayed before making decisions. In Luke 6 Jesus goes
off to the mountain to pray for guidance about making the twelve disciples the
inner circle of disciples in His ministry. John 17 is one of the most beautiful
prayers that Jesus gave and it sets the example for us. Before He is taken
Jesus goes to the Garden and prays to God. First and foremost in the prayer is
a prayer of thanksgiving, followed by a prayer of intercession for the
disciples and then finally a prayer of intercession for us. On the cross Jesus
prays for intercession for each of us. So when do we pray? Jesus example is to
pray all the time. Pray for guidance and wisdom. Pray for others in
intercession of their needs. Pray for healing power. And then pray for our own
needs in acknowledgment of God’s will for our lives. But pray!
[i] From A Plain Account of Christian Perfection, as believed and taught by the Reverend Mr. John
Wesley, from the year 1725, to the year 1777.
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