At the beginning of worship, I asked you to think about this question, “If Jesus is God, why did Jesus need to pray?”
Because pray He did! In fact, the Gospels record 17 specific occasions when Jesus prayed.
He prayed at different times of the day; in different places; sometimes on His own; and sometimes when His Disciples were with Him.
In addition, the Bible records the words of 222 specific prayers – actual worded prayers, not just references to prayer with statements like he prayed, or he called upon the name of the Lord. There are 222 actual prayers … 176 prayers in the Old Testament and 46 in the New Testament.
If you read through the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) you will see Jesus constantly taught, encouraged and inspired His disciples to pray.
Prayer was obviously an important part of Jesus’ life. But why did Jesus pray? If Jesus is God, why did Jesus need to pray?
First, Jesus prayed because of His relationship with God the Father.
In John chapter 17, we find Jesus’ praying both for the disciples and for all who would believe in Him because of their testimony.
In His prayer, we see Jesus’ relationship with the Father and the confidence He has in His Father’s perfect provision and plan.
You could say that it was Jesus’ relationship with the Father that was the power that brought salvation to man. Jesus laid aside His glory and took on flesh and became obedient to God the Father.
Why did Jesus pray? Jesus prayed because of His dependence upon and His obedience to the Father.
Jesus said, “I can do nothing on my own. I judge as God tells me. Therefore, my judgment is just, because I carry out the will of the One who sent me, not my own will.” John 5:30
Jesus was in complete submission to the Father. Have you ever asked, “What would Jesus do?” It was a popular phrase many years ago, but perhaps a better question for today’s topic might be, instead of “What would Jesus do?” is “What did Jesus do?”
Jesus prayed often and consistently. He prayed early in the morning, late at night, He even prayed all through the night.
Luke 5:16 tells us Jesus often withdrew into the wilderness for prayer. He often sought out a place where He could be alone in prayer to God the Father. Jesus prayed without ceasing every chance He could.
Jesus prayed in every aspect of life. I wonder if we can say that same thing about our prayer life? Can you?
Can you say you pray without ceasing every chance you get? If not, perhaps you should rethink how you pray daily.
Jesus prayed because of His relationship with God the Father. But, we can also say Jesus prayers were based on the revealed truth of God. Jesus did not pray in a cold, distant manner. He prayed from His heart.
In His prayers Jesus demonstrated genuine empathy and love for God, for Himself, for His disciples, and for all who had or would place their trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior.
Jesus prayed before critical moments and events in His life.
What do you do when you know difficult or critical moments occur, or are about to occur in your own life? Is your first thought to seek God in prayer? Or, do you try to struggle through on your own strength?
Do you remember the incident when the disciples were caught up in a storm on the Sea of Galilee? Jesus had just performed the miracle of feeding 5,000 people, when He insisted that His disciples get into a boat and head across the lake to Bethsaida.
So, they left in the boat. After Jesus sent the people home, He went up into the hills to pray.
Later that night, the disciples were still in their boat in the middle of the lake, and Jesus was alone on land. The disciples had been in the boat for about nine hours, and according to the Gospel of John they had only rowed about four miles (John 6:19).
The Gospel of Mark tells us that Jesus saw that the disciples were in serious trouble. They were rowing hard in the storm and struggling against the wind and waves.
Remember, Jesus wasn’t in the boat because he had gone to the hills to pray. Jesus didn’t stop praying when His disciples were struggling.
So, it seems appropriate to ask ourselves, “What does Jesus do when we are in a storm of life?” The answer? Just like He did for the Apostles … Jesus prays for us.
Then, while Jesus is praying for us in our storms of life, what are we to do then? The simple answer is this … do what the disciples did … continue to row. You can’t give up in a storm, you need to keep going in confident faith.
Obviously, it wasn’t easy for the disciples. They “struggled and rowed hard”. Maybe at times you feel like you are rowing in a storm. Or maybe you just feel like you are a hamster in a wheel. The more you try to move forward, no matter how hard you run, you are still in the same place.
The disciples in the boat certainly did not give up, or bail out, and we shouldn’t either. There is no laying down the oars!
Now back to the disciples in the boat. It is about three o’clock in the morning, when Jesus approaches His disciples. He was not in another boat. He simply walked on the water towards them.
What a great visual for us today … think about it … at the right time in a storm … God appears. He shows Himself and everything begins to change.
When the situation feels hopeless, and you can’t see Jesus at work, just trust Him. Know He is at work. Know that He is praying a prayer for you that He Himself will answer.
His prayer is for you, for your situation. Jesus loves you and cares about the details of your life … He won’t forget you. Jesus will not abandon you to the storm.
In the storm, when the disciples saw Jesus walking on the water, they cried out in terror, thinking He was a ghost. They were all terrified when they first saw Him.
Then, Jesus climbed into the boat, the wind stopped, and the Disciples were totally amazed. I suspect we often all need to be reminded of these words of Jesus, “It is I; don’t be afraid!”
Jesus is not just praying for you – He is with you, in your storms, in your circumstances, in your situations. You are never alone. He is always with you.
That being the case, then, what are we to do? We need to pray.
Prayer has always been part of the lives of disciples. Both church history and the biographies of famous Christians provide us with many examples of people who understood the importance of prayer in their lives.
Martin Luther said, “If I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning the devil gets the victory through the day. I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer.”
How do you pray? I once heard this explanation and it stuck with me, so I am going to share it.
The speaker said there are three main categories of prayer:
Seeking Prayer, which implies seeking God and finding His will.
We can pray this because we know and believe that He listens to and answers those who earnestly seek Him and wants to do His will.
Secondly, there is Asking Prayer, which is asking God for things in faith according to His will. We can ask because we know and believe that He will answer.
And finally, there is Declaring Prayer, which involves authoritatively declaring His Word and promises in faith, which we can do because we know and believe that God is faithful to His Word and His promises.
We pray and seek God as a necessary part of our daily walk of faith and obedience as disciples of Jesus.
Knowing how to pray is 1% knowledge about prayer, and 99% faith. Faith is the active ingredient in all prayers.
Prayer is never about speaking the correct words; it’s about speaking words in faith.
God uses prayer as a means whereby He will do things through men as they pray, which He would not otherwise do.
If prayer puts God to work on earth, then, the opposite is also true … no prayer rules God out of the world’s work on earth and prevents God from working among us.
Jeremiah 33:3 is God’s challenge for us to pray…
“‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’”
We pray in faith, but perhaps we also need to pray with more patience to wait for God to answer. Sometimes He answers quickly, other times we actually enter into a storm before the answer comes. Or, the answer may come back … NO.
Always remember what Jesus said … “It is I; don’t be afraid.” Finally let’s return to the original question…
Why did Jesus pray?
Jesus prayed to teach us as a child of God, that our obedient submission to the will of God the Father will always bring us spiritual blessing. Jesus modeled what a prayer life should be for us, and what a model He was!
I will close with these words from Billy Graham – “Prayer is spiritual communication between man and God, a two-way relationship in which man should not only talk to God but also listen to Him. Prayer to God is like a child’s conversation with his father. It is natural for a child to ask his father for the things he needs.”
Remember that you can pray anytime, anywhere, and know God hears! I encourage you to avail yourself of your greatest privilege this side of heaven … prayer.
Jesus Christ died to make this communion and communication with God the Father possible. Pray long, pray often, and live in the blessings of our Lord. Amen