Have you noticed how it seems like everyone has a cell phone? The idea that I can make contact with the people I love at any time is very appealing. The human spirit longs to communicate and make contact.
God, our Creator, made us with this need to communicate, to make contact. The communication process with God is somewhat different than just talking on a cell phone. He speaks to us using his powerful word (2 Timothy 3:16-17; Hebrews 4:11-12; Romans 10:17). Prayer is our conversation back to God, where we get to talk with him about our deepest thoughts and needs. The power of prayer is that at any time, in any place, I can make contact with God.
Let’s look at how Jesus taught us to pray so we can unleash its power in our life.
Jesus Taught Us By His Practice The Power Of Prayer
Have you ever considered the prayer life of Jesus? I always thought that if there were anyone on the planet who didn’t need to pray, Jesus would be it. But when you look at the life of Christ, what you see is the power of a life of prayer.
Did you know that after he was baptized, he was praying when the Holy Spirit of God descended on him, and the voice from heaven said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:21-22)?
During his ministry, multitudes of people were coming to hear and be healed by him. How did he handle the pressing needs of so many? The Scripture says he often went out to the wilderness to pray (Luke 5:15-16).
Before he made the critical decision about who his apostles would be, men who could make or break plans laid down in eternity, he prayed all night to God (Luke 6:12-15).
In Luke 9:18-20, we read that he was praying before asking his disciples the great question, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” When he asked his disciples what they thought of him, Peter answered, “You are the Christ of God.”
Just eight days later, while he was praying, the Bible says that his face’s appearance was altered and that his clothes became white and glistening (Luke 9:28-36). He was transfigured in prayer. Peter never forgot that night on the mountain when he saw his majesty (2 Peter 1:16-21).
We read again in Luke 11:1-2, “Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” He taught them by example before he taught them in words.
On the night that Jesus was betrayed, he told Peter that he had prayed for him that his faith might not fail (Luke 22:31-32). He knew Satan was going to tempt and try Peter. He knew Peter would prove fearful and flee. But he also wanted Peter to know that he had interceded with prayer for him. I can only imagine how this must have impacted Peter afterward when remembering the words of Christ, how he had prayed for Peter. Christian, how much comfort should we get from the knowledge that Christ is even now seated at the right hand of God making intercession for us (Romans 8:34)?
We read in Luke 22:39-46
" Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him. When He came to the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. When He rose up from prayer and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow. Then He said to them, “Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation.”
The last prayers he said before he died were, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” and “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” (Luke 23:34, 46).
These three prayers lived by Jesus set up the ultimate victory of the cross.
- Not my will but yours be done.
- Father, forgive them.
- Father, into your hand I commit my spirit.
How could he go through what he did? Prayer gave him the power to submit himself to God, not to taint his sacrifice with resentment and hatred but forgiveness, and to face death, knowing whom he trusted.
Now that’s power.
The Hebrew writer wrote, “… who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him …” (Hebrews 5:7-9).
Notice how the Bible describes the four kinds of prayers that Jesus (and you and I) may pray:
- Prayers. This is the general word for talking with God.
- Supplication. This is prayer with a purpose. We need to talk with God about a specific need.
- Vehement cries. This is prayer under pressure, under stress. This is the prayer you cry out when life has punched you in the gut.
- Tears. The most powerful prayer I have ever prayed was when I was going through an extreme crisis, bawling like a baby, muttering through the tears, “I don’t understand, but I still trust you.”
Prayer is powerful because it can deal with the entirety of human life. Some people only pray in good times or bad times, but not through all times in life.
Jesus wanted us to know he prayed through it all and how to talk to God when going through all parts of life.
Jesus not only taught about prayer but believed and practiced it. Even though he was the son of God, the Bible says that his prayer life was alive and active.
If the only begotten son of God thought that prayer was vital for him when he was on the earth, how much more should prayer be vital to the Christian while we are on the earth?
Jesus Taught Us By His Preaching The Principles Of Prayer
Jesus lived a life of prayer, but he also preached about “how” to pray. Prayer, to be powerful, needs to be guided by the principles that Jesus preached. The sermon on the mount contains both negative and positive principles of prayer.
How Not To Pray
As is often the case with spiritual matters, our success is often dependent on what we don’t do. Christ gives us two examples of the wrong way to pray.
Don’t Pray Like A Hypocrite (Matthew 6:5-6)
“And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”
Everyone knows what a hypocrite is, and most of us have lived with one. A hypocrite is a play-actor, a person who wants us to think that they are different than what they are. It’s okay to pray in public, but not if it is only for the public. The power of prayer is the private, personal communication to God.
Don’t Pray Like The Heathen (Matthew 6:7-8).
“And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. "
1 Kings 18:26-29 records the prophets of Baal danced, pranced, and lanced all day saying, “Oh Baal, hear us!” Even though they put on a show, they received no answer to their prayer.
Do you know what a vain repetition is? Empty words. If you are merely repeating words without meaning them or saying words to beings, who don’t exist, you’re praying like a heathen.
I pray to God, knowing that he already knows what I need. I’m just checking in to let him know I know I need them.
How Jesus Taught Us To Pray (Matthew 6:9-15)
9 In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. 13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. 14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
What strikes you about this prayer? It is the definition of simplicity. The Master teacher put every attitude we should hold in prayer in just sixty-six words. The words and thoughts expressed are simple, yet we see that they are deeply spiritual on further examination.
Notice that Christ said to pray in this manner. He already warned us about the futility of using vain repetitions, so it would do us no good to repeat this prayer over and over again robotically. It’s not the words per se, but the relationships expressed by the thoughts, the attitudes that he wanted to model for us.
What are these powerful relationships – the connections (attitudes) that make contact?
- The relationship of Father and child.
- The relationship of Creator and created.
- The relationship between King and subject.
- The relationship between Provider and dependent.
- The attitude of sinner among sinners.
- The attitude of weakness and strength.
- The attitude of worship and praise.
Our Father
Prayer, by its nature, is built on the foundation of having a relationship with God. Most people’s relationship with God is the same as their relationship with Santa Claus – they only think about him once or twice a year, and then only for the gifts they can get.
Whose prayers will God hear? Technically, since God is omniscient and omnipresent (Psalms 139), he is aware of every thought and prayer. He who searches the hearts of all men knows their thoughts and their deeds.
The Bible says in Acts 10:34-35, “Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth, I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.” Cornelius was just such a man, whose prayer God heard and sent the gospel of Christ to him by the apostle Peter’s mouth (Acts 10:1-6; 10:34-48; 11:13-15). Of course, he was baptized into the name of Christ when he heard the gospel preached by Peter. Since God is Creator, there is a sense in which every human being is a child of God. However, the gospel of Christ teaches that they are children of God who have been “born again by water and spirit” (John 3:3-5), having been baptized into Christ (Galatians 3:26-27), who obey what the Lord says (Matthew 7:21-23).
In 1 Peter 3:10-12, we read, “For He who would love life And see good days, Let him refrain his tongue from evil, And his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good; Let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers; But the face of the LORD is against those who do evil.” Whose prayers does God hear? He listens to his children that by their lips and their lives, their words and their works, are pursuing peace and righteousness.
Are you a child of God? Have you obeyed the gospel of Christ? Do you fear God and seek to live for him? Prayer is the privilege of Christians who are living for God.
Did you notice Christ taught us to pray “Our Father.” I am a child of God, but I also have brothers and sisters in Christ. When I was baptized into Christ, I was baptized into his body, the church (1 Cor. 12:12-13, 27; Eph. 1:21). The church is the “household of God” (1 Tim. 3:15). The Lord himself added me to the church when I obeyed the gospel (Acts 2:38, 42, 47). When I pray, I am to be mindful that I’m not an only child.
… in heaven …
I’m a child away from home. I need to make contact daily. The Bible teaches that this world is not my home, that I’m just a sojourner passing through until I reach my real home, heaven (1 Peter 1:17-19; 2:11-12; 2 Cor. 4:16-18; 5:1-10; Phil. 3:20).
… Hallowed be your name.
Prayer should acknowledge that God is the Creator; I’m created. He is God; I am his child. Even though the Bible encourages the Christian to call him “Abba Father” (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6), that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t respect him as God.
Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.
The kingdom of Christ did come (Mark 9:1; Colossians 1:13; 4:11; Daniel 2:44). The kingdom of God is the reign of God in the heart of his kingdom’s willing subjects. Indeed, Christians should be praying, “Not my will, but yours be done.”
Give us this day our daily bread.
It is okay to pray for material things. More importantly, is the dependence we should have on prayer every day.
Just for today, give me strength. Just for today, give me courage. Just for today, give me wisdom.
How many days have we skipped talking to God about our daily needs?
And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.
Everybody wants to be forgiven. The power of prayer is granting forgiveness. This is Christlike in nature (Luke 23:34). Matthew 6:14-15 clarifies that if we fail to forgive others, we will fail to be forgiven.
And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.
I’m a sinner, living in a world of sinners. I need help to fight against temptation. I need help to fight against the evil one. It is not a sign of weakness but an understanding of where to get the strength you need.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Understanding who is in charge, who has the power, and who deserves glory keeps our attitude in check.
Meditate on the short prayer and pray according to its principles, and you will experience the power of prayer.
Jesus Taught Us By His Parables To Be Persistent In Prayer
It’s not enough to know “how” to pray, or that prayer is powerful. For us to unlock the real power of prayer, we must be persistent in it. To illustrate this necessary ingredient of prayer, Christ used parables to encourage us to persist in prayer.
In Luke 11:5-13, he tells the funny story of a man, already in bed with his family, who has a friend come knocking on the door at midnight asking for three loaves of bread. Even though he was a friend, the man only got up and gave him what he wanted because of his persistence. The Greek word used here means “shameless persistence.” Jesus then tells us to keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking (Luke 11:9). The power of prayer is activated when you never give up on it.
In Luke 18:1-8, the master teacher tells another great story about being persistent in prayer.
Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart …
If we lose heart or become discouraged, it is very easy to stop praying. How can you receive the power of prayer if you stop praying? You will only become more discouraged and weary. Instead, you should try to wear God out with your prayers.
“There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.'” (Luke 18:3-5)
Either we wear out and give up on prayer or wear God out until we get the answer.
He ends the teaching by asking a haunting question: “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
He will only find faith on the earth if we don’t give up on prayer.
I’ll end this study with the words from Mosie Lister’s hymn, “How Long Has It Been?”
How long has it been Since you talked with the Lord And told Him your heart’s hidden secrets? How long since you prayed? How long since you stayed On your knees till the light shone through? How long has it been Since you woke with the dawn And felt that the day’s worth the living? Can you call Him your friend? How long has it been? Since you knew that He cared for you
Kevin Huddleston
