PART II--TEACHING ON PRAYER (INTRODUCTION)

In His personal life Jesus prayed prayers of thanksgiving  (Mark 6:41), praise (Matthew 11:25) and intercession (Luke 22:32).  He prayed specifically to God regarding the relationship They had and the mission the Son was given by the Father.  He prayed for the disciples and for all of us who believe on Him through their word. (John 17).

But, He didn't do all the praying for everybody.  He taught His twelve disciples to pray (Luke 11), as well as all His followers (Matthew 6).  His teaching about prayer was meant to be far more than a recitation of words.  In Matthew 6, during the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus did not say "Pray this prayer," or "Pray these words."  He said, rather, "After this manner therefore pray ye..."(Matthew 6:9 KJV).  He was helping to develop how to pray--not just soliciting so many "Our Father's".

Our study of the teaching on prayer by Jesus will be more focused on the hows and whys--even ways (or manners)--not so much on words to use.  To a large degree, the what to pray changes constantly--according to people, their needs and the answers we get from previous prayers.

The subjects we'll be covering are

*  Eliminating hypocrisy in prayer,


*  What is relationship prayer?


*  What is participatory prayer?


*  Persistence in prayer,


*  Praying for His will,


*  Praying in Jesus' name,


*  Possibilities of prayer.


What are some questions you have about prayer?


What are the most outstanding answers to prayer you have had?


What are some areas in your praying that you feel you need the most help in?


Comment in the space below.  Ask questions--in open comments or in private messages.  I promise you will get a response.

PERSONAL PRAYER HABITS OF JESUS (Cont.)

One side of Jesus' personal prayer habits, as we saw in earlier posts, was His public praying--giving thanks for daily bread.  There is no doubting His sincerity in giving thanks publicly.  His was no flowery delivery designed to impress the masses.  He devoted a large part of His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:25-34) to recognizing that our needs will be met through God Who knows what our needs are, if we seek Him first.  Jesus was publicly offering thanks and, at the same time, was teaching by practicing what He preached.

Another area of Jesus' personal prayer habits was His private praying.  Praying in public can be an important part of worshiping with other Christians.  It can also be used by the Holy Spirit to bring conviction to the non-believer.  But public praying by people who do not spend time in private prayer will rarely be effective.

Luke recorded in Luke 22:31-32 that Jesus told Peter that He had prayed for him privately that his faith would not fail.  This came with Jesus knowing that Peter would deny Him (see 22:34).  How marvelous it is  to know that Jesus is praying for you!  Even today, "He always lives to intercede" for God's people (see Hebrews 7:25 NIV).

The gospels gave several characteristics regarding Jesus and His private praying.  Some of those were "on the mountain side (Matthew 14:23 and Mark 6:46), "alone" (Matthew 14:23b), "a solitary place" (Mark 1:35), "all night" (Luke 6:12) and "a little farther" (Matthew 26:39).

Occasionally, the gospel writers would combine some of these characteristics; i.e., "on a mountainside alone" (Matthew 14:23), or, in Luke 6:12, "He went out into a mountainside to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God." (KJV).  It has always been especially impressive and meaningful to me that when Jesus took His disciples (or some of them) with Him to pray, He is said to have gone "a little farther," and then He prayed privately.

Obviously, Jesus took His private prayer life seriously.


Lord, help me to take my prayer life seriously, too.  May I not just talk about it.  Forgive me for not making prayer more of a priority in my life.


*Have you ever spent all night in prayer?

*Do you make it a habit to go "a little farther" than is normally expected in interceding for others?

*Join with me in developing both our public and private praying, following His example.

Your comments are appreciated and helpful.  Your questions will be addressed and hopefully answered.  Thank you for reading and sharing with your friends and readers.

PART I--THE PERSONAL PRAYER HABITS OF JESUS (CONT.)

My prayer, at the end of my last post, was partially, "teach me to be thankful."  I recall praying that same prayer at a mealtime years ago, only it was "teach us how to be thankful."  Afterward, someone very dear to me said, "Pray that for yourself if you want to, but be careful what you ask for."  She knew that one way to be taught how to be thankful for food was to do without it.  Although I never have, she has.  My prayer has changed since to "teach me to be thankful."

Paul had learned this lesson.  In the passage of Scripture in his letter to the Philippians, chapter 4, verses 10-19, he tells them (and us) that he had "learned to be content whatever the circumstances...whether well fed or hungry." (NIV)  And, in the process, we are given two of the greatest promises in the New Testament--Philippians 4:13 and 4:19.  Read them again.  Commit them to memory.

All four gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, wrote of Jesus feeding the 5000.  Mark also adds the feeding of the 4000.  The passover meal, called the "Lord's supper" or the "Last Supper" was recorded by all the gospel writers with only John omitting the prayer of thanks at the breaking of the bread and drinking of the "fruit of the vine."  John, instead, spent a large portion of his gospel recording these most intimate moments of Jesus with his disciples.  The entire 17th chapter of John is a prayer that will be looked at in detail in Part III, "Special Prayers of Jesus."

Only Luke writes about the meal Jesus had in Emmaus with followers, not of the 12, after His resurrection.  Here, those followers recognized Him when He gave thanks for the food.  They knew Him by His habits!!

*As a side note, we are known by our habits, too.*

We're talking about Jesus, the Son of God.  This is the One about Whom John declared in John 1:3, "through Him all things were made..."(NIV).  Jesus is also quoted by John in John 6:35, "I am the bread of life." (NIV)  Truly God, but also truly man who made a habit of expressing his thanks for basic needs.

What better example could He set while on earth?  What better lesson could we, as Christians, learn?  What better way could we witness to the world around us, than through sincere and consistent expressions of thanks to God for our daily Bread?

Oh, to be like Thee, Blessed Redeemer...

PART I--THE PERSONAL PRAYER HABITS OF JESUS

Habits are actions performed on a regular or routine basis.  Some actions are performed on a regular basis because they are habits.  Some habits are formed because the actions that we take frequently are so very important to us.

Many of us do what we do because we have always done it.  Many of us do certain things habitually simply because we were taught to do those certain things.  But, do we know and understand why we were taught to do those things?

When it comes to praying at meals, for example, are we praying to give thanks for the food?  Or, are we just "saying the blessing" because Mother and Dad did?  One of my brothers is the most consistent Christian I have ever known.  But, he also has quite a sense of humor.  So, after having gone to the grocery store for the next week's supply of food, he gathered his family around the table where he and his wife had placed the groceries temporarily.  Then, in his own way, he said to the whole family, "We're going to pray now over all the food, so we won't have to every time we eat."  Habits that involve "saying prayers" are one thing.  Praying that becomes a personal habit is quite another.  This is where Jesus' prayer life comes in.

In studying and researching the prayer life of Jesus, it became obvious very shortly, that Jesus had many personal prayer habits.  One of which was giving thanks on the occasions of "breaking bread."  It is no surprise, as we shall further see in Part 2, that Jesus taught His disciples to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread."  (Matthew 6:11, KJV).  Two of the four gospel writers recorded Jesus saying that "foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head."  (Matthew 8:20 and Luke 9:58, KJV).  So, to Jesus, food was not to be taken for granted.  When food is available, it is important to show gratitude to God and give Him thanks.

In my next post I will share some thoughts regarding the occasions where Jesus gave thanks for "broken bread." Maybe the why can be seen in giving thanks as well as how gratitude affects our own lives.

Lord, teach me to be thankful and help me learn how to express my gratitude to You.