What was Jesus’ pattern of prayer?
He prayed early in the morning. “And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went out and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed” (Mark 1:35 KJV). Jesus put God first, rising early in the morning to spend time with Him. Joshua also began his day with prayer and as a result won the battle against Jericho (Joshua 3:1 and 5:13-15). Jesus knew how important it was to
pray before the battle begins. It seems a bit foolish to wait to pray at the end of the day when the battle is over.
He prayed in a solitary place. Jesus “departed into a solitary place, and there prayed” (Mark 1:35). There are times to pray publicly, but we need regular times alone with God. Jesus said, “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly” (Matthew 6:6 KJV). Jesus knew to have quality time with the Father He had to be completely alone where there would be no interruptions or distractions.
He prayed fervently. “Who in the days of his flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared” (Hebrews 5:7 KJV). Jesus put Himself completely into His praying – emotionally, spiritually, mentally and physically. He prayed until He was exhausted and had to have an angel strengthen Him (Luke 22:43). It’s usually in times of great distress that we pray the most fervently. Jesus was no different. When facing the greatest battle of His earthly life it was said of Him, “Being in agony he was praying very fervently” (Luke 22:44 NASB). When facing threats for preaching the gospel the early church “lifted their voices to God with one accord” (Acts 4:24 NASB). When facing trouble with Peter’s arrest, he was kept in the prison but “prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God” (Acts 12:5 NASB).
Jesus depended upon the Holy Spirit. “The Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26 NASB). Jesus always prayed with dependency upon God’s Spirit and we are instructed to do the same. We cannot pray adequately on our own. Jesus said, “Apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5 NASB). We too must pray with dependency upon the Spirit of God.
He prayed in accordance with God’s will. Jesus, being God in the flesh, knew the mind and will of God perfectly and always prayed accordingly. If we are to pray like Jesus we must pray according to God’s will. In so doing we are assured of having our request heard. John wrote, “And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us: And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him” (1 John 5:14-15 KJV). How do we pray according to his will? We must study the Word of God (2 Timothy 2:15), find scripture that pertains to our situation and begin praying the Word of God over it. We must seek God’s will prior to praying and then pray accordingly.
He prayed in faith. Jesus said, “All things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive” (Matthew 21:22 KJV). Again He said, “Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” (Mark 11:22-24 KJV). Jesus always prayed in faith, knowing God heard and would grant His prayer. When we pray according to God’s will (as revealed through His Word) we can pray with faith knowing God desires to answer our prayers.
He visualized God answering his prayer. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing” (John 5:19 NASB). Before Jesus acted or prayed He visualized God doing it in the spiritual realm. As a result, it materialized in the natural realm. Likewise, we must see God doing the thing we are asking of Him, which also stimulates our faith.
Jesus prayed with persistence. It was said of Jesus that He “prayed the third time, saying the same words” (Matthew 26:44 KJV). Jesus was persistent in His praying. We are not to use vain repetition (Matthew 6:7), however, there is a difference between repetition and vain repetition. Vain repetition is saying meaningless words in our prayers (like the Pharisees) over and over. There is also meaningful repetition, like Jesus prayed. He prayed the same prayer until He had the breakthrough He needed and desired. We see persistent praying exemplified throughout scripture. Elijah stretched himself out over the widow’s son three times until his life returned to him (1 Kings 17:19-21); Elijah prayed for rain and had his servant look for a sign of rain seven times (1 Kings 18:41-44); The Syrophonician woman kept crying out to Jesus (Mark 7:24-30); Jacob wrestled with God until He blessed him (Genesis 32); A friend asking for bread at midnight (Luke 11:5-10); And the widow and the unjust judge (Luke 18:1-8).
Let’s lay hold of God in persistent prayer and not let anything deter us until we’ve received what we are requesting (Isaiah 64:7). In doing so we will be emulating Jesus’ prayer life.
God Bless you
