Learning from the Master, Part 2a

This article is the second in a series on the Prayer Life of Jesus. In the first article, we examined the elements of His earthly prayer life as described in Hebrews 5:7-10. Here we turn to the first of two significant Scriptural examples that graphically illustrate the important place that prayer occupied in the carrying out of His earthly assignment. 

Why did Jesus pray? Was He not divine? Did He not know the Father’s will for Him from the very beginning of His life? 

Those are questions that naturally arise as we examine the prayer life of Jesus. The truth is that there are no easy answers. Because we are finite creatures, we can never fully understand those things we encounter as infinite. We cannot understand the Trinity (how can three be one, and one three?) We do not grasp what Paul means as he writes in Philippians 2 that Christ "made himself nothing" (or "emptied himself," as the King James Version says) in order to leave heaven for earth and take on Himself the form of a human servant.

How much emptying did He do? 

In the same way, we cannot know how much Jesus, in His earthly journey, knew of His own nature. He seemed to know, from his childhood, that He was on mission for God ("I must be about my Father’s business" [Luke 2:49], age 12). More than once, He predicted His own impending death (Mark 8:31, 10:33; Luke 18:31-33) with clear description of the what, the how and the why. What did He not know? 

While these are perplexing, if significant, theological questions, we must rely on the evidence of Scripture to guide us through those deep waters where there is much we cannot know for certain. And what we can discover in Scripture is that Jesus prayed. If there is a single dominant characteristic of His life, it is that He prayed. Prayer was the indispensable fact of His relationship with His heavenly Father.

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Learning from the Master, Part 1b

Certainly the most dramatic and illustrative passage of scripture describing Jesus’ life of prayer is found in the epistle to the Hebrews, chapter 5:

During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 5:7-10 NIV)

Here we have a concise presentation of the Master’s prayer life. The first important thing we see is that this is what His prayer life was like during His life on earth (in Hebrews 7:25, we find that He is still praying in heaven, praying for us as intercessor. The life of Jesus always was and still is a life of prayer.)

On earth, Jesus’ prayer life contained:

1. Passion and Compassion
He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears. Is it any wonder that we have so few true intercessors in our time? How long has it been since your communion with the heavenly Father led you to loud cries and tears? But I can tell you that in our day God is raising up men and women whose hearts can be broken over a lost world and a lost neighbor and a brother or sister drifting into sin and rebellion. We’re seeing that more and more wherever we go. God is doing a work in His people to conform us to the likeness of His son in passion and compassion.

2. Reverent Submission
Do our prayers reveal a reverent submission to the will of the Father? The prayers of Jesus always did. The writer of Hebrews here reminds us of Jesus’ prayer in the Garden, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me..." Was His prayer heard? Yes. But the answer was "no." The will of the Father was that He endure the cross, despising the shame, and thus become the firstborn among many brothers. And when Jesus heard the will of His Father, He yielded in reverent submission. Is it in your heart to yield to the will of the Father in reverent submission? When the evident leading of God takes you in a direction that you don’t wish to go, and the end of which is hidden from you, are you able to respond in reverent submission?
That is a characteristic of the prayer life of Jesus, and it must become a characteristic of ours, if we are to be conformed to His likeness.

3. Obedience
He learned obedience by what He suffered. And that is the way you and I will learn obedience. Not one of us will ask God to give us suffering, but I can tell you that suffering will come. Without a doubt, it has already come into your life, and will come again. That is why you’re seeking to learn more about prayer, and about your personal relationship with the heavenly Father. Because God is molding your life just as He molded the life of His Son -- through the purifying fire of suffering.

4. Victory
Once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. That was the culmination of God’s will for the Lord Jesus. Everything that came before was preparation. And everything in your life and mine so far has been preparation, as God has been crafting us into the vessels of His choosing.

Can we be made perfect? Yes. Perfect here means complete. Jesus, on the last night of His life, prayed, "Father, I have finished the work you gave me to do." That is what spiritual perfection is: completing the work God created us to do. Paul wrote to Timothy, "I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will ward to me on that day -- and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing." Would we have looked at Paul and called him "perfect"? No. This is the same Paul who in Romans 7 says plainly that he doesn’t do what he knows he should, and does the things he knows he shouldn’t. But what he did was finish what God gave him to do.

The writer of Hebrews is giving us the example of Jesus in that same light. It was in His obedience to the Father, in accomplishing the will of the Father, that He became the source of our eternal salvation.

PrayerPower is a fully authorized nonprofit organization under section 501(C)(3) of the IRS Code. We welcome your support through prayer, as well as donations.  All contributions are fully tax deductible.  To make a gift in support of our mission click here. 

Learning from the Master, Part 1

In the life of prayer, our primary example is in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The heavenly Father’s purpose for every Christian is that we be conformed to the likeness of His Son (Romans 8:29). The most characteristic element of the life of Jesus is His prayer life. If we are to be like Him, we must begin with an understanding of what His prayer life was like -- what it meant and the part that it played in His earthly pilgrimage.

This article is the first in a series to encourage us to learn from Him the true meaning of a life of prayer, and thus to have that same communion with the Father that was the source of direction and of power in the Master’s earthly life.

"I just don’t understand what God is doing in my life. Things aren’t going the way they ought to go."

You may have heard Christian friends making such a statement. Struggling to cope with seemingly unexplainable events in your life, you may have said it yourself. As I travel and engage in prayer and discipleship conferences across the country, I hear those words with increasing frequency. I always respond, with great confidence, that I know exactly what God is doing: "He is conforming you to the likeness of His Son." In Romans 8:29, Paul writes, "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers."

I don’t presume to explain the precise meaning of each step He is taking, but I can tell you without hesitation that, if you are a child of God, what He is doing in your life right now is a part of His determination to conform you to the likeness -- or image -- of His Son.

The important thing for us to do is to gain, through the Scriptures, an understanding of what it really means to be in the likeness of Jesus Christ. And for our purposes here, we need to put that in the context of prayer.

What would it be like for my prayer life to be like His prayer life? 

What characterized His prayer life? 

These are the questions we'll tackle throughout this series.  Stay tuned--and stay prayed up.

Powerlines

Many times we hear from our friends and loved ones that their prayer life is in a rut.  It's those times when we recommend praying a Powerline.

Powerlines are Scripture-based prayer guides to strengthen your relationship with God—and help you focus Scripture prayers on specific needs. 

Expand your prayer life as you learn to pray for yourself and for others, using biblical truth paraphrased and powerful! Every PowerLine is full of God's Word, ready to work in your life and the lives of others!

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PowerLines from Kaye Johns on Vimeo.