This article is the third and last 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; in the second, we learned from the Gospel of Luke that it was in prayer that Jesus discovered the will of the Father. Now we turn to an illustration of His obedience to the Father when, in prayer, Jesus learned how to react to the pressures of the crowd that followed Him.
Jesus’ disciples frequently were caught up in the reactions of the crowd to the miracles and teaching of the Master. The crowd wanted to crown their hero as their king. He was their hero. He could have had enormous political power on the strength of the willingness of the crowd to follow and respond to Him.
But Jesus could ignore the praises of the crowd, sticking to the mission to which the Father had called Him.
Many a Christian leader has lost his effectiveness by responding to the crowd rather than to the guidance of the Spirit.
Keep an eye on our blog in the coming weeks as we wrap up our study on how we can be more effective in our prayer lives.
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.
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Learning from the Master, Part 2d
Look at Luke 6:12-16. This is just one of many illustrations of the extensiveness of the prayer life of Jesus.
In this passage, He is in the process of selecting the twelve disciples whom He will designate Apostles -- those who will be close to Him and will minister with Him during His earthly ministry.
What we learn here, I believe, is that Jesus spent the night going over the names and faces and personalities of a great many of those disciples who were now following Him. How did He decide there should be twelve? Was that a counterpart in His life to the sons of Israel, fathers of the twelve tribes?
More importantly, how was He to know which of the many disciples would best serve Him and do the Father’s will?
Henry Blackaby, among others, shares insight at this point. The reason Jesus spent all night in prayer, Dr. Blackaby believes, is that it took the Father that long to reveal to Him the twelve that the Father had already picked. Jesus needed to hear from the Father, and there was a long process of revelation and explanation.
This view from Dr. Blackaby and other modern disciples makes perfect sense. Is not this the way our prayer life should be, if we are to follow Christ as our model? When we have a major decision to make, we need to spend the time to hear from God. We need to be sure we have weighed all the evidence He may bring to our minds as we are in the process of asking His guidance. He may not do that quickly, and we must be patient and purposeful as we listen and as we allow the Holy Spirit to reveal the will of God to us.
When you obligated yourself for a 30-year mortgage on your house, did you pray it through? Did you ask God to show you whether this is the house for you, and whether just the idea of buying a house is His will?
What about the college you attended? Or the college your kids attend? How much prayer went into that decision? Were you willing to spend all night in prayer on a matter that would forever shape the life of your son or daughter -- or your own life? How about your business partnership, your career, your church membership, your acceptance of the committee chairmanship? Was that God speaking to you as you prayed and made the decision, or was it desire and political opportunism?
The key: Are we seriously praying about the most important things we do in this life, or leaving them to chance and to the siren song of the highest or lowest bidder?
You see, all of these things have to do with our relationship with our heavenly Father and with our Lord Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit living within us.
"He has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us," says Peter (2 Peter 1:3). This includes the right to ask Him for guidance -- and the right to expect an answer.
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.
In this passage, He is in the process of selecting the twelve disciples whom He will designate Apostles -- those who will be close to Him and will minister with Him during His earthly ministry.
What we learn here, I believe, is that Jesus spent the night going over the names and faces and personalities of a great many of those disciples who were now following Him. How did He decide there should be twelve? Was that a counterpart in His life to the sons of Israel, fathers of the twelve tribes?
More importantly, how was He to know which of the many disciples would best serve Him and do the Father’s will?
Henry Blackaby, among others, shares insight at this point. The reason Jesus spent all night in prayer, Dr. Blackaby believes, is that it took the Father that long to reveal to Him the twelve that the Father had already picked. Jesus needed to hear from the Father, and there was a long process of revelation and explanation.
This view from Dr. Blackaby and other modern disciples makes perfect sense. Is not this the way our prayer life should be, if we are to follow Christ as our model? When we have a major decision to make, we need to spend the time to hear from God. We need to be sure we have weighed all the evidence He may bring to our minds as we are in the process of asking His guidance. He may not do that quickly, and we must be patient and purposeful as we listen and as we allow the Holy Spirit to reveal the will of God to us.
When you obligated yourself for a 30-year mortgage on your house, did you pray it through? Did you ask God to show you whether this is the house for you, and whether just the idea of buying a house is His will?
What about the college you attended? Or the college your kids attend? How much prayer went into that decision? Were you willing to spend all night in prayer on a matter that would forever shape the life of your son or daughter -- or your own life? How about your business partnership, your career, your church membership, your acceptance of the committee chairmanship? Was that God speaking to you as you prayed and made the decision, or was it desire and political opportunism?
The key: Are we seriously praying about the most important things we do in this life, or leaving them to chance and to the siren song of the highest or lowest bidder?
You see, all of these things have to do with our relationship with our heavenly Father and with our Lord Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit living within us.
"He has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us," says Peter (2 Peter 1:3). This includes the right to ask Him for guidance -- and the right to expect an answer.
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.
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Learning from the Master, Part 2c
Do you think it is in God’s will for your life that you learn to pray? That you learn to pray as Jesus prayed? Ask Him. God promised that if we ask for anything within His will, and in the name of Jesus, we will have it.
James says we have not because we ask not. And Jesus said "Ask and you shall receive, that your joy may be full."
What we can have, if we ask in that way, is the ability to perceive God’s will. That is because we are praying in union with the Son, and in His Name. It is God’s pleasure to show us His will, and then to enable us to do it in the everyday working of our lives.
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.
James says we have not because we ask not. And Jesus said "Ask and you shall receive, that your joy may be full."
What we can have, if we ask in that way, is the ability to perceive God’s will. That is because we are praying in union with the Son, and in His Name. It is God’s pleasure to show us His will, and then to enable us to do it in the everyday working of our lives.
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.
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Learning from the Master, Part 2b
What should an understanding of His prayer life say to us as His present-day disciples? Are there some fundamental truths for those of us who really desire to follow our Lord and begin to live the life of prayer that links us to the heavenly Father in the same way?
Truth #1: It was in prayer that Jesus learned the Father’s will We know this from the many references to His prayer life, not merely from the prayer in the Garden where he yielded to the Father’s will when it was evidently contrary to what His humanity desired. One illustration that I like to ponder is the one we find in Luke 11:1.
He had been praying, about what we don’t know, but as soon as He was finished, his disciples came to Him
and asked, "Lord, teach us to pray."
What was behind that?
I really believe that the request came out of a realization that He had something they didn’t have. They saw that it was after seasons of prayer that He exhibited power, that He made decisions affecting their lives as well as His, and that He found wisdom for dealing with the difficult parts of His life.
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.
Truth #1: It was in prayer that Jesus learned the Father’s will We know this from the many references to His prayer life, not merely from the prayer in the Garden where he yielded to the Father’s will when it was evidently contrary to what His humanity desired. One illustration that I like to ponder is the one we find in Luke 11:1.
He had been praying, about what we don’t know, but as soon as He was finished, his disciples came to Him
and asked, "Lord, teach us to pray."
What was behind that?
I really believe that the request came out of a realization that He had something they didn’t have. They saw that it was after seasons of prayer that He exhibited power, that He made decisions affecting their lives as well as His, and that He found wisdom for dealing with the difficult parts of His life.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)