Have you ever wondered what Jesus prayed about? I mean, He was God in the flesh. He knew everything about everyone and had the power to accomplish anything He wanted. And yet, numerous times in Scripture we read about Him finding a quiet place to go alone and pray. All night at times.
I’m curious. Did He merely drink in the Father’s presence to revive His spirit? Did He have a two-way conversation with God, chatting about how His mission was going? Did He discuss Peter’s over-eagerness or James and John’s quest to be His right and left hand men?
Scripture doesn’t say a lot about His prayer life, but the little it does say is very insightful.
CHOOSING HIS DISCIPLES
By the time Jesus chose His inner circle of disciples, He had quite a following. It would have been tough to pick twelve men out of such a group. How did He go about it? Luke 6:13 tells us He went up on a mountaintop and spent the night in prayer. When He returned, His choices were clear.
It’s imperative we seek the Lord’s guidance on the decisions in our lives. He may not come out and tell us exactly what to do, but He has given us His Holy Spirit to guide us. (John 16:13) When we pray seeking God’s will, His Spirit will lead us in the direction we should go.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
This prayer of Jesus teaches us to pray for our daily necessities–for our needs to be supplied, for strength to ward off temptation, and to praise and honor Him.
PRAYER FOR HIS DISCIPLES
In John 17, we read Jesus’ prayer for his Disciples. He prayed for them to have courage to face what they would be up against when He was no longer with them. For them to understand and accept His mission and what He came to do. And He prayed for their protection, for unity and oneness of spirit.
This prayer demonstrates His love for His Disciples, but not only them but all His followers. It also speaks to us, that we should love and care for one another, lifting each other up in prayer on a daily basis. Relationships were important to Jesus. I venture to guess that much of His time in prayer was spent on behalf of others.
Often we get consumed with our own lives and problems and forget we are called to intercessory prayer. Where we lift others up to the Father and ask Him to meet their spiritual, emotional, and physical needs. During my cancer journey, I can’t tell you what a comfort and blessing it was (and still is) to know many were covering my husband and me in prayer!
GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE
In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed for Himself. For strength and endurance to face being scorned, mocked and subjected to a grueling death. He knew what was coming–the pain of taking on the sin of an entire universe. He even asked that if there was another way, God would spare Him. And yet, He prayed for God’s will to be done rather than His own.
What a powerful lesson for us His followers. No matter what we come up against–disease, persecution, hardship–God will never leave us or forsake us. We can rest assured that He has a perfect plan. It’s our job to trust and choose to follow His will above our own.
In this busy life of ours where everything screams for our attention, it’s easy to allow the cares and demands to squeeze out our quiet time with the Lord. But, I figure if Jesus–God in the flesh, Savior of the world–made prayer a priority, we should to.
INSPIRING READS
Stories of faith and resilience on the Midwest prairie & the Civil War Era
Inspirational Historical Romance
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