Jesus as Our Model for Prayer
If Jesus found it necessary and beneficial to pray, what more that we need to pray too?
If you're looking for a model of what a genuine prayerful life looks like, you don't have to look any further than to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He's the greatest example of a prayerful person. Jesus, being God the Son, exemplified what it was like to commune with God the Father and immerse Himself in the daily practice of prayer. This is fascinating to note: our own Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who we believe is God, committed Himself to the discipline of prayer. If Jesus found it necessary and beneficial to pray, what more that we need to pray too? It is absolutely vital then for us, mere human beings, to immerse ourselves in this important spiritual practice. The gospels give us insightful glimpses of what Jesus' prayer life looked like.
It was Jesus' regular habit to withdraw from people and ministry in order to pray. The Gospel of Luke records for us this remark about Jesus: "But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray" (Lk. 5:16 ESV). Jesus was a busy person with a rapidly growing ministry. A lot of people wanted to see Jesus. But no matter how busy Jesus became, He would still regularly withdraw himself from people and activities in order to pray. In fact, He would purposely go to "desolate" places to be alone and commune with the Father. Shouldn't it be our habit too to withdraw for a period of time from people, work, and ministry in order to connect with God in prayer?
Not only can we see the frequency of Jesus's prayer life in Scripture, but we can also see glimpses of the duration Jesus spent in prayer. We can safely conclude that Jesus spent ample and lengthy amounts of time with the Father in prayer. The Gospel of Luke again records another helpful remark about Jesus' prayer life: "In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God" (Lk. 6:12 ESV). The gospel writer reveals to us that when Jesus went into prayer, He regularly did so for a lengthy amount of time. In fact, there were times when Jesus spent "all night" in prayer to God.
We can hardly find any passages in Scripture showing the exact amount of time Jesus spent in prayer. But there's one particular verse that sheds some light on how much time Jesus spent in intercession. The Gospel of Matthew records this response from Jesus when he caught His disciples sleeping while He was praying: "And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, ‘So, could you not watch with me one hour?’" (Matt. 26:40 ESV). Jesus' question to Peter revealed that He had been praying at that time for about "one hour." At the Garden of Gethsemane where this verse takes place, we can assume that Jesus prayed for at least an hour. But the Scripture tells us that Jesus prayed another two more times after this. It just goes to show that there were times when Jesus prayed amply and lengthily.
Jesus is our model for life and ministry. In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul encouraged the believers to "be imitators of God, as beloved children" (Eph. 5:1 ESV). Let us be imitators of Christ in our approach to prayer. May we imitate His frequency and duration of prayer for our own lives too.
Barnabas the Monastic
Servant of Christ. Husband. Dad. Modern Monastic. I have a wild ambition in life: get as close to the Lord Jesus Christ as I can while on earth. I explore and integrate ancient Christian monk wisdom in modern everyday life. Lives in Canada.
