We are on full week into fasting and praying as a church. We also began reading through the New Testament on Monday of this week. The reading began in Luke and moves to Acts. Have you noticed how Luke emphasizes the humanity of Christ, stressing the human side of the perfect God-man? As you read through Luke you can’t help but notice the prayer life of Jesus. It emphasizes how important prayer was in the life of Jesus.
Luke 3:21
When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as He was praying, heaven was opened.
Luke 5:16
But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
Luke 6:12
One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.
Luke 9:18
Once when Jesus was praying in private and His disciples were with Him, He asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?”
Luke 9:28
About eight days after Jesus said this, He took Peter, John and James with Him and went up onto a mountain to pray.
Luke 11:1
One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When He finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
Luke 18:1
Then Jesus told His disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.
Luke 22:40-41
On reaching the place, He said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” 41 He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed,
Jesus was a man of prayer and that helped to keep Him on course with the Father. He not only taught on prayer but was the model of prayer. He prayed often. He prayed at all seasons. He prayed alone. Often He prayed at night. He had favorite places for prayer. He started His public ministry with prayer and fasting, and the last thing He did before He died was to pray. At times He would arise in the morning and went alone to pray. His whole life screams, “Pray at all times, make it a priority!”
Jesus didn’t pray because it was a daily habit. He prayed because there was power in prayer. I think we forget the fact that Jesus was all man when Luke wrote about His life. He chose to put His deity aside and live within the limitations of human beings. He was God the Son, but He operated as a man who needed to pray in order to accomplish the eternal plan of the Father. It was His prayer that built the Kingdom of God and destroyed the strongholds of Satan. Oh what a Savior!
After Jesus washed the disciple’s feet, Jesus said, “I have left you an example that you should do as I have done” John 13:15. As you continue on the journey of fasting, praying, and saturating in the Word of God, let Christ’s example be to us our strongest call to prayer. May God see your hungering heart today…
Joy in Jesus!
Pastor Mike
www.findlayfirstnaz.org
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