Focus: He Prayed!

Text: Lk.6:12

"And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God."

Jesus Christ came into the world as man, not as God. He functioned on earth as a human being, and as a man He would depend on God for everything. 

Nicodemus said to Christ, "Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him" (Jh.3:2). No man can do miracles or achieve the humanly impossible without the presence and power of God in his life. Jesus Christ was a man who functioned on earth with the unction of His Father. He could not achieve a thing without the help of His Father. He says, "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise" (Jh.5:19). Christ relied totally on His Father in all things and in all that He accomplished.

Satan says to Christ, "If you are the SON OF GOD…" Christ says to him, "It is written, MAN shall not live by bread alone, but by EVERY word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord." While Satan acknowledged Him as the SON of God, Christ acknowledged Himself as MAN, and as man He needed every word of God to by. As man He banked on His Father's word.

As a human being, prayer was the means by which Jesus Christ practiced dependence on His Father. It was by means of prayer that He stayed close to His Father. John introduced Jesus Christ in his Gospel as the Word. He says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was WITH God…" The preposition 'with' in the Greek literally means 'face to face.' The Logos was face to face with God, and that speaks of proximity and intimacy. Jesus Christ says of Himself, "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him" (Jh.1:18). Christ's place was the Father's bosom. The bosom is a place very close to the heart - breast or chest. It is the place of affection and protectiveness. The bosom speaks of dearness and nearness.

Interestingly, prayer was the means by which Jesus Christ maintained His nearness to the Father. 

Through prayer Christ showed His need for fellowship and intimacy with God. Through prayer He showed how dear His Father was to Him. He demonstrated kinship with His Father through prayer.

Prayer was the means by which He drew strength from his Father.

Christ took no action steps until He had prayed. He constantly prayed. For him prayer was of essence. He took it seriously. At the beginning of his ministry he prayed and fasted for over a month. To choose His twelve apostles He prayed. It was as He prayed on the mount of Transfiguration that He manifested His glory. In front of Lazarus' grave, He prayed. In John 17, just before He went to the Garden of Gethsemane, He prayed. In the Garden He prayed, and also on the cross He prayed. He was in the habit of communing with His Father. Prayer was not optional for Him, but essential.

If Jesus Christ took prayer seriously, why don't you? If prayer worked for Jesus Christ, don't you believe that it will work for you, too? It does seem like our prayerlessness is the reason for our powerlessness. Christ led a life of prayer; we should too. Pray, and keep praying.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter