Jesus didn’t just teach about prayer, he also prayed! This week we continue our prayer series by looking at examples of Jesus in prayer. We can learn much from seeing what his own prayer time looked like. Today we begin with a short glimpse into Jesus’ prayer life from Mark 1:35-37:

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”

The most obvious thing to notice about this passage is that Jesus took time, early in the day, to find solitude in prayer. So what’s so hard about that?

Time and solitude. That’s what’s hard.

We live in a society and in an era when these two resources might be more scarce than ever. We have more distractions and more commitments than we’ve ever had in human history. Just as yourself, “When do you have a significant amount of free time to spend alone?” If you’re like most people I know, the answer is, “almost never.” The thing we often miss about this passage is that Jesus was very busy too! Go ahead, read the whole chapter and ask yourself if you’ve ever been that busy! Jesus was so busy, in fact, that he had to get up early to pray alone.

Martin Luther is known to have said, “I have so much to do (today) that I should spend the first three hours in prayer.” The busier we are, the more we need prayer to keep us sane.

I think we have two choices. We either accept these limitations or we make a change in our own lives. We either continue with the pace of life that is distracted to us by a modern society obsessed with busyness, money, entertainment, and noise or we find something, somewhere to reject in order to live a more sane and sustainable life.

Here’s the thing, if you can’t even find a little time in your day (or week!) to pray alone then is that a sustainable lifestyle? How long can you realistically keep that up? If Jesus needed time alone to maintain a life of spirit, what makes us think we can do without it?

This isn’t about performance. This isn’t about merit. This is about nourishment. Prayer is the feasting of the soul on God. How long have you been starving yourself?

Exercise
There’s only one exercise today: Sit down with your calendar and make some changes to accommodate private, solitary prayer at least 3 times per week. Cut something out. Give something up. Be ruthless.  If you already do that, great! Take this time to pray like Jesus did.

his is the final exercise for our week of looking at what Jesus taught about prayer. Read Mark 9:14-29.

There is an inherent sadness in this account, it seems. Demonic forces are causing horrible suffering to a boy and his family, and the disciples are unable to do anything about it. In his commentary on Mark, William Lane remarks that this scene “exhibits the disaster which occurs when men from whom the power of faith may be expected are proven to be void of power when it is needed.” The disciples were “void of power,” unable to drive out the demon, unable to join God in his kingdom work in this instance.

Jesus himself drives out the demon, and afterward he withdraws with his disciples to a house for a time of debriefing. “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” they ask. Perhaps they were wondering if their technique was wrong, or if they said the wrong words, or in the wrong order. Maybe they didn’t ask the right questions or perform the right gestures. Or perhaps they were simply trying to follow Jesus and were discouraged that they didn’t seem to be able to do it. Why didn’t it work?

Jesus’ response has baffled many commentators and theologians: “This kind can only come out by prayer.”

What Jesus seems to be indicating is that prayer is a kind of training ground or practice field for ministry in the kingdom. There is a difference between the “in the moment” crisis of ministry and the “behind the scenes” training for ministry.

Just like an firefighter cannot expect to perform well “in the moment” simply because she wants to fight fires, we cannot expect to function effectively as agents of God’s kingdom “in the moment” just because we want to. Training is needed, for firefighters and exorcists. The training that firefighters undergo is meant to help them to automatically function well “in the moment.” Likewise, a consistent and deep life of prayer will help us function effectively “in the moment,” when kingdom breakthrough is needed.

The feeling the disciples had of being “void of power” is one I have felt many times: I encounter a situation into which I would love to bring a token of the kingdom, only to find myself powerless to do so. The good news is that the disciples, although they couldn’t do anything about this situation in Mark 9, are eventually able to do the kinds of things we see in Acts, presumably because they stuck with a long-term training regimen of disciples to Jesus and prayer.

This is also the good news for us. Although we may have squandered many opportunities in the past because of a lack of prayer, God’s forgiveness is available to us, and we can begin training today for greater kingdom effectiveness through prayer.

Prayer exercise
Write down your normal prayer rhythms, however scrawny they may be. What kinds of prayer… what times… how much time… don’t shy away from being brutally honest with yourself and God about how much time you actually spend at the “spiritual gym” of prayer.

Offer this rhythm to God in prayer and ask him to show you where you need to change your “workout.” You might need a little tweak here or there. You might need a complete overhaul. Just like with a physical workout, be careful not to push yourself too hard too quickly. Ask someone wiser to help you craft a “prayer workout” that will move you toward greater spiritual power and kingdom effectiveness.

Take a few moments and read Luke 18:1-8.

Sometimes people are taken aback that Jesus compares God to a disrespectful, unjust judge. But the point of parables is never one-to-one correspondence. The point Jesus is trying to make is spelled out pretty explicitly by Luke in the first verse: “Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” Thanks Luke! That’s really helpful.

Jesus is informing his disciples that they can expect bad treatment, injustice, etc (refer to Luke 17 for this context). Like the widow, they are to be persistent in their prayers for deliverance and justice, because if an unjust judge will eventually give her justice, how much more will God do the same for those he loves? It’s the same kind of thing when Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him?”

Again Jesus seems to be placing a lot of emphasis on the character of God, the essential goodness of the One we are praying to. Of course God will eventually vindicate, of course he will bring justice, because of who He is. It seems this is the first thing we doubt when our prayers aren’t answered according to the timetable we set up. It’s remarkable how quickly we begin to suspect God’s motives when our prayers aren’t answered immediately.

The call to action in this parable is for us to “pray and not give up,” to maintain a tenacious, faithful persistence in prayer, especially as we pray for justice. The basis of this kind of persistence is an unshakable belief in the goodness of God and the certainty of his deliverance.

The Psalms are stuffed with prayers for God’s deliverance to come to those who are suffering. Praying the Psalms is a very ancient Christian practice that has helped many people give words to their “groanings.” Today we tend to stick with the “happy” Psalms, but the darker ones can really help us give utterance to our emotions and stay tenacious in prayer.

Is there a difficult situation or relationship that you have given up praying about?

Perhaps when the prayer wasn’t answered in a timely manner, you began to doubt his goodness. Perhaps you doubted God’s ability to bring justice or truth. Regardless, this prayer exercise is designed to help you start become more tenacious and faithful in “crying out day and night” to God.

The exercise is simply to read Psalm 13: out loud, slowly, at least seven times. Jot down your reactions and responses. Leave a comment about what happened.

There comes a time in every kind of training when your body hits the wall. It doesn’t matter how bad you want it on the inside, you just can’t keep going. This is one of the best examples of how our spirits and our bodies are intimately connected.

Jesus’ best friends had this problem at the worst possible time. At the cusp of his betrayal, public shame, and impending death sentence, Jesus took his closest partners on the greatest revolution of man and headed into the grove of olive trees at the garden of gethsemane for one reason: to pray. Jesus was on the verge of personal breakdown, beseeching God to change the course of history – if possible – and sweating blood in anxiety. He asked Peter, James, and John, his closest friends, to pray.

“Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Simon,” he said to Peter, “are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak” (Mark 14:37-38).”

They fell asleep.

I’m fascinated by this passage, mostly because of what Jesus is teaching about prayer, but partly because pf what we can infer.

Prayer is “watching”
Jesus talks about “seeing” in spiritual terms quite frequently, and here he seems to indicate that prayer is a kind of watchfulness that will actually make a difference. It’s important enough that he wakes them up to continue. I wonder how many of us feel that same sense of urgency about active prayer? Do we really think prayer will reveal anything? Do we think it matters?

The watchfulness of prayer guards us against temptation
Being watchful apparently had something to do with guarding against temptation. But what temptation? Usually when we hear that word we think of personal seduction – lust, greed, lying, etc. – but this isn’t the setting for those sorts of sins. It’s the middle of the night in an olive grove! I’m reminded of Jesus’ words in John 5, “I can only do what I see the father doing.” Perhaps Jesus is tying prayer to the ability to recognize what God is doing, and the inability to recognize God at work causes us to be tempted to resist it. After all, it was immediately after this that Peter tries to resist Jesus’ arrest with the sword, cutting off a soldiers ear. Jesus prayed, and recognized the work of God. Peter didn’t, and resisted it. Was that his “temptation?” If so, how often do we miss the move of God in our own midst because we’re not “watchful” in prayer?

Prayer is rigorous
Most disturbing, how often do we miss God’s move because we’re simply to spiritually “flabby” to keep up the pace? Jesus makes it clear that his three best friends don’t fail for lack of sincerity, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Jesus is a seasoned veteran, able to keep long watch and run the spiritual race to completion, but the boys – being still only a few years into their training – are simply unable to keep up. Prayer is far more than an occasional therapy session with God that comes along whenever we feel the urge. Done properly, it is a rigorous endeavor that taxes the body as well as the mind, just like any other serious discipline. Only those who train accordingly, like Jesus, will persevere to see the prize that can only be recognized in prayer.

Prayer Exercise:
Time to stretch your limits. If you were training to run, you would add a little distance or a steeper incline. Let’s do the same. You’ve learned the Lord’s prayer as an outline for coming before God, now use it to push yourself. However long you normally pray, set aside a longer session. If you typically pray 10 minutes, set aside 30. If 30, set aside, 45, and so on. Now use each line of the Lord’s prayer as a point of meditation to walk yourself through a prayer that moves from reverence, to intimacy, to petition, confession, forgiveness, etc.

A word of caution: the point of this exercise is not length, it’s depth. Don’t go babbling on just for the sake of stretching it out (we’ve already learned about that, remember?). We need to learn to plumb the depth of our hearts, our world, and our God with our imagination in prayer. This is one way the Spirit get deep into us through prayer and begins to reveal to us what God is doing. This is how we learn to see.

Later in the Sermon on the Mount – after his words about not praying like the hypocrites and even after the famous Lord’s Prayer – Jesus revisits the heart of prayer with these words:

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks find; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened (Matt 7:7-8).

Here Jesus teaches another fundamental principle of faith: simply ask. As Ben pointed out yesterday, this stood in sharp contrast to popular opinion that the gods could be constrained by an effluence of fancy words. Some people today apparently still believe that.

But not so with God. No need for coercion (as if we could), dispense with all manipulations, and abandon the art of “getting what you want.” Just ask – then let go of the need to ensure the outcome. In fact, we need to let go entirely of the incessant human compulsion to be in control:

Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or, if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him. So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you. for this sums up the law and the prophets (Matt 7:9-12).

In other words, God is good. Wanting to be in control is foolish because what we receive from God is a gift – and God only gives good gifts. The only reason we seek to outmaneuver God in prayer is because we believe we know better. We doubt the goodness of God and seek to hedge our bets by trying to outmaneuver him verbally or convincing ourselves that he prefers our methods and agenda.

But if we pay attention to the end of this section we discover, perhaps surprisingly, that this turns out to be a fundamental principle of all good human relationships as well, because directly after this teaching on prayer Jesus imparts the famous “golden rule.” With each other, as with God, we’re to simply ask for what we want – and let go of the need to control the outcome.

This is the heart of the beloved community: all our relationships depend on prayer, not on our ability to persuade each other, lead each other, teach each other, or even be good to each other. Our community depends on the goodness of God and our surrender to Him in front of each other in prayer.

Prayer Exercise
Today we’re going to try journaling. Get hold of a notebook and pen or pencil and start by reading this passage (Matthew 7:7-12) slowly. Imagine how your life would look if you trusted God completely. Now write. Let your thoughts spill out onto the paper in free-form. Ask questions. Answer them. Express your feelings. Make arguments. Praise.

(This exercise was written by Ben Sternke as part of our prayer journey with Christ Church, Fort Wayne)

Our series on prayer began last week by focusing on the Lord’s Prayer. This week we will be looking at several passages from the gospels where Jesus teaches about prayer. Today we start with a look at Matthew 6:5-8. Take some time to read the passage slowly and carefully, jotting down any thoughts or questions you have. Then continue on to read the rest of this post and do the prayer exercise at the end.

Praying to be seen
Jesus teaches us not to pray “like the hypocrites,” who love to pray in public spaces, not because they love God but because they love the commendation they receive from others when they do so. The word “hypocrite” is simply what we would call an “actor” today: people who are pretending to be someone else. The hypocrites are those who are pretending to pray, but really they are simply seeking the recognition of other people. “They have received their reward,” Jesus says. In other words, their prayers had nothing to do with God, so God stayed out of the way. The purpose of their project was getting the attention of other people. That which they sought, they got: attention from others. It had nothing to do with God, so God didn’t involve himself where he wasn’t invited or wanted.

Instead, Jesus tells us, we are to go to our rooms and close the door and pray to our Father, who sees what is done in secret and will reward us. The point is not that public prayer ought never to occur. This would outlaw any kind of corporate prayer. The point is that we ought to simply and honestly bring our concerns and petitions to God, without giving much thought to how we appear to others. When we pray in this way, Jesus tells us we can expect a reward from our Father.

Praying to accumulate merit
So we are not to pray like hypocrites. Jesus also teaches not to pray like “pagans,” people who “keep on babbling” because they think if they shout loud enough or stay fervent enough that the gods might answer because they are impressed with their desperation. These are people who are worried that unless they continually present the “shopping list” to God, he’s going to forget what their needs are. Jesus tells us quite clearly, “Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” Ours is not a god who is far-off and uninterested, like a father who’d rather read the newspaper and watch TV than engage with his family. The God we call Father is absolutely good, absolutely able, and absolutely wise to carry out his purposes and provide for our needs.

Prayer exercise
Set aside a good 20-30 minutes for this exercise. In this short passage Jesus is teaching that the basis of our prayer life needs to be a confidence that God is an interested, caring Father. Many of us struggle to really live in the constant awareness that God sees us, knows our needs, and longs to meet them. In order to take this from an abstract concept into a concrete belief, we’re going to riff off Psalm 136.

Psalm 136 starts with a general call to give thanks to the Lord, because his love never quits. It then goes into some very specific events in the life of Israel, always echoed by the refrain, “His love never quits!” You’re going to write your own personal Psalm 136:

• First draw a graph of your life. The horizontal axis is time and the vertical axis is how close you felt to God, or how well you felt your life was going. Think of significant events, both good and bad, and trace a path of your life.
• Now think of the significant moments those points on the graph represent, and begin writing your Psalm, using the words below as the general pattern.

I thank you, High God
Because your love never quits.
Your love has been with me
From the moment of my conception until now.

When I first said ‘yes’ to you as a child, naïve and trusting,
Your love was there.
When I spent years in apathy and wanting to fit in
Your love was there.
When I first gave you my whole life, laid everything down,
Your love was there.

…etc…

And now as you’re bringing me into an unknown future,
Your love is here.

• Simply pray your Psalm back to God and rest in his love.

(This exercise was written by Ben Sternke as part of our prayer journey with Christ Church, Fort Wayne)

The last part of the prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray is as follows (Mt 6:13):

And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.

These two phrases are asking that we not be put through trials. Which, at first glance, seems kind of selfish doesn’t it? But it is simply a stance of humility.

Of course God doesn’t tempt people. It’s our own selfish desires and the interference of the enemy that tempt us and take us far from God’s grace. What we are praying for here is that we be kept as far from temptation as possible. This is because we recognize that we are weak and not very confident in our ability to resist temptation. We’re all recovering sinners, so much like a recovering alcoholic isn’t wise to wander into bars to “test” her resolve, it’s best for us to stay as far away as possible from the things that draw us into sin. We are voting “no confidence” in our ability to resist temptation, and asking God to keep us away from it.

These petitions remind us that we can’t stand up under very much pressure, that we’re voting “no confidence” in our ability to resist temptation, and that it isn’t a good thing for us to suffer. We also pray for deliverance from the evil one, or “Spare us from bad things that might happen to us”. This is a simple acknowledgement that it isn’t a good thing for us to suffer, and a prayer that we would be help safe from every bad thing that could happen. The trials and sufferings we go through always challenge our faith, and as such they are dangerous! Watch how quickly people start attacking God when they’re going through a rough time. We do well to humbly ask for deliverance from evil.

We get into a lot of trouble when we have confidence in the strength of our own faith (what some might call “faith in faith”). Remember Jesus’ disciples James and John, the “sons of thunder”, the ambitious brothers? They are seeking to advance their own position in the kingdom Jesus is about to set up, so they engage in a little behind-the-scenes political maneuvering, asking if they could be second and third in charge. Jesus asks them, “Can you go through what I’m going to go through?” They answer very confidently: “Yes sir! We can do it! We will ride with you!” Of course they had no idea what they were talking about, and we have to avoid such a cavalier attitude about such things. This prayer helps us.

So fine: it’s good to pray for deliverance from trials. But what about when bad things do happen to us? When we go through trials and are tempted? What are we to make of those situations?

First of all, if we learn to live in this prayer, we will probably begin to recognize how often God does prevent bad things from happening to us, how often he spares us. We’ll start to see how often good things happen to us, and how little we deserve those good things. But when bad things do happen, we can rest assured that evil never has the last say. Every trial or evil that comes our way has a special function in God’s plans. Just like with daily food for daily needs, God also provides daily for the trials and and evil we experience. We may not obtain the answers we want, but we can rest assured that God is good and is working righteousness in us through our weakness, combined with faith.

That was Paul’s astonishing secret: “So, living for Christ, I am delighted when I experience weaknesses, insults, desperate needs, persecutions and difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am powerful” (2 Cor 12:9-10). This kind of experience-based trust is what lies behind many of the Psalms, such as 23, 34, 37, and 91. God does not promise that we will have no trials, but he does promise totally unbroken care, along with adequacy to do whatever is needed. “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” 1 Cor 10:13.

We must understand that usually God does protect us from trials, but when he allows them, it’s because he has something better in mind for us than freedom from trials.

Prayer Exercise
Find a time and place where you can spend 20-30 minutes in prayer.

Slowly pray through each phrase of the Lord’s prayer, applying specific points of application in your life after each phrase, according to your understanding of the petition.

After praying “deliver us from the evil one” read through Psalm 91. Spend some time journaling on some of the following questions.

• Does this passage seem unrealistic or overly optimistic?
• Does Psalm 91 seem to reflect your experience? If not, why not?
• What would your life look like if you walked in this kind of confidence all the time?
• Ask God to give you the first step you can take toward living the kind of life outlined in Psalm 91.

Just when we’re getting friendly with the idea of depending on God for bread, Jesus crosses into terribly dangerous territory:

Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.

We tend to trip over these words because we’re fond of speaking about forgiveness as the “free” gift of God. We can’t earn our pardon, or purchase the grace that pulsates through God’s heart.

If only it were that easy.

Jesus teaches that forgiveness must be given in order to be received – and that doesn’t mean we’re buying our forgiveness. When we give our seeds to the soil hoping to receive a crop we aren’t purchasing a harvest, we’re participating in it. When we plow the dirt, or weed and water the crops, we aren’t earning life, we’re submitting to it.

The difference is control.

The stuff we earn belongs to us and the property we buy is private – we control its movement. We’d prefer to think the same is true of gifts like forgiveness. Once we have it, it’s ours to keep. But forgiveness can’t be owned because it isn’t a badge or a boundary – it’s a substance for carrying life, like water for the crops or blood in the body. If we don’t send it out it can’t nourish, and eventually everything withers – including us. We must give in order to receive, we must die in order to live, we must forgive in order to be forgiven.

And that takes faith.

Prayer Exercise
Set aside 15-20 minutes where you won’t be interrupted. Start by reading a favorite Psalm, singing a favorite song, or repeating the petition above from the Lord’s prayer.

After you feel centered, stop and consider “forgiveness” in your life. What are the withering relationships at home, at work, with friends? Pray for each situation, asking God to show you what forgiveness and reconciliation would look like in each situation. Imagine what actions, if any, you may need to take.

(This study was written by Ben Sternke as part of our prayer journey with Christ Church, Fort Wayne)

Today we continue our week of focusing on the Lord’s Prayer by heading into the third petition of the prayer, found in Matthew 6:11

“Give us today out daily bread”

As we pray for God’s name to be hallowed and for his kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven, we pray this simple petition; that God would grant us our “daily bread,” which refers to everything we need for day-to-day life. It’s an image that hearkens back to God’s provision for the Israelites during their wilderness wanderings, providing manna to eat and sustaining their clothing so it didn’t wear out.

It’s a very simple request that we would be given what we need to continue to join with God in bringing his kingdom on earth.

This is the way children do it, isn’t it? If I discovered that my children were saving up scraps of leftover food in their beds, just in case we ran out, I’d have reason to be alarmed. A child in a healthy family trusts her parents to provide day by day. My children don’t fret over how much food is in the cupboards or monitor our supply of milk. They don’t ask for a box of crackers so they can spread them out over a week; they simply ask for a snack when they are hungry. This is as it should be.

Jesus teaches us to pray in the same way: asking for the things we need for today. Food and clothing, yes, but also for spiritual strength, emotional stability, grace to make it through another moment. Graham Cooke says there’s no such thing as good days or bad days, only days of grace. Sometimes you receive grace to enjoy the day. Other times you receive grace to endure the day. But either way, we pray for and receive the “daily bread” of God’s provision and grace day by day.

Prayer Exercise
Spend some time slowly reading through Philippians 4:6-7:

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

• Then, turn your attention and focus to God. Still yourself and become aware of his presence with you. Then work through the following exercise, based on an old Quaker prayer exercise:
• Start with your palms facing up, and let those things you are worrying about come into your mind.
• One by one, speak out those worries and imagine them filling up in your hands.
• Then, turn your hands over so your palms are facing down, releasing those situations and worries into God’s hands.
• Then present your requests to God – ask God for “daily bread” for each situation, each worry.
• After you have released your worries and prayed for provision, wait for the promised peace of God and rest in his presence.

Yesterday, according to Jesus’ instructions, we learned to begin prayer by honoring God as our good and powerful Father and remembering how he continually cares for us. Today, in Matthew 6:10, Jesus teaches us to pray as revolutionaries:

“Your kingdom come,
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.”

This portion of Jesus’ prayer resembles classic Hebrew poetry, where two parallel lines interpret and explain one another other.

“Your kingdom come, your will be done”
Christians talk quite a bit about “The Kingdom of God” and its coming, and for good reason – the “kingdom of God” or the “kingdom of heaven” was Jesus’ central gospel message. This portion of the prayer teaches us what the kingdom of God actually is: the place where his will is being done.

“On earth as it is in heaven”
Jesus follows up the theological lesson on the kingdom with this startling line where we are taught to pray for God’s kingdom to come on earth. Jesus is teaching that in prayer we are to think of the ways in which God’s will is not being done on earth, and pray that his powerful rule would come to those situations.

This brings up some disturbing questions: Doesn’t God always get His way? Isn’t He in control? If so, why would Jesus teach us to pray that His will would come about and what do our prayers have to do with God’s power coming to earth?

And yet, this is how Jesus teaches us to pray. Take some time to do so now.

Prayer Exercise
Find time to pray alone and uninterrupted for at least 15 minutes. Pray this portion of the Lord’s prayer several times, allowing it to sink into your heart. Meditate on the words. Then, ask yourself: where is God’s will not being done in your life, in your city, in the world? Imagine how those situations would be different if God were getting His way. Pray for that.