Spiritual Disciplines: Prayer

“It is not enough for the believer to begin to pray, nor to pray correctly; nor is it enough to continue for a time to pray. We must patiently, believingly continue in prayer until we obtain an answer. Further, we have not only to continue in prayer until the end, but we have also to believe that God does hear us and will answer our prayers. Most frequently we fail in not continuing in prayer until the blessing is obtained, and in not expecting the blessing. Those who are disciples of the Lord Jesus should labor with all their might in the work of God as if everything depended upon their own endeavors. Yet, having done so, they should not in the least trust in their labor and efforts, nor in the means that they use for the spread of the truth, but in God alone; and they should with all earnestness seek the blessing of God in persevering, patient, and believing prayer. Here is the great secret of success, my Christian reader. Work with all your might, but never trust in your work. Pray with all your might for the blessing in God, but work at the same time with all diligence, with all patience, with all perseverance. Pray, then, and work. Work and pray. And still again pray, and then work. And so on, all the days of your life. The result will surely be abundant blessing. Whether you see much fruit or little fruit, such kind of service will be blessed.” -George Muller, 1805-1898.

Now that you are a Christian, what is the most important thing you can do? If you took a survey with that question, you might hear responses like “evangelism” or “worship.” I wonder how often you would hear “pray.”

Prayer can feel very passive. Isolated. When you are new to the practice of prayer, or perhaps during some of the harder times of life, you can feel like you’re sending out signals into an unanswering universe. Jesus wants you to know that this perspective on prayer is not accurate and it is not what he intends for your life.

In the post where I introduced the spiritual disciplines more broadly, I defined the disciplines as “those behaviors that augment our spiritual growth and enable us to grow to spiritual maturity.” I also offered that these disciplines are “following Jesus in the overall style of life he chose for himself.” Engaging in the spiritual disciplines is for the human soul what watering, pruning, and fertilizing is to a plant. It is the way Jesus modeled how to engage the process of human growth and, for us, transformation. Author Richard J. Foster said, “To pray is to change. Prayer is the central avenue God uses to transform us. If we are unwilling to change, we will abandon prayer as a noticeable characteristic of our lives.”

I wrote deeper examinations of the spiritual disciplines of studying the Bible and solitude in recent weeks. Today, we move to the discipline of prayer. As with all the disciplines, much could be said. I will endeavor to stay focused on a study of Jesus’ life with regards to prayer. I have placed a bibliography on prayer for further reading at the very end of the post.

Jesus chose a lifestyle of prayer. More specifically, he chose to pray in the morning, during the day, and at night. He chose to pray alone and in groups. He prayed while fasting and he assumed his followers would fast. He commanded his followers to pray. He modeled prayer and explicitly taught us how to pray. So we see he took a variety of approaches to prayer, rather than one, lone model of prayer. We also see that he both modeled and commanded prayer for us to engage.

Jesus chose a lifestyle of prayer.

Richard Foster wrote, “Of all the Spiritual Disciplines prayer is the most central because it ushers us into perpetual communion with the Father.” Based on what I’ve read in the Bible and my own experiences, I assume that quote to be accurate for my life and for this post. Pastor and author H.B. Charles, Jr., defines prayer this way, “Prayer reflects our confidence in the heavenly Father to care for our needs.”¹ Prayer is a method of spending time with God, of us communicating to him and him communicating to us. While it is a rare experience to hear an audible voice, God’s communication to us is real and discernible.

In the rest of this week’s post, I will examine multiple passages from the eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ life to see the elements of Jesus’ various styles of prayer. Rather than list them all out as I did in the previous paragraph, they will occur together. I’m sure you will see the same thing I see in them.

The Gospel of Mark, chapter 1, shows us several elements to Jesus’ prayer on a certain day. Jesus had just spent all day healing people and exorcising demons for “the whole town” (Mark 1:33), possibly into the night. Mark 1:35 then says, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he got up, went out, and made his way to a deserted place; and there he was praying.” I have noticed five elements in this verse. Do you see them, too?

One element of Jesus’ prayer on this day is that it was early in the morning. The text makes this very plain. I am reminded of a famous quote from the Protestant Reformer Martin Luther, who said, “If I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets the victory through the day. I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer.” In other words, Luther’s habit was to start his day with two hours of prayer, but if he was especially busy, he devoted THREE hours to prayer instead. This choice seems backward to me as a busy, 21st century American. But the more I know the Lord and the more I know the use of prayer, the more I see the wisdom in it. Jesus likely spent signficant time in prayer (more on that in a moment). He knew he needed it. If GOD THE SON needed to pray before he started his day, how much more do you and I need to do the same?

A second element of Jesus’ prayer on this day in Mark 1:35 is that he prayed by himself. Notice, it said “he” got up and went out. Not “they.” He was unaccompanied by his disciples or family members. Praying in groups is good and right and commanded in the New Testament. But you will benefit greatly from consistent, regular prayer where you are alone with God. He wants you to know him. He wants your heart aligned with his. And he wants to guide your steps. It is difficult in our busy schedules to find time to pray alone. It is tempting to get on our phones or do something else for dopamine. But consistent, regular prayer will result in rich times spent with God. I have experience this truth in my life. I know you can experience it, too. Luke 5:16 reports that this style of prayer was a regular occurrence for Jesus, “Yet he often withdrew to deserted places and prayed” (emphasis added).²

A third element of Jesus’ prayer on this day is he prayed for a lengthy period of time. He was apparently gone so long, the disciples had to go look for him. We find this in Mark 1:36-37, the following verses. “Simon and his companions searched for him, and when they found him they said, ‘Everyone is looking for you.’” If everyone was looking for Jesus, then enough of the morning had passed that people were up, dressed, had eaten their breakfast, and possibly had done their morning chores in order to be freed up to go find this miracle worker who might do something amazing right before their eyes. As they were looking for Jesus, they probably came to the house that hosted Jesus and the disciples the night before. And so the disciples were motivated to get outside and find Jesus! They found him having spent a significant amount of time in prayer. That kind of behavior may not seem possible for you right now. But what if you chose the rest of prayer over the leisure of Netflix? Are there blocks of time you spend on things that either can wait or that you do not actually need? Could you not re-allocate some of that to a regular prayer time? Time spent in prayer is never time wasted.

A fourth element of Jesus’ prayer on this day is that he chose prayer over ministry. We get this from the fuller passage, Mark 1:35-38. Here is verse 38: “And [Jesus] said to them, ‘Let’s go on to the neighboring villages so that I may preach there too. This is why I have come’” (emphasis added). Jesus COULD have been performing acts of ministry already on this day. He knew that Capernaum had plenty of people in and around it. He knew there would be more people who were ill. The people of Capernaum were the reason the disciples went and found Jesus praying alone! We know from verse 37 that the disciples had just told Jesus that everyone was looking for him. So Jesus did not leave Capernaum due to an assumption that there was no longer any need in that town. We know, instead, that his primary mission was to preach the Gospel. Rather than spend every possible minute in acts of ministry, he chose to connect with God in prayer. You might even say he left ministry opportunities in order to go pray.

The fifth element of Jesus’ prayer on this day is that he prayed before the difficult work of ministry. The following passage, in fact the next verse, Mark 1:39, says, “He went into all of Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.” He transitions from a lengthy time of solitary prayer into a period of ministry service that cost him time and energy. Mark 1:39 probably refers to a period of multiple days, if not weeks. Do you jump into acts of ministry without praying beforehand? My friend, don’t do this to yourself. You could be so much more encouraged, invigorated, strengthened, and ready for the task at hand if you would pray first.

“Prayer—secret, fervent, believing prayer—lies at the root of all personal godliness.” -William Carey, 1761-1834.

Let us turn to a few more passages from the life of Jesus to see how he handled prayer.

While Jesus did pray alone many times, he also prayed with others. We see this in a variety of passages, including the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6) and the Last Supper (e.g., Luke 22:17, 19).

Jesus modeled prayer. He showed how to pray at his baptism in Luke 3:21. He laid his hands on children and prayed for them in front of the disciples in Matthew 19:13. He prayed privately, but his disciples were with him during his individual prayer time in Luke 9:18. He told the disciples of his prayers for them. The Lord tells Peter, for example, of his prayers for him in Luke 22:32. John 17 is a prayer for his disciples and is prayed in their hearing.

He modeled prayer, but he also gave explicit instructions on how to pray. He taught us how to pray in terms of content in Matthew 6:9-13. That prayer is popularly known as “the Lord’s Prayer,” but some (myself included) have taken to calling it “the Model Prayer.” It is a prayer that WE, the disciples of Jesus, are to pray. Jesus has no debts or need for forgiveness. Those elements in the Model Prayer show that it is really a prayer for us to pray, not his prayer to pray. Directly before the Model Prayer, however, Jesus also taught us the posture of prayer we are to have in Matthew 6:5-8. As you read that passage, you will notice that the posture is not so much whether our bodies are lying down, sitting down, standing up, etc. The posture of prayer is one of sincerity, if I can use a simple term to sum up his teaching in those verses.

Jesus modeled and assumed his disciples would fast. Matthew 4 famously reports the temptations of Christ by the devil at the end of a forty day period where Jesus modeled fasting and solitude. The Sermon on the Mount shows us that Jesus assumes we will fast when he says, “Whenever you fast…” He does not say “if.” He assumes that we will take up the practice of occasional denial for the purpose of dwelling on the truth that God is always and only our source of provision.³

Jesus commanded us to pray. This fact makes prayer nonnegotiable for Christians. The joy of it is, though, that prayer is no begrudging duty. It is a powerful privilege to enter the presence of God, knowingly. God told Moses, “No one may see me and live” (Exodus 33:20). But now we have Jesus, Immanuel, God With Us. At the end of prayer we walk away unscathed, but not unchanged.

He commanded us to pray in such strong terms that he even told us to love and pray for our enemies in Matthew 5:43-44.

At the end of prayer we walk away unscathed, but not unchanged.

Prayer changes us. Aligns our hearts with God’s heart as we spend time with him. Prayer is our walkie talkie as soldiers in the field reaching out to our commanding officer for orders. And prayer changes things (e.g., James 1:5). I hope you see the need for daily—or more accurately, constant (1 Thess. 5:17)—prayer.

I want to close with a story I read in H.B. Charles Jr.’s book.

A father and his son were riding their bikes together one day. As they rode down the trail, the father eyed a large branch that had fallen in the path ahead. Instead of riding around it, the father decided to use this as an opportunity to teach his son an important lesson. They pulled over, and the father instructed his son to move the branch out of the way.

The boy pushed and pulled, but was unable to move the branch. “I can’t do it,” he said, exhausted. “Sure you can, Son,” replied the father. “Be sure to use all your strength.” The boy tried harder. But he could not move the branch.

Near tears, he said again, “I can’t do it.”

“Did you use all of your strength?” The father asked.

“Yes,” the boy answered.

“No you didn’t,” the father replied. “You didn’t ask me to help you.”

For Further Reading:

• Richard J. Foster, Celebration of Discipline.
• H.B. Charles, Jr. It Happens After Prayer: Biblical Motivation for Believing Prayer.
• Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines.
• Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy.
• Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life.

1. H.B. Charles, Jr. It Happens After Prayer: Biblical Motivation for Believing Prayer. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2013. ↩︎
2. Luke 6:12 also reports another example of solitary prayer, “During those days he went out to the mountain to pray and spent all night in prayer to God.” ↩︎
3. You may have dietary or other health complications that may change, limit, or prohibit your ability to engage in traditional fasting from food. If you think this may describe you, ask your physician if there is a form of fasting from food or drink that you CAN engage. If you cannot engage in fasting from food or drink in any way due to your dietary or health needs, leave a comment here or otherwise contact me and I’ll be happy to make some suggestions that do not impact your diet or health in a negative way. You can, for example, change a habit. Instead of watching TV for the last hour of your day, you can give that time to God by spending it reading or more intensely studying the Bible. ↩︎