How Do Christians Pray?

Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. NoCoRadio. Thanks for tuning in. My 300 listeners, I salute you. Duplex Scratia Radio. Tempted, but haven't done it yet. Just get too busy. A pastor's life is basically, maybe I should do that on Monday, but it's my day off and I'm too tired.

Tuesday, well, I've got a lot of administrative things, catching up, appointments, calendars, scheduling, all that kind of stuff. And then Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, sermons, teaching, funerals. Did a funeral this week.

So then NoCo, this is just like a sidekick, side hobby. This is a sidecar. Like, I think Batman had a motorcycle and the sidecar Robin was sitting in that sidecar. Oh, how I loved Batman. I found some pictures of me when I was a kid and had a birthday party.

And I think it said 1966. It was my sixth birthday party. And we all had Batman stuff. So, OG Batman. I got a text today from my friend and pastor, Christian Harris. I think he's in Granbury, Texas. The Collective?

Is that the name of the church, Christian? I can't remember. Anyway, even if I just did the show only for Christian, because we have the same background, same age, grew up watching Johnny Quest, you know, and all that stuff.

Not together, but anyway. Christian, this show's for you. I dedicate this show to you. This song is like three minutes long. Do It Right or something like that it's called. Crazy. All right, I guess I could do other things, but today I'm talking about Jesus.

Jesus' Prayer Life and Practice

What do you know? Talking about Jesus. Shouldn't that be the theme of like every show? I think that should be. Today I'd like to talk, first of all, about the prayer life of Jesus. And then I want to know if there's a response from you.

When you study Jesus and his prayer life, what then do you do? I know what most of you have been taught to do, but we're going to expand that today, because we like exploring things. We like the final frontier, right?

Right. As you know, I've been working through Luke on Sunday mornings, and Jesus is about ready to go choose the disciples. We did that show yesterday, remember? And he's going to pray. Luke is the only one that I think mentions that Jesus prayed all night, that he prayed before choosing the apostles.

But it says in Luke 6 .12, and these days, remember the couple Sabbath occurrences with their hand and the men walking and eating some of the grain on the Sabbath. The Pharisees don't like that. And these days, he, Jesus, went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God.

So, an all-night prayer vigil, certainly linked to the next verse where he, out of the many disciples that he called, he chooses and summons the twelve for the apostles. He knows that he's going to die and that the ministry will carry on after his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension.

And he, Jesus, goes to the mountain. We don't know what mountain it was. I mean, they probably knew. It's got a definite article there. And he goes there to pray. I did learn something this week that I had not learned before, that the Jews had places of prayer called oratories.

And they served as places of respite and quiet, could be on the bank of a river, or on a hill, and they were kind of like a partial enclosure. Sometimes they'd have a wall of stone, and they could have a few people, or smaller numbers, like one, and people could go there to pray.

So, I don't know where Jesus went, but he knew it was important to pick the right apostles, and as a true man, and as a perfect man, and as a real man, he prays. Again, controversies are ratcheting up, hostility is fomenting, and Jesus goes to pray, certainly praying for wisdom, certainly praying for God's will to be done.

John chapter 5, Jesus said,. And in the same manner, John 8, 38,. Then you will know that I am he, and I do nothing on my own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught me. And so, Jesus is praying all night for many things, I'm sure, but certainly, with the context here, with 6, 12, and 13, for wisdom on who to pick.

Wouldn't you say that Jesus is the perfect man? Yes. Then wouldn't he be the perfect prayer? Yes. Wouldn't he be, as we call people these days who pray a lot, a prayer warrior, the ultimate prayer warrior?

And I think the answer is yes. And so, what's your response? What's your response to that? Well, the default response is, by most, probably not you smart, no-compromise radio listeners. I remember when I used to have a lot of listeners, and then the pactum came along, and I rejoiced with my brother.

We've had our day. We're just like a flicker in the background now, which is okay. That's why I regularly think, should I just do once a week? Most people say, I should pray more after they realize Jesus prayed all night on the mountain, maybe in a little oratory.

Is there anything wrong with that? No. But I think that's secondary. This is talking about Jesus, the one who's praying. And, of course, we know that Jesus' body is not on earth. Jesus is risen. Christ is risen.

He is risen indeed. Christos aneste, aleathos aneste. Right? He is risen. He is risen indeed. We know from the Scriptures that he has gone to the Father. Right? That's John 14 language. We know that Jesus certainly is present through his Spirit, and we can say, then, Christ lives in me.

We can say Christ dwells in our hearts through faith. We can say Christ is in us. But his body is in heaven. We can say he's with us to the end of the age, because he's given us his Spirit. So I want you to know that when Jesus died, buried, rose, ascended, that he is now still praying for you.

I know you know that, but just to remind you, Hebrews 7, one sentence in the Greek, The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office. But he, Jesus, holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever.

Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he, Jesus, always lives to make intercession for them. So that's Hebrews 7, verses 23 through 25. I didn't look it up, but commentary said it's one sentence, so I'll take their word for it.

But in case I'm wrong, you can correct the commentator. Of course, Jewish priests were many in number. Why? Because they were prevented by death from continuing in office. That's what the rest of the verse is, super simple.

And so whether that priest served for 10 years and died, 20 years and died, 30 years and died, 50 years and died, Aaron wasn't a priest forever, because he died. And sometimes they died younger, sometimes they died older, but when they were dead, that was it.

Then the next one just took over. Kind of like if you go to churches, I think it was Ligon Duncan that said, you go to church and there's all the pictures of the pastors, right? And then pretty soon, pastor, your pictures are going to be up there, because you're dead, and it's the next guy.

But Jesus is different, because he's alive and he's a permanent priest. He continues forever. That's what verse 24 says. It just preaches itself. The contrast is obvious. One after another, after another, after another, after another, versus Jesus forever.

Aaron wages sin as death, dies next. Jesus, while never sinning, died because he died for the sins of others. But he's alive, and he has conquered death, and he's at the right hand of the Father. And so what does he do, consequently?

What are the consequences of that? He's able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he, Jesus, always lives to make intercession for them. Now, what do priests do? They pray, and they sacrifice.

Christ's Eternal Priestly Intercession

And if you remember your Old Testament, I'm in 1 Kings now in my Robert Murray McShane reading program. Let's see, 1 Kings, like Ezekiel 30-ish, and Psalms around 90-ish, and what else? Just finished Galatians.

I hope you're doing that as well. I don't do it every year, but I've been doing it this year, 2024, in the year of our Lord. You know who used to talk about his daily reading a lot? It was S. Lewis Johnson.

He used to do that a lot. The Old Testament, in Exodus 28, talks about the 12 stones on the breastplate of the high priest containing the names of the 12 tribes of Israel to show, symbolically, a very important truth.

Exodus 28, you shall take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel, six of their names on one stone and the names of the remaining six on the other stone, in the order of their birth.

As a jeweler engraves signets, so shall you engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel. You shall enclose them in settings of gold filigree, and you shall set the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel.

And Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders for remembrance, to remember the people and to pray for them. But now we have Jesus, the ultimate priest, the great high priest, the risen priest.

He prays for his people as well. And we must not think of Jesus praying and pleading with the Father, and the Father doesn't really want to do anything, and he's got to be pushed and pulled and prodded and poked and he's reluctant.

No, that's not it at all. We can't think that way about the triune God with one essence. We can't think that way. Jesus is interceding for us. That's what the text says. And it doesn't really tell us what's he interceding for.

What are the specific requests? I mean, priest sacrifice, Jesus did. Priest pray, Jesus is. Well, if you look at the context of the book, the book of Hebrews, Jesus is able to help those who are tempted, Hebrews 2 .18.

I'm sure he's praying regarding our temptations. Hebrews 4, he provides mercy and grace to help in their time of need. When do we have a time of need? I'm certain he's praying. Remember when Stephen was getting stoned?

He looks up into heaven, and of course, Jesus' sacrificial ministry is done. He's seated at the right hand of the Father. No seats in the Jewish temple or tabernacle, but Jesus' work is done. The language is, it's complete, it's finished, and yet Jesus, it says in Acts 7, stands to help Peter.

That's exactly what we're talking about here. Making sure his people make it all the way. Blessing, protecting, comforting, guiding, coming alongside. Jesus said to Peter on earth, I prayed for you that your faith may not fail, and when you've turned back, strengthen your brothers.

And we've got ministry, and we've got strengthening. And that our faith won't fail to preserve us, to sanctify us, to keep us united, John 17. Romans 8 says something somewhat similar to think about our safety and security and our sure hope of heaven.

Romans 8, 31 to 34, what then shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died, more than that, who was raised to life, here we go, is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

And you know where some of that language comes from? How about Isaiah 53 in the Servant Songs? Verse 12, I've done that so many times in my life. He's borne the sin of Mary? That's true. I know. Yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors.

He's making intercession. That's exactly right. When we need help, of course, Jesus is there, standing, as it were, at the right hand of God. That's what Stephen saw. Heaven's opened. What a sight. Now, I was reading a commentary, David McWilliams, and I really like this series.

It's going to be my favorite series so far that I use. The Lectio Continua series. That just means, essentially, verse by verse. Just continue the words. And this is the Hebrew's commentary. You can get the Fesco on, I think he did both Galatians and Romans.

I just got the new one on Titus, and I can't remember the guy's name. Murray somebody, maybe. Maury Povich. He's back in the news because his wife or ex-wife or older wife, Connie Chung, just wrote a biography.

Maury Povich. She said he was really smart, so she kept saying, why do you do these dumb shows if you're so smart? I never read the book, so I wouldn't know. Lectio Continua series, Hebrews. Oh, let's see.

Stain did one, maybe Pastoral Epistles. But here's what McWilliams writes. And again, guaranteeing our perseverance. And lastly, Christ's intercession makes our service acceptable. When you read about Jesus' prayer life, before you say, I'm super convicted and I don't pray, I want you to say, thank you.

Thank you for being such a great prayer for me. Then secondly, I don't think it's wrong if you said, the God-man, the true man, the perfect man, God who became flesh, made prayer a priority. It should be for me as well.

Practical Responses to Christ's Example of Prayer

I've tried to pray more this week. I've been convicted about this. If prayer was important to Jesus, the perfect man, it must be important to us, to you, to me. I went through a list and found the times that Jesus prayed.

It's not an exhaustive list, but to show you the importance of prayer in Christ's life, here's some of the list. Jesus prayed when he was baptized, Luke 3, that Jesus also was baptized and while he was praying, heaven was opened.

We just talked about before major decisions like the Apostles' Choice. During ministry, regarding the feeding of the 5 ,000, he took the 5 loaves and the 2 fish and looking toward heaven, he blessed them and broke the loaves.

Prayer. It says in verse 46, he departed to the mountain to pray. When he was going to ask the disciples an important question, it came about in Luke 9, that while he was praying alone, the disciples were with him and questioned them, saying, who do the multitudes say that I am?

When he was transfigured on the mountain, Luke 9, and some eight days after these sayings, it came about that he took along Peter, James, and John and went up to the mountain to pray. Before evangelizing, before saying, come unto me all who are weary and heavy laden, he's praying to the Father.

I praise thee, O Lord, Father, you did hide these things from the wise and intelligent and revealed them to babes. And he goes on in prayer. Before he taught the Lord's prayer, it says it came about that while he was praying a certain place, after he had finished, one of the disciples said, teach us to pray.

At Lazarus' tomb, Father, I thank you that you hear us me always. For Peter, before the denial, I prayed for you that your faith may not fail. During the night of the institution of the Lord's Supper, all of John 17, during trials at Gethsemane, Father, if you're willing, remove this cup.

Four Reasons Christians Should Pray

On the cross, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. After the resurrection, blessing the bread. So if Jesus prayed, I think it's a good idea for us to pray. Years ago, I found four reasons to pray, and pretty much whenever I talk about prayer, I always think of these four.

They're not original, I didn't come up with them, I'm not trying to plagiarize or anything like that. But I was taught these. Why pray? Number one, we just saw, because Christ prayed to be Christ-like.

Ryle said, J .C. Ryle, if he who is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, thus prayed continually, how much more ought we, who are compassed with infirmity, if he found it necessary to offer up supplications with strong crying and tears, how much more needful is it for us, who in many things offend daily?

That's the first thing. Number two, it keeps you dependent on God. A .C. Dixon said, when we rely upon organization, we get what organization can do. When we rely upon education, we get what education can do.

When we rely upon eloquence, we get what eloquence can do, and so on. Nor am I, A .C. Dixon, disposed to undervalue any of these things in their proper place. But when we rely on prayer, we get what God can do.

I can tell when I'm not praying, I feel like I'm independent, self-made man. Number three, the third thing I've remembered as I was taught this, time is never wasted when you pray. Now, do you waste time?

Come on, do you waste time? You want answers? I think I'm entitled. I think I'm entitled to the answer, and I know the answer is yes, I do too. But you never waste time when you're praying. That's encouraging.

That's encouraging, positive, K-rock. K-R-O-Q. 106 .7, Los Angeles. See, you thought I was going to say K-love, didn't you? But I didn't. Somebody said to me the other day they were interviewing with K-love for a position, a behind-the-scenes position, and the interview process was very Christian-like.

My hat's off to K-love. Lastly, number four, no learning can make up for failure to pray. I mean, that is really convicting. Colossians 4 .2, devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.

I rarely... I don't know if I should say if ever. It's going to sound like I'm bragging or something or that I'm prideful, but I don't think... I mean, some passages and some sermons on a Sunday night or something like that I've studied less for, but I think I've always studied.

I've never just looked at a passage and said, I think this is what it means, and I'll just get up there and run my mouth. And so whether I've studied five hours, which I don't think that's ever been that little on a Sunday morning, Sunday night, or 50 hours, it's not really that anymore because of just, do you get used to it, accumulated knowledge, et cetera.

But my point is this. The point and what I'm saying is this. To quote Scripture, Romans 8, my problem isn't study. My problem is the prayer part, praying that God will work in the people, that God will conform the people to His image, that the people understand the Word.

They'll be convicted. They'll be encouraged. The means of grace would do its work. Law of gospel would do its work. They grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus, abound in love, and the list goes on and on.

Oh, Lord. So that spirals me back to, aren't you glad you have Jesus, the prayer warrior? You can stand in His stead in Christ. I did think to myself this week in light of my desire to pray more how I should move on, what I should do, and some of these I've done this week.

Practical Steps for Developing a Prayer Life

Most of them I've done. Confess your lack of prayer. Repent. Forsake. When you get in the car, don't automatically turn on the radio. It's a good time to pray. When you're doing the dishes or something like that, vacuuming, it's a good time to pray.

Doing chores. For me, it's when I'm getting ready in the morning. Turning off the phone. Turning off the ringer. Not automatically turning on podcast. And the podcast I listen to are Christian podcasts.

Nine out of ten times. When you read Scripture, pray that Scripture. Talks about thanks and all that. Do the same. Attend church on Sunday morning. Go to Sunday night prayer meetings. And more. Those are some of the things you could do.

If you have a hard time praying, remember Acts, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication. ACTS, that's a good way to do it. Supplication, those are the prayer requests that we normally have. And we don't want to just go to God for only our requests.

But there's certainly nothing wrong with going to God with requests. Well, today on the show, we've talked about Jesus and his prayer life. The prayer life of Jesus. I think there's the emotional life of Jesus, was B .B. Warfield, but I'm sure there are books written on the prayer life of Jesus.

When you read about prayer, Jesus' prayer, you should say, number one, thank you for praying for me. I mean, is he going to stop? He prays for his people on earth. Did he stop when he went to heaven? And secondly, in light of that, if the true man, perfect man, has to pray, I should probably pray.

Right? And then lastly, after you're convicted, praise God that he sees you as the perfect prayer in Christ Jesus. Mike Capenroth, NoCompromiseRadio .com. Oh, don't forget. Cancer is not your shepherd.

It's online. Sexual fidelity. Several churches have been ordering 30, 40, 50 of those. Get 40 off. Use them for the men's ministries. And it's updated with extra gospel. So, Mike Capenroth, NoCompromiseRadio.

There it is.