Prayer and the Life of Jesus

Never Too Busy to Pray

Prayer is the most fundamental practice in the life of a Jesus follower. It’s like oxygen for our souls! Your life with God can only be as good as your prayer life. No matter how often you go to church, or how many Bible studies you lead, they can never make up for a lack of prayer. 

So what does Jesus teach us about prayer? Plenty. To kick this chapter off, let’s just look at his example in Luke 5:12–16:

While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him.

Then Jesus ordered him, “Don’t tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”

Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. (Italics added).

The lesson for us here is simple: Jesus was NEVER too busy to pray. 

His popularity was on the rise, news was spreading about him, and people were coming in droves to see him. However, instead of giving a speech accepting his nomination to be the next King of Israel, Jesus decides to disappear. 

When Jesus disappears, he doesn’t just excuse himself for a moment. He takes a trek into the wilderness. Imagine prayer retreats that were days long (we know at least one of them was 40 days long).

There was no amount of busyness, nothing so urgent, and nothing so spectacular that could keep Jesus from regular times of focused, meaningful prayer. His life was saturated with it. 

This is the way of Jesus.

On a scale of 1-10, how much does prayer fit in with your life right now?

What do you want your prayer life to be like? Describe it.

Are you there yet? If not, what’s stopping you?

What is one change you will make today to take your prayer life to the next level?