Following the example of Jesus in prayer

A.W. Tozer said, "Our purity, our strength, our piety, and our holiness will always be only as strong as our prayer." I am convinced that this is true.  

Recently, I read in a biography the statement: "He who prays, wins." I found this very apt. After all, in connection with the topic of prayer, it is ultimately about living the victorious life of the Lord Jesus, who lives in us.  

Why do we pray? 

Some people believe that prayer is only for emergencies: when one is in danger, becomes ill, when a shortage arises, or when difficulties occur. While all these are valuable aspects of prayer and God is pleased when we call upon Him in our distress, prayer is so much more.  

Prayer is talking with God. It is fellowship with God. We speak with Him because we love Him. Since our conversion, we have been in a personal relationship with God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus, who has become our Lord and Redeemer.  

We can also enjoy and cultivate this relationship in prayer, and from this trusting connection, we may live our lives with and for God. In prayer, with an open Bible, we may marvel at His glory, worship, lose ourselves in it, and find Him sufficient.  

David Brainerd, whose prayer life influenced generations of missionaries like William Carey, Jim Elliot, and Adoniram Judson, said: "An hour alone with God far exceeds all the pleasures and joys that this world has to offer."  

Jesus set the example for us when He lived on this earth. Time and again, we read that He withdrew early in the morning and in the evening to speak with His Father. He also prayed during the day. Especially in the Gospel of Luke, which particularly portrays Him as the perfect man, God's Spirit presents the Lord Jesus as a man of prayer more frequently than in any of the other four Gospels.  

It is worthwhile to study these passages more closely. These and all other passages make it clear that His life was characterized by a total attitude of dependence and trust in God. He knew that as a man, He was reliant on God and could do nothing without His Father.  

It is no coincidence that Psalm 109:4 prophetically says about Jesus Christ: "But I am prayer." It is very interesting to see that in the Hebrew original text, the word "prayer" is used as a noun, indicating that Jesus embodied prayer. His entire being was permeated by prayer, by the trusting relationship with God, and by loyalty to His Father.  

God wants us to follow the Lord Jesus in regard to prayer and to live this devotion and dependence on God. As John, a disciple of Jesus, tells us in 1 John 2:6: "Whoever says he abides in Him [meaning the Lord Jesus] ought to walk in the same way in which He walked." 

M.K.