Are you known in Heaven for your prayers? Do you consider yourself a prayer warrior before the throne of God? Are your prayers effective before the only One who can do anything about your requests?
If you are like most people, you pray similar to how you’ve heard others pray and how you are accustomed to pray. The prayers you speak have a certain flow and an outline you generally adhere to.
Are you content with your prayers, or would you like to pray like Jesus? Do you say similar things whenever you pray because it comes from the deep emotional seat of your heart, or because that is just what you say when you pray?
In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.
Hebrews 5:7
The Bible tells us how Jesus prayed that made His prayers get the attention of those who heard on earth and the One who heard from Heaven. We would do well to learn how Jesus did prayer time and take to heart His pattern.
A Manner Which Could Not Be Ignored
Loud cries and tears accompanied Jesus’ requests and petitions. He had great and significant emotion behind his conversation with the Father. The little talk He was having to the only One who could do anything about what He was asking affected Him so much that He cried. Some words that could be used to describe “loud” are engaging, mighty, boisterous, forcible, and valiant. Jesus prayed in a manner that couldn’t be ignored. His prayers made an impact on Heaven.
Jesus prayed for what He wanted, what He felt deeply about. His prayers were engaging, attention getting to the One to whom He was speaking (the Father). Nothing was reserved or held back in the presentation of His great need and the request for God’s great provision. Whole-being prayers would be a good description of how Jesus prayed. With His whole heart, soul, mind, body, and strength. It took effort for Jesus to pray like this. It was a strain. He had to have strength to accomplish the task. Energy had to be exerted. He had to exercise this skill of prayer for it to be established and built.
A Devotion Which Could Not Be Denied
There was 100% devotion to God on Jesus’ part to do the plan, purpose, and pleasure of His Heavenly Father. He knew His Heavenly Father was full of love and grace and would hear His petition, all His requests. No doubt of God’s perfection accompanied Jesus’ prayers. He knew the Father had the best plan and Jesus aligned Himself, His thinking, His circumstances, and His words to the plan of God.
Jesus was heard in Heaven for His piety. He took hold of what God called good, right, proper, approved. There was a holy caution in Jesus’ behavior because of His “tight hold” on being reverent toward God at all costs to His own person. He was obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. His prayer was the catalyst that prompted His obedience.
A Final Outcome to Obtain
The evidence Jesus’ prayers were heard and answered was Jesus’ actions demonstrated his compliance with God’s plan, purpose, and pleasure. He confirmed He believed God by the actions of Jesus conforming to the will of God. Jesus wasn’t asking God to change His circumstances, but to enable Him to conform to God’s plan, purpose, and plan at the deepest root of His being.
Now It’s Your Turn To Pray
We are instructed to come bodly to God’s throne of grace. Jesus demonstrated the boldness we are told to utilize when appearing before God to present our requests and petitions. The same passion that produced tears during Jesus’ prayers should produce tears during ours. The engagement we have in presenting our needs and petitions before the Throne of God can be just as impactful in our lives as it was when Jesus’ prayed.
Assess your prayers like this:
- Do I pray in a manner God cannot ignore?
- Are my prayers engaging, mighty, boisterous, passionate?
- Is Heaven moved to help me gain the strength and determination needed to press on the upward way and gain new maturity every day?
- Am I holding tightly to the things of God (what God calls “good”) and loosely to my own wishes, hopes, ambitions, and goals?
Psalm 61 helps us see this kind of praying in practice. David, at the end of his rope, faint of heart, declares He confirms all God has said and determines his actions will align to God’s Word. The passage in Hebrews demonstrates Jesus knew that when He complied with the plan, purpose, and pleasure of God, He would experience the Joy of obedience. Likewise, in Psalm 61, David proclaims he will day by day do what God desires so that He will forever dwell with God and praise Him. David clearly prays prayers that cannot be ignored by God, demonstrate total devotion to God, and hope in experiencing the final outcome of perfect joy with the Father.
Take the assessment provided earlier and begin today focusing your prayer time. Be present with God in a manner which cannot be ignored, determine 100% devotion to all God has said, and bask in the delight of God’s presence both now and forever.
Written By: Anne Gurley
