Jesus Christ Taught His Disciples to Pray
Dearly beloved of God, the Lord Jesus Christ taught his disciples how to pray.
If anyone did not need to pray surely it was the Lord, but he prayed early in the morning, at night, sometimes all night, before important decisions, and in troubling situations. He organized his life so he had the time to pray.
Prayer was one of the greatest aspects of his life and ministry. He not only talked to his Father in prayer, his Father answered his prayers.
He prayed for guidance, and he received revelation during times of prayer. God confirmed that Jesus was His Son in Whom He was well pleased while he prayed. Angels came and ministered to him when he prayed in the garden of Gethsemane. He prayed for God’s people. He prayed for the LORD to send laborers into the harvest, and much more. Signs, miracles, and wonders followed after he prayed.
He said, “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” Matthew 21:22
The right way of believing comes from hearing the Word of God. He said to ask in prayer believing and you shall receive. We go to God’s Word to find what is available to pray for, and believing what God says we ask Him to it to grant us. We do not ask with doubting, nor worrying if God will supply; we ask with believing confidence that God is able and willing to perform His Word.
In Matthew 6, the Lord Jesus Christ taught about prayer. He taught that we do not pray to impress people, to show how pious we are; those who pray in this manner have their reward.
He said, “But when you pray, enter your closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father Which is in secret; and thy Father Which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” Matthew 6:7
He was not teaching them to literally have a prayer closet. He was making a comparison between the hypocrites who prayed for public recognition, and believers who were to pray to the Father in private. Our prayers are to God our Father. He hears them, and He will reward you openly by answering your prayers.
“But when you pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knows what things you have need of, before you ask Him. After this manner pray ye…”
Jesus Christ then prayed a simple prayer to give them an example of how to pray. What is the context in which this prayer is given?
We are not to pray using vain repetitions, yet this prayer is vainly repeated week after week in many religious services just the opposite of how the Lord taught them to pray.
Our adversary the devil twists everything God says in His Word until it is no longer the truth of His Word. He degrades the truth that God’s Word teaches, and turns it into vain religious acts that are powerless. The “prayer closet” is one example. The vain repetition of “the Lord’s prayer” is another example of how he undermines God’s Word.
In Luke 18: 1-8 we read, “And He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint.”
In the parable the widow kept after the judge until he granted her request. God will avenge those who cry unto Him day and night speedily. We ought always to pray, and not to faint. Pray until you receive your request; don’t faint, dearly beloved.
In Luke 11, his disciples asked him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And He said unto them, When you pray say, ‘Our Father Which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth….”
After Jesus Christ fulfilled the law and the prophets, and he accomplished the will of God, part of what he made available was for God to have a kingdom.
After his death, resurrection, ascension, and seating in the heavenlies at God’s right hand, Jesus Christ sent the promise of the Father, which is the gift of holy spirit, and people gained entrance into God’s kingdom by being born again, as he taught in John 3. God’s will was done on earth, and the first phase of this kingdom was accomplished.
Once God had a kingdom, and people could enter it by being born again of the spirit from God, the Word of God declares that each citizen of God’s kingdom receives all the rights, privileges, and ability that pertains to that citizenship. God's kingdom has come, dearly beloved. God has answered the prayer that Jesus Christ prayed.
Dearly beloved, we should learn to pray to God our Father as the Lord Jesus Christ taught, and not to pray as the hypocrites do. They have no spiritual understanding. Read the Church epistles and see what God would have us to pray.
God hears the prayers of the righteous. His ears are open to our prayers, and He delights in answering them.
When you pray, believe, and you shall receive whatever you ask according to His will. Have confidence in God our Father when you pray, dearly beloved. He is faithful that promised.