THE MASTER IN PRAYER (1)

“And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain BY HIMSELF TO PRAY” – Matthew 14:23

We can learn how to Prevail in Prayer by the Word, as we watch The MASTER IN PRAYER: “And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray” (Mt.14:23). This is the first mention in the Gospel writings, of JESUS PRAYING! Prior to this, Jesus had taught about Prayer: “...PRAY for those who spitefully use you and persecute you” (Mt.5:44); “And when you PRAY, you shall not be like the hypocrites... But you, when you PRAY, go into your room, and when you have shut the door, PRAY to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you PRAY, do not use vain repetitions as the heathens do...In this manner, therefore, PRAY: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name” (Mt.6:5-9). That was JESUS ON PRAYER.

So far, we have examined to an appreciable extent JESUS ON PRAYER – His Teaching. Jesus said a lot of radical things that can revolutionize the way we pray. The disciples watched Him pray in a certain place, and when He had finished praying, one of them asked Him on their behalf, “Lord, teach us to pray…” and He did: “So He said to them, “WHEN YOU PRAY, SAY…” (Lk.11:1-2). If we desire to be closer to God, we’ve got to learn to talk with Him daily The better Pray-er we are, the more and better conversations we’ll have with God, and the closer to Him we’ll be. We can learn to pray more fervently, earnestly, persistently, and prevailingly, by watching Jesus in prayer.

In this Matthew 14 passage, Jesus learnt that John the Baptist had been beheaded. He withdrew to a solitary place, presumably to grieve, but the crowds somehow found out where He was going and followed Him. He needed His privacy, but when Jesus saw the multitude, He had compassion on them, spoke to them and healed their sick (vv.13-14). In the evening, His disciples requested that He take a break and send the crowd away. But Jesus said, “You give them something to eat” (vv.15-16). Jesus ended up using a young boy’s sack lunch to feed over 5000 men, not counting women and children (vv.17-21). One would assume that after all this, He might have been exhausted! He sent the disciples by boat across the lake, dismissed the crowd, and “went up on the mountain BY HIMSELF to PRAY” (v.23).

Jesus emptied Himself, gave Himself away to people, then He replenished Himself alone in prayer. This was His repeated rhythm: Stand before people, kneel before God. Give to people, receive from God. The lesson here is: Solitude with God – getting alone to pray – is one of the most powerful ways to refuel our sagging spirit. Jesus was in high demand – everywhere He went, people pressed in to touch Him, to listen, to receive. It had to be draining. Yet in the midst of a packed, intense and demanding schedule, Jesus made time to get alone with His Father. He made time for unrushed communication and communion. Without doing this, spending unrushed time alone with God, we get depleted, overwhelmed, exhausted, anxious, tapped out; we feel far from God. Then we'll need to MAKE TIME for GOD!

JESUS IN PRAYER speaks of Him as our Example of Prevailing in Prayer! Our Master is our Prayer Model. Our Saviour is our Prayer Standard. Like the first disciples, we can watch Jesus pray too. When did He pray? What did He pray? How did He pray? Through His Word, our Lord will practically teach us to pray and become better Pray-ers – “Prevailers in Prayer” – so we can be closer to God.

Today, we start with this overview, that whatever the situation, JESUS MADE TIME for PRAYER. In the days ahead, we shall watch and study JESUS IN PRAYER. First, we shall examine Four Key Points:

(a) Jesus prioritized praying;

(b) Jesus prayed before every Major Moment;

(c) Jesus prayed for people; and

(d) Jesus prayed with gratitude.