Jesus Prayers Teaches Us

His True Nature

In the Bible there are six recorded prayers of Jesus. Some of them are probably fragmentary, since no-one was there to witness, or record, the events. Such was the prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane:

39 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. (Mathew 26:39)

We can be quite sure that there were more words uttered before - and after - these famous words of the suffering Lord. But those tender words of prayer of a man in agony are held in sacred confidence between Jesus and the Father. But for some reason, Jesus has allowed someone, a prophet, seer and revelator, to see and hear at least that part of this sacred moment. If it wasn’t for that generosity, we would never had known what was said in that dreaded night. Now it is an inspiration to us, and a testimony to the selflessness of Jesus of Nazareth.

Let us look at his other really short prayers:

34 Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do… (Luke 23:34)

Hanging on the cross, ridiculed, knowing that he at this very moment suffered more than anyone else ever would, he could not bear the thought of his torturours taking the full punishment of their crime. For some of them it was only an execution. For some, it was only a lynching. For yet others it was only an opportunity to execute dammed-up frustrations and anger. But Jesus knew that many of them didn’t know that they were engaged in the slaughter of the God of Abraham. Their own God. He did not want them to take the consequence of that, unawares.

34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Mark 15:34)

Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen during this day of crucifixion. He knew that the Father would leave his presence, so that also Jesus would die the spiritual death. In order to overcome that spiritual death, to be shut out from the presence of God, he first had to succumb to it. Later he would enter into the presence of his Father in Glory! He knew this. He didn’t need to ask in order to know? But by asking, all mankind would learn that the Father had retracted from Jesus, leaving him to bear everything all on his own. So this prayer was a brilliant way to teach us!

46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. (Luke 23:46)

Once again he is teaching us! What is he teaching? He is teaching that he has total control over life and death. He decides the moment. Nobody takes his life, and jeopardize the great plan of happiness. He also teaches that man consists of both body and spirit. He wants us to know that the body and the spirit is the soul of man.

Looking at all the short prayers of Jesus, we see that they are all giving proof of mercy and intelligence. It is clear that the realization that his mission as a teacher is not over until he has drawn his last breath is not dimmed by his suffering.

Now, let us look at the Lord’s Prayer. It is a very often repeated prayer, and one might wonder if this is what Jesus had in mind when he taught his disciples to pray. That’s how it was. The disciples asked him to teach them how to pray, and this is the reply:

9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. (Mathew 6:9-13)

There is something that seems to have escaped almost every reader of this passage of scripture; this is not the pattern of a personal prayer, but rather, the pattern of a public prayer. Jesus could just as well have said:

After this manner pray ye when ye meet together.

On what is this conclusion based?

Look at verse 11; give us this day our daily bread.., and verse 12; forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, and verse 13; lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

There is a big difference between the personal prayer and the public. There is not one single ‘I’, ‘Me’or ‘Mine’ in the Lords’ Prayer, as there shouldn’t be in a public prayer. The person offering up a prayer in public is but the mouth of the congregation, and therefore, the ‘I’, and the ‘Me’, and ‘Mine’, have no place.

But look at the private prayer of Jesus, offered up just before they enter into Gethsemane, that fateful Easter evening, not so long ago.

1 THESE words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:

2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.

3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.

7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.

8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.

9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.

10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.

11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.

12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.

13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.

19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.

26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. (John 17: 1-26)

Can you see the difference between the public and the private prayer? For one thing, the private prayer is much more in first person (Note all the ‘I’, ‘Me’, and ‘Mine’). The content is also much more private, and it is obvious that this is a subject that has evolved over many years of communication. If there would have been a listener present, other than God and angels, Jesus could never have offered up a prayer like this one. It would have offended the listener tremendously, unless, of course, the listener was one of the elect of God. Also note the length of the prayer. A personal prayer can be as long as it needs to be, whilst a public prayer will start to bore people after a short while. It’s a great thing to ask ourselves the question; what would Jesus do? And he has given us the answer by example! Return from 'Jesus Prayers' to - Home