![Seeing the Pattern of the Lord Jesus as a Man of Prayer in the Gospels [in the picture: Matt. 6:46-47, Christ was a Man of Prayer]](https://i0.wp.com/agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/matt6-46-47-christ-was-a-man-of-prayer.jpg?resize=450%2C427&ssl=1 "Seeing the Pattern of the Lord Jesus as a Man of Prayer in the Gospels [in the picture: Matt. 6:46-47, Christ was a Man of Prayer]")
For God to accomplish His will, He needs a people on the earth that would pray His will for Him to do it. God doesn’t need only “prayers once in a while, when we remember or when we are reminded by others” – God needs men of prayer.
With Daniel as a man of prayer God could break through in the spiritual realm and in the physical realm to release the people of Israel from their captivity in Babylon.
Through Samuel as a man of prayer God brought in the age of the kingship with David as the man after God’s heart (Samuel told Saul, I will not sin against God by ceasing to pray for you!).
For God to end the age of the church and bring in the age of the kingdom, and for the Lord Jesus to return, He needs men of prayer! God is not after a method of prayer, a sporadic prayer, or the best way of prayer – God wants men, persons, beings who pray!
The Lord Jesus was the pattern of a man of prayer – He was not after popularity, fame, or power, but He rather sought God in prayer and He always withdrew to pray to God His Father! What a pattern the Lord Jesus was to us!
As we read the Gospels we see that the Lord Jesus was the pure pattern of a man of prayers (Matt. 14:23; Mark 1:35; Luke 5:16; 6:12; 9:28).
Lord, make us men of prayer. Not just being reminded to pray from time to time, and not just having the method of prayer, but being persons of prayer! Cause us to see the pattern of the Lord Jesus on the earth, how He prayed and how He lived a life of prayer!
Christ Was a Man of Prayer
The life the Lord Jesus lived on the earth was not merely something outward that everyone can see, appreciate, or praise. The Lord Jesus lived as a man of prayer.
Time and time again He withdrew from the crowd, from the miracle He just performed, or from the disciples, so that He may pray to the Father.
Christ was not merely praying common prayers to God, as pious or godly men would pray, and He was not praying in a religious way. Christ was not even praying to God for miracles, for divine attainments or obtainments, or for divine help.
As a man in the flesh, as God living in man yet a man in the flesh, Christ was praying to the mysterious God in the divine and mystical realm.
On the one hand He often withdrew to a secret place (sometimes the desert) or to the mountain to pray (see Luke 5:16; 6:12; 9:28).
On the other hand, even while He was speaking to the disciples, the Gospels tell us that, “Jesus answered and said, I extol You, Father”… The Lord Jesus was continually conversing with the Father, and He continually prayed by breathing Him in and contacting God in His spirit.
He prayed according to the principle of prayer by aligning His will to the Father’s and asking for the Father’s will to be done.
The Lord Jesus is Our Pattern as a Man of Prayer
We all can be men of prayer because we are joined to the Lord as one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17)! Christ in us is the hope of glory (Col. 1:27), and He in us is the man of prayer! We need to see the pattern of the Lord Jesus as a man of prayer and spend time with Him to be infused with Him as such a One!
There are several characteristics that the Gospels tell us concerning the Lord Jesus as a man of prayer.
![As a Man of Prayer, the Lord Jesus was always One With God (John 10:30). How about us? Are we always one with God? Christ was not merely praying to the Father, but in everything He did and said, He was one with the Father. [In the picture: John 10:30, I and the Father are One]](https://i0.wp.com/agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/john10-30-i-and-the-father-are-one-man-of-prayer.jpg?resize=800%2C450&ssl=1 "As a Man of Prayer, the Lord Jesus was always One With God (John 10:30). How about us? Are we always one with God? Christ was not merely praying to the Father, but in everything He did and said, He was one with the Father. [In the picture: John 10:30, I and the Father are One]")
As a Man of Prayer, the Lord Jesus was always One With God (John 10:30). How about us? Are we always one with God? Christ was not merely praying to the Father, but in everything He did and said, He was one with the Father.
By developing a habit of prayer and by praying ourselves into God, we can also be one with the Lord in all we say and do. We have the potential – the Pattern of Prayer in in our spirit!
As a Man of Prayer, the Lord Jesus lived in the Presence of God without ceasing (Acts 10:38c; John 8:29; 16:32b; cf. Exo. 33:14; 2 Cor. 2:10). He was the Son of the Father always in the bosom of the Father, seeing the Father’s face all the time.
The Lord Jesus was never alone – the Father was always with Him. Christ as a Man of Prayer had the Father’s presence always with Him.
How about us: do we live in God’s presence non-stop? We have to admit that many times we are away from God’s presence. There are many interruptions.
But as we follow the Lord’s pattern to be men of prayer, the Lord is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17) and we behold Him, reflect Him, and are being transformed in the same image (v. 18)! We will be just like Paul, who forgave the brother in the face of Christ, in the index of Christ’s eyes.
As a Man of Prayer, the Lord Jesus Trusted in God and not in Himself (1 Pet. 2:23b; Luke 23:46). He was persecuted, and He went through a lot of unfair suffering – but He kept committing everything to the Father, who judges righteously. He didn’t respond in kind or speak threatening words when others were mean to Him or persecuted Him.
How about us: do we trust in God when trouble and suffering comes? How much we need the help from this Pattern of a Man of Prayer, so that we pray continually and habitually until no matter what others do to us, we commit all things to God and trust in Him!
As a Man of Prayer, the Lord Jesus was a Man in whom Satan had NOTHING (John 14:30). What a Man! There has never been such a person on the face of the earth in which Satan had no ground, no chance, no hope, and no possibility in anything!
We all have to admit that Satan still has a lot of things in us, He has a lot of ground in us… but in Christ, the Man of Prayer, Satan had no way, no ground, no possibility in anything! If we eat the Lord Jesus as the Man of Prayer, we will live because of Him and in us Satan will have no hope, no chance, no ground in anything (John 6:57).
Lord, make us men of prayer! We want to take You as our pattern and join ourselves to You as the Man of Prayer that we may also be men of prayer. Thank You we are joined to You as one spirit, and Christ is in us! Lord, may we be those who pray at all times in spirit. Make prayer so normal and vital to us as breathing is. We want to cooperate with You to bring this age to a close and bring in the age of the kingdom! Gain the men of prayers You need!
References and Further Reading
- This portion is inspired from brother Dick Taylor’s sharing in the message and portions in, The God-Man Living (ch. 10), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on Prayer and the Lord’s Move, week 2 (entitled, A Man of Prayer).
- Hymns on this topic:
# Amen!—The growth in life! / There’s nothing that Your life can’t do; / Our every part renew. / We’ll make it, we’ll make it just by You. / Lord Jesus, grow in us.
# O Thou, by whom we come to God, / The Life, the Truth, the Way, / The path of prayer Thyself hast trod— / Lord, teach us how to pray.
# Did you know that I’m a God-man? / A three-part man mingled with the Triune God, / And I have a spirit / Where the enemy has no way, no hope, no ground… / I am a God-man!
About aGodMan
The Lord lived as a man of prayer. He did not live as a common man praying common prayers to God, as a pious man, a so-called godly man, praying to God in a religious way, or as a God-seeking man praying to God for the divine attainments and obtainments. His being a man of prayer was not even as merely a Christ-seeker praying desperately to gain Christ in His excellency (Phil. 3:12-14, 8). Instead, He was a man in the flesh praying to the mysterious God in the divine, mystical realm. The Gospels tell us that He often went to the mountain or withdrew to a private place to pray (Matt. 14:23; Mark 1:35; Luke 5:16; 6:12; 9:28). (The God-man Living, p. 89)
Our Lord, as our pattern as a man of prayer, is working today to make us His reproduction as men of prayer. Such men of prayer do not live as a common men praying common prayers to God, or as pious men praying to God in a religious way, or as a God-seeking persons praying to God for the carrying out of the divine attainments and obtainments. Neither is He working in us today that we would merely be Christ-seekers praying desperately to gain Christ in His excellency (Phil. 3:12-14, 8). Instead, as our prototype He is reproducing Himself in us, causing us to be exactly as He was, a man in the flesh praying to the mysterious God in the divine, mystical realm. Lord, continue to reproduce Yourself in us today that we would be men of prayer, praying to the mysterious God in the divine and mystical realm.
It is not enough to just be a Christ-seeker praying desperately to gain Christ in His excellency. If we think that we are a Christ-seeker, we would think that we are very special and spiritual. We need to see the pure pattern of the man of prayer revealed in the Gospels! The man Jesus was a man of prayer, a man who is one with God, lives in the presence of God continuously, trusts in God in His suffering and persecution, and in whom Satan has nothing. Prayer is simply a man in the flesh, praying to the mysterious God in the divine and mystical way and realm.
Matt. 14:23 And He sent the crowds away, He went up to the mountain privately to pray. And when the night fell, He was there alone.
Lord Jesus needed to pray privately to His Father who was in the heavens, that He might be one with the Father and have the Father with Him in whatever He did on earth for the establishing of the kingdom of the heavens. He did this not in the deserted place but on the mountain, leaving all the people, even His disciples, that He might be alone to contact the Father.
Lord Jesus was a pure pattern of a man of prayer.
The highest profession on the earth for any human being is to spend time with God in order to be filled with God. That is genuine prayer. Not asking God for things but contacting God and absorbing God. We may offer supplication for the church, for a brother in dire need, or even for ourselves (and they are much needed), but whether or not such prayers are answered is secondary. The primary matter is that we pray by following the sense in our spirit; we allow God to pass through us and to mingle Himself with us. This is genuine prayer that breathes in God. Through such prayer, we are in God, we breathe Him in, and God is in us. In such prayers we obtain God even before our prayers are answered. This is God's heart's desire. For God and man to be joined together in the most thorough, perfect and intimate way. And it is only through such prayer can this be accomplished.
With the Lord Jesus, we see the pure pattern of a man of prayer revealed in the Gospels. As a man of prayer, the Lord Jesus was always one with God. Amen! O Lord Jesus! We desire to be a man of prayer by our pray for Your move.
The Lord Jesus was never alone but had the Father with Him all the time. We too must live in the presence of God continuously and trust in Him even in the midst of suffering and persecution. This is the true way of a man of prayer.
For God to accomplish His will, He needs a people on the earth that would pray His will for Him to do it.
He needs some who would set up a time aside to pray daily. Daniel knelt on his knees 3 times a day to pray and gave thanks before his God. (Dan. 6:10). Our Lord Jesus, often withdrew from the crowd to a secret/hidden place and prayed to God to fellowship concerning God’s will. Outwardly people saw the Lord performed miracles, healing sick but He is a man of prayer. He prayed according to the principle of prayer by aligning His will to the Father’s and asking for the Father’s will to be done and His living was a continually breathing God and contacting God in His spirit.
What a pattern we have. This pattern is in us today. We need to join Him in His prayer, because He is still praying in the heavenly Holy of Holies. He needs some who would become a man of prayer working with Him in carrying out His will on this earth.
I appreciated that a real prayer bring us In to God.
Amen! Praise the Lord Jesus! The comparison of the Lord in us as a hand in a glove was such a meaningful, tangible comparison because some sisters use gloves to wash dishes and take out trash. The way that "index" was used in this portion really had one wondering, because it's not heard in such a context. An index is a character that draws attention to something. An index is an object of analysis. Oh Lord Jesus, may we be those that draw attention to You. Amen. The hymns are sweet poetry even if we don't know what numbers they are. There's an appreciation for the slashes, indicating a change in lines. There's a genuine love for casting everything on the Lord because He cares. He really does. Oftentimes it is disappointing to share a burden with a friend because that person may be tired of hearing the other one's burdens; they could be such a let down. Sometimes we ask people to pray for us, and they don't or they forget or they don't think it's worth praying for. Whatever. When we surrender all cares, anxieties, and burdens at the foot of the cross there is such a feeling of true relief, of uplifting, of transcending.
The first time that one began to pray the prayer points from Brother Minoru Chen one just jumped right into them. One disregarded the usual way one prays, and nearly half the points were covered. With each point that was prayed there was a sense of the burden getting heavier and heavier. One began to feel as if one might be crushed if one prays one more point. This was so heavy. One doesn't usually feel like that when praying. There's a sense of restoration, joy, enlivening, a teeny tiny song in the spirit that might come out later, an ability to handle whatever situation comes up next, etc.. There was something different that happened after praying the few points. There was a new sense of servitude. One began doing things in the home that usually do not do without being asked. One still cooks for herself though. One use to say she was going to wake up at a certain time to pray; it just didn't get done. After praying the points there was more of a commitment and actual carrying out of that. Praying the prayer points are like lifting spiritual dumbbells, but it's good for us and others though. It's vital.