04 The Jesus Way - Prayer

The Jesus Way

Pt. 4: Prayer

By Louie Marsh, 8-3-2025

Last slide hand illustration of prayer.

 

1) Prayer was one of Jesus’ TOP priorities.

 

“¹⁶But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.” (Luke 5:16, ESV)

 

As far as Jesus himself (αὐτός) was concerned, two more imperfects (these periphrastic) describe what he kept doing (iterative). At every opportunity he would slip quietly and secretly (ὑπό in the participle) away from these crowds and would be praying. We catch a glimpse of the soul life of Jesus, his frequent communing with God in lonely places while men were clamoring for him.

 

Jesus is described as praying about 25 times in the Gospels, with the exact count varying by Gospel: Matthew (9), Mark (8), Luke (15), and John (4).

 

· Jesus is described as praying about 25 times in the Gospels, with the exact count varying by Gospel: Matthew (9), Mark (8), Luke (15), and John (4).

· Specific occasions of Jesus praying include His baptism, before choosing disciples, at Lazarus’s raising, at the Transfiguration, and in Gethsemane.

 

2) Jesus taught me to pray AUTHENTICALLY.

 

“⁵“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. ⁶But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:5–6, ESV)

 

· I must pray with PERSISTENCE.

 

“⁷“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. ⁸For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. ⁹Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? ¹¹If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:7–11, ESV)

 

· I must pray with FORGIVENESS.

 

“⁴⁴But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:44–45, ESV)

 

· I must pray to be aligned with GOD’S WILL.

 

“¹⁴And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. ¹⁵And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.” (1 John 5:14–15, ESV)

 

3) Jesus shows me that prayer is not transactional, it’s TRANSFORMATIVE.

 

“¹¹In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,” (Ephesians 1:11, ESV)

 

“¹⁵For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, ¹⁶I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,” (Ephesians 1:15–16, ESV)

 

4) Jesus MODELED all this in his prayer life.

 

“⁴¹And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, ⁴²saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” ⁴³And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. ⁴⁴And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” (Luke 22:41–44, ESV)