Modeling Prayer

Jesus Christ models prayer for us in a way that no one else can do. While on earth, prayer was His lifeline to the Father, the means of maintaining constant communion with the Father as His devoted Son. Prayer was also the driving force in Jesus’ ministry, hearing from the Father what He must say and do which would bring glory and honor to His Father. (John 7:18; 17:4). The essential element in all His prayers was His unwavering devotion to the glory of His Father. So significant was Jesus’ prayer life that how to pray was the one thing that the disciples of Jesus asked the Master to teach them (Luke 11:1).

Jesus’ effectual prayer life shows us four (4) important reasons for prayer—Communion with God, Conformity to God, Counsel with God, and Calling from God.

Communion: In Revelation 3:30, Jesus addresses the lukewarm Christians of Laodicea, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” Communion with God answers the problem of lukewarm Christianity and spiritual indifference.”

God created mankind to be in communion with Him. Communion with God is a deep and active relationship with God that involves abiding and delighting in His presence, walking in obedience to His word, and living in oneness and unity with Him. God granted no other created being this opportunity and privilege. It is in communion with God that we find our identity, value, and purpose in life.

Prayer is the gateway to communion with God. But prayer that is limited to talking to God on an occasional basis, presenting our list of needs and wants, often without any confidence, certainty, or faith that God will do what He says He can do, will fall short of communing with God. In Hebrews chapter 11verse 6, scripture says that “…. he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” The prayer of faith comes from being committed and determined to spend time with God and to learn His ways, which is what fuels communion with God.

Communion with God teaches us to value and treasure abiding in God’s presence. Sometimes, while going through storms of life, God will delay answers to our prayers so that we can discover and experience the joy and peace of being in His presence. Psalms 16:11 says, “…In your presence is fullness of joy.” It is communion with God that stimulates the confidence and faith to believe that our prayers and petitions are being heard and answered by our loving Father.

Conformity: God’s creation of man in His own image and likeness has huge significance and implications (Genesis 1:26-27). It provided God with someone on earth who had the unique ability to commune with Him and it defined mankind’s primary function in life which is to mirror or reflect God’s image in the earth. As God’s image bearers, mankind would be fulfilling God’s ultimate goal of filling the earth with the knowledge of His glory (Habakkuk 2:14).

This sacred trust and stewardship given to man was lost due to Adam and Eve’s moral failure in the Garden of Eden. But God in His foreknowledge had a plan to conform man’s image to God through the atoning work of Jeus Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation.” Jesus’ atoning death and resurrection made possible the restoration of God’s image to those who believed in Him. The plan of God was making Jesus Christ the template used for shaping and conforming believers to the image of God. When Jesus said in John 14:9, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father,” He was asserting His identity as God in the flesh. Furthermore, Romans 8:29 (NIV) says, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”

The Holy Spirit is the chief engineer responsible for conforming believers into the image of Christ as we pray and commune with the Lord. The Holy Spirit knows that our communion with Christ is tied to our identity with Christ. The closer we are to Jesus the more we become like Jesus, who Himself is continually praying and interceding on our behalf (Hebrews 7:25)! Proximity in prayer produces conformity through prayer. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “But we all, with unveiled faces, looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”

Counsel: Ephesian 2:6 (nlt) states, “For He raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.” This is not religious hyperbole but spiritual reality that every Christ follower has this privilege of being seated with Jesus in heavenly places. It is from this heavenly and divine place that God desires and seeks our participation in His deliberations. The Bible tells us that God’s secret counsel is with the upright (Proverbs 3:32). Those who live a life of communion with God, will have greater revelation and understanding of God’s plans and purposes in the earth.

Jeremiah 23:22, “But if they had stood in My counsel, and had caused My people to hear My words, Then they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings.”

In Genesis 18:17-18, God said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed?” God encourages Abraham to counsel with Him in His deliberation of the case against Sodom. Abraham’s effectual intercession, which rescued Lot and his family from God’s judgement on Sodom, illustrates how counsel and intercession with God can determine life and death outcomes. Prayer is not monologue; it is dialogue, God speaking to us and we to Him.

Calling: God spoke in Jeremiah 29:11-13, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” There is a calling upon every believer to be an ambassador for Jesus Christ. It is through persevering prayer that the specifics of that calling are made clear.

Calling is knowing God’s plans and purposes for your life, a privilege and obligation shared by all believers. Calling may not come as dramatic when Moses encountered the burning bush, or when Isaiah was caught up in heaven where God spoke, “Who shall go for us?” or Elijah, while hiding out in a remote cave, heard the still small voice of God. Calling begins the moment you receive salvation, and you begin the journey to communion with God through persistent prayer. Unconsciously, you are being changed from glory to glory and learning to recognize the Shepherd’s voice speaking to you what ears have not heard and eyes have not seen. After a time or in a moment of abiding in His presence, you will know the call of God which is upon your life.