Learn how to pray like the Lord Jesus Christ

If the Lord Jesus Christ is God manifested in the flesh, then when He prayed, is a lesser God praying to a more powerful God? No, there is only One True God. We have to understand that Jesus has two natures. One is divine and the other is human. It is the Man Jesus Christ praying to His Father God.

Why did Jesus need to pray, and how did He pray? The Bible tells us about Jesus, "who, in the days of His flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered, and having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him." (Heb. 5:7-8).

1. The Lord Jesus Christ prayed "in the days of His flesh." Jesus prayed as a human being. Prayer is the way of communication between God and His people. If Jesus needed to pray to the Father God, how much more do we also need to pray?

2. Jesus "offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears". Jesus prayed genuinely and intensely in the Garden of Gethsemane. "And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground." (Lk. 22:44) We must learn to pray earnestly like the Lord Jesus Christ.

3. Jesus prayed with "godly fear". We must also pray with godly fear. "Let all the earth fear the LORD; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him." (Psm. 33:8) "He will bless those who fear the LORD, Both small and great." (Psm. 115:13)

"Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied." (Acts 9:31)

4. Jesus "learned obedience by the things which He suffered." Although Jesus cried out to God, asking to be delivered from death and separation from the Father yet He was obedient to do His will. At times we will undergo trials and tribulations, yet in our prayer we must also learn to be obedient to do God's will.

The Lord Jesus Christ prayed in different postures according to various situations.

A. Kneeling "And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and prayed." (Luke 22:41)

B. Fell on His Face "He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, ‘O My Father. . . ." (Matthew 26:39)

C. Looking up to heaven. (Matthew 14:19; John 11:41)

D. Sitting. (Mathew 26:26)

F. On the cross when in deepest agony (Matthew 27:46)

A common posture that the Early Christians used for prayer is to kneel down (Acts 7:60; 20:36). "Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:9-11)

The Lord Jesus Christ said, "Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near." (Luke 21:28) "Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees" (Hebrews 12:12). "Therefore I desire that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting." (1 Timothy 2:8)

A good posture for prayer is to kneel down, look up and lift up the hands. We should always pray "in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (John 14:13-14; Ephesians 5:20; Colossians 3:17; Philippians 2:10). The important thing for us is to pray to our heavenly Father in Spirit and truth (John 4:23-24)..

A. Personal Prayer.

1. Alone with the Father. "Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed." (Mark 1:35) When we are awake early in the morning while it is still dark we can follow Jesus' example and pray to God.

   "And when He had sent them away, He departed to the mountain to pray." (Mark 6:46)

2. Jesus' reason for spending time with the Father was to discover God's will for His life. (John 8:26- 29)

Every Christian needs to have a close and personal relationship with God by spending quality time in prayer to the heavenly Father

B. Public Prayer.

1. Jesus gave thanks to God for the food (.Mark 8:6,7; John 6:11, 23) We should always give thanks to God even in the public places such as a restaurant before eating.
2. Jesus prayed publicly for the benefit of the people, that they would believe God. (John 11:41-43)

C. In a Small Group.

Jesus prayed with His disciples (Luke 11:1 and Luke 9:18)

D. Jesus prayed for the Witness and Unity of His Disciples.

Jesus prayed to the heavenly Father, "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word. that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me." (John 17:20-21)

Christians must also pray to the heavenly Father for the unity of all true believers so they can witness to the world that Jesus Christ is the One and Only True God manifested in the flesh, and the only Lord and Savior of mankind.

The greatest gift we can give to others is our prayers of intercession. (Luke 22:32).

When we pray for others the same qualities that Jesus prayed for, we know we are praying in the will of God.

E. Jesus also prayed for the unbelievers.

At the Cross Jesus prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do."(Luke 23:34)

We can also pray for unbelievers and ask God to bring them to the knowledge of the truth.

F. Jesus has power over everything in the universe:

sickness (Mark 1:40-42),

death (Mark 5:35-42),

weather (Mark 4:35-41)

demons (Mark 1:23-27)

Today the Lord Jesus Christ still has power over everything in the world.