TEXT:
‘One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”’ (Luke 11:1 NIV)
The 100% success rate Jesus demonstrated when He ministered to the sick and demon-possessed, was largely due to His prayer life. When His disciples tried and failed to cast out the demon in the father’s epileptic son (See Mark 9:14-29), Jesus said, ‘This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting’ (v29). He was saying they could do it but needed to pray and fast. The correct reaction to failure is a determination to succeed, not despair that it did not work. As the saying goes, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try and try again!”
Luke’s gospel records seven occasions when Jesus prayed. Today’s Teaching focusses on each one to see why Jesus prayed and what was the result. Every one of them is something we can safely imitate to enjoy a more successful prayer life!
1. To receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit – ‘When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased”’ (Luke 3:21-22).
John the Baptist was reluctant to baptise Jesus, but Jesus insisted. While Jesus was praying, the Holy Spirit came upon Him in the form of a dove. Immediately after that infilling of the Holy Spirit, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Having resisted every temptation and sent the devil packing, Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to begin His public ministry, which resulted in signs, wonders and miracles everywhere He went.
The disciples were praying in the Upper Room when the Holy Spirit filled them in a very powerful way (See Acts 1:14, 2:1-4). That wasn’t an experience limited to the apostles, because Peter preached later that day, ‘Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away—all who have been called by the Lord our God’ (Acts 2:38-39 NLT).
If you are a Christian, have you been baptised in water as a believer in Jesus Christ? Have you received the infilling of the Holy Spirit? Peter and John prayed before they laid hands on the new converts in Samaria to receive the Holy Spirit (See Acts 8:14-17). Saul of Tarsus, after his encounter with Jesus on the Damascus Road, was praying and Ananias was sent to lay hands on him that he might receive back his sight and the infilling of the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:10-17).
The Bible makes it very clear; any Christian, anywhere in the world, can pray and receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit, ‘So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him’ (Luke 11:13 NLT).
Don’t rely on an infilling of the Holy Spirit years ago. The Bible says, ‘Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit’ (Ephesians 5:18 NLT). ‘Be filled’ really means, “Be being filled”. Regularly, not only once!
2. To guard against the dangers of success – ‘But the news about Jesus spread all the more widely, and crowds of people came to hear him and be healed from their diseases. But he would go away to lonely places, where he prayed’ (Luke 5:15-16 GNT).
If we are not careful, success will create dangers that must be avoided.
A. Pride
We can create the impression to others that we have done it, rather than working in partnership with the Holy Spirit. Peter made it abundantly clear it was God who healed the lame man, when he said, ‘Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?’ (Acts 3:12 NIV). Peter warned Timothy to be humble when correcting those snared by the devil (See 2 Timothy 2:25-26). The Psalmist said, ‘I will praise You forever, because You have done it’ (Psalm 52:9). No pride only praise!
B. We take the things of God for granted
We end up praying less because we think we don’t need to, but Jesus did the opposite. The more success He saw, the more He prayed. Leaders end up as managers of the church instead of ministers in the power of the Holy Spirit.
C. We think we have enough people and stop evangelising
The reality is, there are millions more outside of the kingdom than inside it. Yet we are content with the success we have had and ignore the unreached surrounding the church. Jesus didn’t stay in one place. He said, ‘Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because for this purpose I have come forth’ (Mark 1:38).
D. We allow people and other things to take up our time
Many ministers say they are too busy to pray, but their time is taken up with trivial things. Jesus made prayer His priority and learnt how to avoid people when it was time to seek His Father. He also made sure He was up early to pray, ‘The next morning he was up long before daybreak and went out alone into the wilderness to pray’ (Mark 1:35 TLB).
In the next Today’s Teaching, we will consider more occasions when Jesus prayed.
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