“Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart.”
—Luke 18:1
The Gospel of Luke emphasizes the humanity of Jesus more than any other Gospel. And by emphasizing His humanity, Luke tells us more about Jesus’ prayer life than any other Gospel writer. We, unlike Jesus, are sinful humans and therefore fraught with weakness and in need of spiritual strength. Prayer is one of the major means through which that strength will come. The further I go down the road of life, the more I realize my desperate need to spend time with God in prayer. Life, as we all know, can be extremely challenging and burdensome at times; therefore, it’s vital that we learn the secret of taking everything to God in prayer. The sooner we learn this, the better things will be.
Let’s look through Luke’s eyes at Jesus in prayer.
I’ll begin with a quote from Samuel Chadwick. “Prayer is more important than organization, more powerful than armies, more influential than wealth, and mightier than all learning. Prevailing prayer makes people invincible.”
I love this quote. It reminds us of how vitally important prayer is. As we look at Luke’s Gospel, beginning in chapter 5, verse 16, we read, “So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.” Two things stand out to me. First, Jesus withdrew to pray. Now, we all know that we can pray any time, any place, and that’s one of the wonderful blessings of prayer. I can pray lying in bed, driving down the road, or walking from place to place on the jobsite or through my neighborhood. However, it’s very important that we take time to get away from all of the craziness of our lives and get alone with the Lord. That’s what Jesus did; He withdrew. He got away from the crowds. He got away from the people. He got away from all of the activity and spent time alone with His Father. We need to follow His example.
Consider this: If Jesus, the Son of God, sensed a need to get alone with His Father, how much more do we need to get alone with God? We desperately need to have those times of intimacy with the Lord. I think that we’re probably living in the busiest time in history. There are more distractions, more things vying for our attention and our time than ever before in the history of the world. Technology has advanced, and behind that, to some extent, was the desire to free up our time. But yet, in many ways, it seems to have backfired. I’m very thankful for my smartphone, but I get far more calls, texts, and notifications than I can even begin to respond to. Something that was originally intended to be a convenience has now enslaved me. If I go out of the house in the morning and don’t have my phone with me, I feel like I’m naked. I’ll suddenly go into a panic. And the worst thing is, sometimes I’ll go into a panic, looking for my phone, even though I’m actually holding it. Now, that’s pretty scary.
Then there’s the Internet, social media, etc. Before the advent of Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, etc., life was busy; today, it’s going at a lightning pace. Because of all of this busyness, we have to make extra effort just to spend some quiet time with the Lord. That’s what Jesus did, and we must as well.
The second point is that he withdrew often. He did it frequently. And the more often we get away with the Lord, the better off we’re going to be, the better off things around us are going to be, and ultimately, the better off the world that we live in is going to be. Sometimes people think foolishly, “Oh, I don’t have time to pray. I’ve got so many other things that I’ve got to do.” If we’re too busy to pray, we have a complete misunderstanding of the way the Christian life is to be lived.
My experience has been that when I take time out and step away from the busyness to spend time in prayer, I become much more effective in what I’m doing. I often realize that many things I think I have to do aren’t essential. In prayer, I’m able to give over to God the burdens I’ve been carrying, which then frees me to focus on those things that matter most. And through spending time with the Lord in prayer, I receive the grace, strength, and wisdom needed. So, Jesus set this example for us. He withdrew, and He withdrew often to pray. Let’s do likewise.
In Luke chapter 9, verse 18, we have another picture of Jesus in prayer: “And it happened, as He was alone praying, that His disciples joined Him.” Now, I want to be a person who can influence others for Jesus Christ. I want people to join me in walking with and following the Lord. But my question is: How can I become a man of influence and have that power of attraction so that others will be drawn to the Lord through me? Well, I think we see the answer here. Jesus is alone praying, and His disciples come to Him.
Here’s what happens. When we get alone with the Lord, we actually become more like Him. And as we grow more into His likeness, the more attractive we become to people. I think Jesus was the most attractive person who ever lived. He wasn’t necessarily attractive in the physical sense. Isaiah seems to indicate that there was nothing extraordinary about His physical form. But yet, Jesus had this incredible power to attract people. He was a people magnet, drawing the masses to Himself. Is it possible that we, too, could have people drawn to us that they, in turn, might be drawn to the Lord through us? I think the possibility increases as we spend time with the Lord, because it’s there that we become more and more like Him. Let’s think about what we’ve considered so far, and next time we’ll look at the Purpose and Power of Prayer.
