The phrase “prayer warrior” has come into wide use in the religious world in past years, and while I’ve never really been that crazy about the term myself, it clearly resonates with people. It’s a phrase that seems to me to describe someone who prays regularly and with purpose, convinced that a petition to God will truly bring results. It is a phrase that helps people see their daily prayers as a source of real power.
By that definition, Jesus was not a prayer warrior. He was a prayer general.
When Jesus was on the earth, prayer was a part of his daily life and served as a model for his disciples in the most literal way: on at least one occasion, they came to him and asked that he would teach them to pray.
Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” — Luke 11:1 1
This passage seems to indicate an instance where the disciples could see and hear Jesus pray, and it impressed them to the point that they asked him for instruction on how they could pray like he did. We often don’t think of teaching people to pray as we might teach them to serve in other acts of worship, or as we might teach them about doctrinal issues or Biblical stories and truths. But I can imagine the disciples seeing Jesus’ attitude toward prayer and hearing the way that he approached God, and then looking at their own prayer lives and wondering why they couldn’t manage that same level of dedication. That’s a question I ask myself a lot, and I suspect I’m not alone.
Jesus responded first by giving them a framework for prayer, which was intended (I believe) as nothing more than a “starter kit” of sorts — some basic concepts that an individual can take, personalize, build upon and use to understand the basic mechanics of prayer. I don’t think Jesus ever intended for it to be recited as an actual prayer as so many do today.
But the words themselves weren’t really the key to why Jesus’ prayer life was so effective. He follows with an illustration:
And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘ Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” — Luke 11:5-13
Jesus tells his disciples simply this: If you wouldn’t ignore your children when they ask you for help, why would God ignore His?
To Jesus, prayers were the means for him to address his Father. That seems obvious to us, but I suspect that often our prayers are directed more at the ceiling, or the sky, or some far-in-the-distance point where our words will carry and after that, who knows what will happen? It’s difficult for us to imagine “boldly coming before the throne of grace” and speaking to our God as to our own father. It’s not that we don’t believe that’s what we’re doing, it’s just that some days it feels more like hope than settled truth.
There’s a reason Jesus’ prayer were so powerful: they weren’t acts of faith. Jesus knew God was listening to him because Jesus had been to Heaven, and he had seen the Father!
And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” John 11:41-42
That’s not to say Jesus didn’t have faith. It’s simply to say that Jesus had first-hand knowledge. Jesus had been with the Father in the beginning. Jesus knew that God heard the prayers of His people, because he had been witness to it. Jesus knew God loved mankind because he was himself the living proof of that love.
One of the central truths of scripture is that prayers of faith work, and doubtful prayers don’t (James 1:6, Matthew 21:21). When Jesus prayed, he prayed with a certainty that we can’t fully duplicate this side of Heaven. That doesn’t mean we can’t pray in true faith and hope, modeling our prayers after our Lord’s. But it does mean that if we’re going to have a truly effective prayer life, we have to be convicted in our faith (James 5:16, Hebrews 11:6).
When we pray to God, do we consider that the God and creator of all the universe—the God who is maintaining all things right now through His own will and power—has given us permission as His children through Christ Jesus to address Him? And that whatever He may be doing, He is now listening?
Jesus knew that to be true, and as a result, he was constantly praying. Let’s work hard to reflect that prayerful attitude in our own lives.
