And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place,
when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him,
Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.
~Luke 11:1~

Written by Pastor Chris Jennette

Intro: In an article dated December 10, 2013, Time magazine did a piece on The 100 Most Significant Figures in History. We as believers are not surprised that the number one historical figure was none other than our Savior Jesus Christ!  He is the most Significant One of all time! Without Him we would have no hope in this world or from this world. He is our everything! I say this without apology. He is our All in All! Everything about Him is perfect, from His birth, to His life, and even to His death and resurrection.

But there is something that was very special that I want to bring out about His life. Jesus was the greatest communicator, orator, and teacher, yet His disciples did not ask Him to teach us how to do any of these things. They asked Him to teach us to pray in Luke 11:1.

Everything Jesus did, He did an example for us to live by. This includes His prayer life. Jesus was God robed in a man’s body and could have tapped into His omnipotent power, but often times He relied on prayer to give us the example to follow.

From looking at His prayer life, I have concluded that prayer is an absolute necessity in the life of a Christian. You cannot look upon Christ without knowing that He was a man of prayer. He was constantly calling on His Father in prayer.

In Mark’s gospel chapter 14 when Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane we see, once again, that Christ was not only seeking His Father in prayer, but He was teaching us to pray and to seek the Lord. He knows we cannot make it without prayer.

George Mueller, the famous preacher who housed and cared for hundreds of Scotland’s orphans once said, “Prayer is not merely an occasional impulse to which we respond when we are in trouble: prayer is a life attitude.”  There is no substitute for prayer. When we look at our ultimate example, Jesus Christ the righteous, we know that this is the case.

In Mark 14, we learn many lessons that we can take with us to help us along our journey.

1. He taught us when to pray. vs. 32-34

• We should always be in the spirit of prayer, but we should seek the Lord especially when we are troubled by life’s circumstances.

2. He taught us the proper position of prayer. Vs. 35

• We should pray on our knees to show reverence to the Lord. This is the custom when approaching royalty.

3. He taught us how to address God the Father. Vs. 36

• We should go to God like a child running to his father when in distress.

4. He taught us the omnipotence of the Father. Vs. 36

• There is nothing that God cannot do. He is all powerful. This ought to give us confidence in prayer.

5. He taught us to seek God’s will in prayer. Vs. 36

• Before we make life changing decisions, do we seek the Lord’s will?

6. He taught us to be alert in prayer. Vs. 38

• This helps us when temptation or trials come our way.

7. He taught us to have a prayer life by praying over and over again. Vs. 35, 39-40

• This teaches us that we are to constantly bombard the throne of grace for strength to overcome temptation, and to finish the race.

Conclusion: A story is told about President Abraham Lincoln during a stressful time of the Civil War. He was having an important meeting with his cabinet members, when all of the sudden his son ran abruptly into the room. Some of the members of Lincoln’s cabinet thought the boy was going to be scolded and sent out. Much to his surprise however, Lincoln dismissed his cabinet to spend some time with his son.

The word of God says Hebrews 4:16, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

Today our country is in desperate need of people like you and I who will bombard the throne of grace to prayer for an awakening in our land. Today families are in desperate need of prayer warriors to pray that they won’t fall victim to society and break a part. Think of it, dear saints, there are little boys  and girls in our communities that need us to come boldly to the throne of grace so their families will not fall apart.

Will you join me in following the example of our beloved Savior, Jesus Christ, and pray for our families, churches, and our country? I’ll meet you at the throne of grace!

Chris Jennette is the pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Olney, Illinois and a married father of four children.

Specific Prayer Items:

• Please pray for President Donald Trump and all of our Congressional leaders as they decide how to respond to war crimes committed by Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

• Pray for Neil Gorsuch as he is sworn in as the 113th Justice to the Supreme Court of the United States.  Pray that God gives Justice Gorsuch an abundance of wisdom and discernment.

• Pray that lawmakers in Washington, D.C. would continue to work toward defunding Planned Parenthood and repealing Obamacare.

• Although our state lawmakers are on a two week Spring Break, pray that Illinois House and Illinois Senate leaders would get serious about reining in deficit spending and passing a budget, as required by law.

• Also pray for the ultimate demise of the following bills pending in Springfield:  taxpayer funding of abortion (HB 40); counterfeit birth certificates (HB 1785); legalization of marijuana for recreational use (HB 2353); drug decriminalization (HB 3235); no penalties for marijuana for “enrolled students” (HB 3715); incarcerated prisoner can motion to change drug felony conviction to misdemeanor (SB 1886); abortion clinic censorship zone (HB 3735); gambling expansion (SB 7); income tax increase (SB 9) and the ERA (SJRCA 4).

• Pray for boldness in our pulpits and for strong, unwavering church leadership plus a willingness to engage the culture.

• Pray that God would continue to provide the needs and resources for IFI to do the work necessary to protect life, families, marriages, and religious liberty.