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| The Mount of Olives, Jerusalem |
Jesus prayed.
I am a disciple of Jesus. I am a Jesus-follower.
Therefore, I pray.
Using the logic of modus ponens:
1. If I am a follower of Jesus, then I pray because Jesus prayed.
2. I am a follower of Jesus.
3. Therefore, I have a prayer life.
Did Jesus "take time" to pray? This is not the way to talk about Jesus and praying. If prayer is talking with God about what the prayee and God are doing together, then "prayer" is a lifestyle of ongoing conversation with God. This entails getting alone with God - just you and God - and conversing.
Jesus prayed out of relationship with God. Prayer is relationship with God, just as ongoing communication with my wife Linda is the relationship. Prayer is a conversation with God.
In Scripture we see that...
a.
Jesus “was often found in prayer, not merely
on formal and public occasions, i.e. when attending the synagogue, but
informally and in private contexts, sometimes in lonely places.” (N. T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God,
149)
b.
Jesus spent time in solitude. Jesus began
his ministry by spending 40 days alone in solitude (Mt. 4:1-11).
c.
Before choosing the 12 Jesus spent the entire night alone in the
desert hills (Lk. 6:12).
d.
When he heard of John the Baptist's death Jesus "withdrew from
there in a boat to a lonely place apart" (Mt. 14:13).
e.
After feeding the 5000 he dismissed the crowd and "went up
into the hills by himself" (Mt. 14:23).
f.
After a long night of work, "in the morning, a great while
before day, he rose and went out to a lonely place" (Mk. 6:31).
If our Lord took times of solitary
prayer out of his own need to be in conversation with the Father, should we do any
less?
