Prayer
One of the great mysteries of our lives is that we can communicate with God.
Jer 29:12-13
call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
When we look at the life of Jesus, we see a man who prayed. Jesus gives us an example of how to live as a man in an interactive relationship with a real and living God.
“Prayer is the nearest approach to God we can experience this side of glory”. – Pickford
Jesus knew that while physically present on earth, his time in prayer brought him into the spiritual presence of His Father. In prayer, the spiritual and physical boundaries are broken down to create a space for our souls to talk with the spirit of God , and listen and learn from Him.
The one essential ingredient of prayer is the awareness and enjoyment of His presence; we draw near to Him, and he draws nigh to us.
There is much we can learn about prayer from the life of Jesus and as we follow his example, we begin to model a life that dramatically and mysteriously comes to life. It should be no surprise that we find Jesus praying at the beginning of his ministry and at the end of his life, because He knew that as a human, prayer was his connection to his Father. Throughout his life he was in a continuous attitude of prayer, where spirit with Spirit mingles in the voiceless words of the heart that indicates the harmony and bond of oneness with the Father. Where his mind, will and desires were constantly being submitted to the Fathers through the ongoing conversation he had through his spirit. Jesus knew that nothing drew him nearer to his Father, while he was on earth, than His time in prayer.
It is through pray that it is as if a doorway is opened to the heavens because of the spiritual work done on our knees.
Prayer – Opens the Heavens
This picture of prayer that opens the heavens begins at Jesus’ baptism and follows him to his death. Matthew, Mark and Luke each describe these mysterious accounts of prayer in Jesus life.
In Luke, God’s attention is drawn towards the person
Luke 3:21-22
When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."
An opening was created / built, like a door opened. Here Luke connects this opening of heaven and Jesus’ prayer life.
Heaven responds showing the immediate access that prayer brings to anyone who seeks God’s presence and help.
Matt 3:16-17
16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."
A ‘way’ was opened up to him, opening created. Heaven had always been open to Jesus, but now he is on a unique mission as the Son of Man and God was making himself completely available to him on a moments notice.
In Mark we witness a different facet of this openness of heaven in prayer...
Mark 1:9-11
At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn (schizomenous – rent, rend, schism) open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."
The heavens parted in an explosive manner. It is a picture of the heavens “cleaved”, “ruptured” as a result of Jesus’ prayer
Torn / parted – an opening was rent, as an immediate breakthrough had occured
This same Greek word surfaces again, in each of these gospel accounts at his crucifixion...in his tortured state, his body broken, his emotions blackened, feeling the pain of abandonment and lonliness, his last ounce of strength reached out to his lifeline of prayer and
Matt 27:50-51
50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split.
The veil that had previously separating heaven and earth, God and Man was dramatically being torn in this last prayer of Jesus. Jesus came to break the barrier between God and Man and every stage of his earthly life, Jesus expemplifies the power potential of keeping in touch with God through prayer.
Mark 15:37-38
With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.
38 The curtain of the temple was torn ( eschisthee, rent, divide, schism) in two from top to bottom.
Luke 23:44-46
44 It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last.
Prayer enables us to enter into the presence of the Omnipotent God that breaks open the heavens and shakes the earth, to bring new life, revive buried hopes, and make us more than conquerors.
In prayer Heaven is opened to us and God will do all that is necessary, even turn the world upside down to respond to the prayer that flows from a sincere heart. Over and Over Jesus prods us to ask the Father and see him do great and mighty things.
The Key of Prayer
Not all prayer insures an open heaven.
- Moses warns Israel that the heavens above could become as iron, adamantly closed to his people.
- In his great Temple prayer, Solomon warns God’s people that their actions if left unconfessed or uncorrected, would shut up heaven to them.
- Isaiah explicitly points out that our sins restrain the hearing which God promises and the power which prayer provides.
- Jesus himself gives a compelling lesson on the prayer that fails to get off the ground and tells of a self-assured, pious man who sings his own praises and promotes his own goodness and expects God to hear his prayers while he looks with contempt on a broken, irreligious man who stammers out a simple, sincere prayer. The tax collector, on the other hand, moves the heart of God and receives forgiveness as he prays.
- The Letter of James has much to say about prayer and says we should not expect God to respond to our selfish disbelief.
- Peter challenges husbands that their prayers will not be answered if they do not treat their wives rightly.
What then is the key to prayer that will open heaven?
We see this also in the account of Jesus baptism from Matthew.
Matt 3:13-15
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"
15 Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." T
The Key is Obedience
Effectual praying and obedient living provide the access to God’s presence and power.
In this passage, two qualities of obedience are displayed.
“to fulfill all righteousness” – The satisfaction of God’s Character. righteousness and holiness will be fulfilled in his active response to prayer. God will not compromise himself in any way to answer prayer, his response to our prayer will reveal himself and he wants our lives to fulfill his righteousness.
We are reluctant to face the fact that much of the futility of our prayer life is the direct result of our lack of obedience to the Lords Word.. too often we can speak of a righteousness in our lives that is not actually in existence.
Or like King Saul, we go along with the Lord as far as we think necessary, but draw a line that our pride will not step across,
Or we get our back up against God’s will like Jonah and don’t really care about what he wants.
In all of this, we forfeit the openness of heaven and disregard the freedom and power which an intimate relationship with the Lord brings.
The Second quality of this spirit of obedience is in three simple words that put an end to John the Baptists reluctance to baptize Jesus. It is our willingness.
It is “proper for us” – it is not a question of what is only necessary or how far the requirements need to be followed, but it is “fitting, or becoming, or proper” in view of who we are and who God is. Jesus is delighted to do everything that reflects the very nature of his Heavenly Father, and please him in every way.
Jesus views obedience as more than a duty or obligation. Obedience to Jesus is an outworking of the love which drives him to do all and be all that becomes Who He is and Whom He seeks to please
When we are driven by a real desire to please God in any and every thing we do God is pleased to break open the gates of heaven and move heaven and earth, the power of prayer it running at the highest capacity.
Treasures of Prayer
God has so much to give us and our prayers unlock great treasures. They are more than sufficient to meet all our needs.
Again when we look to the baptism of Jesus and Heaven breaks open in response to his prayers, God gives him every thing he needs to do all that is set before him.
The first Treasure is the Affirmation of God - "This is my Son, whom I love...”
He stands up and says “You are Mine”
When a parent sees his or her child do something well, and get recognized, that parents heart is busting open and they want to scream “THAT’S MY CHILD” and the child knows they are loved –
We long to hear God’s voice saying “well done my child”
The second is the Approval of God – “with him I am well pleased”
Jesus’ obedience and pray for God’s glory breaks heaven wide open and God expresses his great delight.
Living under the constant smile of God brings great assurance, confidence and joy into our lives. Continually seeking to please God out of a genuine love for him helps us avoid the on-and-off again most experience in their relationship with God
The Third treasure is the Anointing of God – as the Holy Spirit decended in bodily form as a dove that rested upon him. This is not the anointing and fillilng of the Holy Spirit that a Christian experiences but the anointing of God is the empowerment for service. Jesus is entering His earthly ministry and is being set apart to fulfill the purpose that God has sent him to do. Praying and the anointing of God are inseparably linkied.
It is our sincere praying coupled with loving obedience which opens heaven to release the blessings and power of Gods Spirit that enables us to fulfill God-given tasks that He has for us...
And from her Jesus teaches his disciples to pray.
Matt 6:9-13
"This, then, is how you should pray:
"'Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.'