The School of Prayer Part 2: The Prayer Life of Jesus

Welcome friends to the Line of Fire. Michael Brown here delighted to be with you. Class is now in session.

We are in the School of Prayer and we are here to infuse you with faith and truth and courage to help you stand strong on the front lines. If you haven't been watching on YouTube, we are audio only today. These are being recorded outside of our studio.

I've been away in San Diego at a special conference, so these are being recorded out of our studio for those listening on podcasts and on radio, the same voice, same sound as always. Every Gospel has a different picture, portrait of Jesus. There's a lot of overlap, especially between Matthew, Mark, and Luke, but even Matthew, Mark, and Luke each have a different emphasis. Each paint a different picture of Jesus, Yeshua, in his multifaceted beauty and glory. And they give us different glimpses, John, they give us different glimpses into who Jesus is.

There is no one simple way to describe the Word made flesh, the Son of God, the Savior of the world, the Messiah, the Lord of all. We get different glimpses through the different Gospels into who Jesus is. And Luke's Gospel gives us more instances of Jesus praying than any of the other Gospels.

We know, for example, that in Matthew and Mark, Jesus is praying and getting up early and praying or praying at night and different times he's praying. But Luke gives us an interesting picture. And right out of the gate, in Luke's first chapter, the angel Gabriel, when he comes to Zechariah, so Zechariah is serving as a priest in the temple.

He and his wife are old, unable to have children. Gabriel comes to Zechariah and says, your prayer has been answered. Right there in the beginning of Luke, your prayer has been answered. So John the Immerser, who comes into the world, the forerunner of Jesus, he's born in answer to prayer. Now, let's go behind the scenes, Luke's Gospel, and look at some of the examples of the prayer life of Jesus, Yeshua, in the Gospel of Luke.

Are you ready? Luke 3 21. The other Gospels talk about the Lord's baptism, but only Luke gives us this picture. When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, only Luke tells us that. As he was praying, heaven was open 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.

So there's a principle there. There's a principle there that prayer opens up heaven. Now I understand through the cross, heaven is open in terms of our communion with God, but there is something of the manifestation of God, of God making himself known. Heaven is open as Jesus prays, the Holy Spirit descends on him in bodily form like a dove. So the other Gospels tell us about the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus like a dove, but only Luke tells us it happened while he was praying.

There's something to it. There's something to the Holy Spirit moving. There's something to the Holy Spirit coming in power. There's something to the Holy Spirit being manifest that comes in a direct response to our praying. And notice this, and a voice came from heaven, you are my son. At that moment when he's praying is when the voice comes from heaven, you are my son, whom I love with you, I am well pleased.

And I want you to consider this. Why was Jesus praying at that moment? Well, this was the beginning of his public ministry. This was the crossing of the line from living as he had lived before to now the public empowering of the Spirit and the public identification of who he was. Of course he's praying.

It's of foundational importance to life. Therefore he prayed. Next time we have him praying is in Luke chapter five. Luke chapter five, a man has been healed. He's told not to publicize, but word gets out. And Luke 5 15 says this, yet the news about him spread all the more so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses.

Now I want you to consider this. They came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. That's beautiful. He wants to teach. He wants to heal.

He's moved by compassion. This is what he's waiting for. Until he goes to the cross, this is what he's going to do. He's going to teach. He's going to heal. He's going to teach.

He's going to heal. But what does the next verse say? Verse 16, but Jesus often withdrew the lonely places and prayed.

Isn't that stunning? Crowds are coming, but Jesus often, not occasionally, often withdrew the lonely places and prayed. I remember writing out notes to teach on that in Israel, teaching on prayer and intercession in Israel in 1986. And I started to write down the words, despite the crowds, he went away to pray.

Now that's true. The crowds are there. They've come to hear him. They're thronging, but he knows he has to go away. So despite the crowds, he got away to pray. But as I was writing the words, I really felt not just despite the crowds, but because of the crowds, he often withdrew the lonely places and prayed. In other words, he knew that he could only do what he saw the Father doing. And he would go to be with his Father and commune with his Father and receive what he needed or get the plan for the ministry to the people. For us, for sure, not being the Son of God, not having the fullness of the Spirit in our own lives. We have the Spirit measured.

Jesus had the Spirit without measure. How much more do we need to separate and pray if we're doing ministry? Yes, you might be a gift in your gifted teacher.

You just get up and teach at any time. You might be able to do what you do really, really well. But if we are really going to have an impact, it is going to be God speaking through us and God working through us. And if we invest time in prayer, the results we'll see in our public ministry. We invest time in private prayer.

The results of our public ministry will be different so that everyone will ultimately see the difference. And the other side of this, if we don't get alone and meet with God, we will wear out, we will burn out. You know, it really happened to me in the midst of the Brownsville Revival, the sacred outpouring that lasted from June of 1995 really to the end of 2000. It waned some in 2000, but this glorious move, millions of people came into one building, hundreds of thousands of different people responded to the altar calls to get right with God.

So many first-time converts and backsliders getting right with God, people from over 150 nations. I used to think it was 130 plus, but then talked to one of my colleagues there, said, oh no, no, I kept a list. When it got past 150, I stopped counting. And in the midst of this, I was going day and night and pushing even harder than I needed to. Notice I always have to do more, always have to work harder, kind of this ethic in me that I always push harder.

I was going 80 hours a week. And in the midst of revival, in the midst of outpouring, I started to get burnt out, physically exhausted because ministry is wonderful, but intimacy is more important. My pastor friend, my missionary friend, my preacher friend, my minister friend, ministry is important, but intimacy is far more important.

And if we start with intimacy, the ministry will flow naturally. And whatever you're doing, maybe you're just frustrated in the business world, things aren't going right, so you're working harder and harder and more and more and more hours to the point you're totally neglect prayer or whatever you're doing in your own life, trying to plan out, trying to figure out, trying to make it happen, just working hard, working hard. And you pushed out prayer. It happens to all of us.

It's happened to me over the years. What's the key? Step back and pray. Pull away and get with God. Pull away and get with God. Almost all of us are able to make quality choices to say, you know, I'm not going to do this.

I'm not going to do this. I'm going to turn this off and I'm going to meet with God. And oh, the refreshing that comes, the beauty that comes, the renewal that comes, the strength that comes is mind-boggling. And then what does Luke 5 17 say? He now is teaching and different Jewish teachers and leaders are there and says, and the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick. On the one hand, you could say wherever Jesus was, God's dunamis, God's power was present to heal the sick wherever he was. There'd be truth to that, but it says it in particular, I believe, because it's right after him separating himself to prayer. God wants us to know, and the power of the Lord was present to heal. Now, Luke chapter 6, Luke chapter 6, verses 12 and 13. Luke 6, verses 12 and 13. One of those days, Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray and he spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose 12 of them whom he also designated apostles. Oh, he prays all night.

Why? Because he's going to choose the apostles the next day. I remember hearing Reinhard Banke, the great German evangelist to Africa, hearing him teach at our ministry school in Pensacola. And Banke could be delightful in terms of his opening up of the scripture and kind of this common sense way of reading things. And he prayed all night, so six in the evening, he started praying till six in the morning, 12 hours for each apostle.

And he just kind of imagined it. Obviously, it's just his thinking, but Jesus is talking to the father and the father says, all right, I want you to pick Judas Iscariot. Judas Iscariot, the one that's going to betray me, it just, again, the Banke way of putting it. So Jesus prays for an hour for him. Okay, who do you want me to pick next? Peter. Peter, the one who's going to deny me and keeps putting his foot in his mouth. So he prays an hour for each one.

Again, it's just Banke's fun way of looking at the text. But for sure, the lesson for us was it was so important. It was so important. It was so critical to his life, to his ministry, to everything he was going to do. Choosing the apostles, if he doesn't choose the right ones, there is no mission.

So he gets with his father and he prays all night. Let's hear what TriVita customers are saying. Dr. Braun, I can't wait to tell you, those supplements are absolutely amazing. My strength has gone up. I was doing weight that I haven't done since my 20s. I usually ride my bike to the gym. And then on the way back after I've done my weight training, I'm huffing and puffing. And on Sunday, I rode my bike there and back and I had so much energy. I'm telling you, the combination of the nitric oxide with the mild health, amazing.

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And if you want to explore their products there, you can use the code BROWN25, which gets you a great discount. And then 100% of your first order is actually donated to the Line of Fire. So they're super generous with you and with us. We go back to the prayer life of Jesus in Luke's gospel. Luke 9, verses 28 and 29.

And this is just another amazing passage. Luke 9, 28 and 29. About eight days after Jesus said this, talking about some standing among them would see his kingdom and power, Jesus took Peter, John, and James, Jacob, with him, and went up onto a mountain to pray. Now, Mark and Matthew also tell us about the transfiguration.

But only Luke tells us that Jesus went up on the mountain to pray. As he was praying, oh, the appearance of his face changed. His clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning.

Friends, this happened when he was praying. And really, as we become people of prayer and really meet with God, our appearance will change. Oh, I don't mean we'll be transfigured and shining and everyone will say, oh, you're shining bright.

But I'm telling you, our appearance will change. As he's praying, the appearance of his face changed. And his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning.

Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious fun, this whole encounter. And then what happens? God speaks. And look at what God says.

This is as Jesus is praying, these things unfold. This is my son, whom I have chosen. Listen to him. This is my son, whom I have chosen. Listen to him.

Friends, there's something about that. I've witnessed it my own life, that when we seek God earnestly, he's pleased with us, not because of works, but because of relationship, because he sees our hearts. He sees we're depending on him. One of the things that the Lord loves the most is when we trust him. We trust his goodness.

We lean on him more than anyone and anything else. But then he says, listen to him. That's my boy. That's my son. Listen to him.

Listen to her. I've seen it, friends, for decades, where God has a message he wants to get out. People pray in private. They seek him in private.

They pray as groups together. And God says, I'm going to get that message out. He has the power.

And we see it now with internet, just suddenly something goes viral unexpectedly. He has the power to get your message out. He has the power to, if you have something that he's behind in backing, he has the power to get it out supernaturally. As he's praying, as the Son of God is praying, the appearance of his face changed and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. When we go to Luke 11, it says that the disciples came to Jesus and asked him, teach us to pray.

Teach us to pray. Now, we don't know what other things they asked him. We don't know if they asked him to teach them how to heal the sick, how to drive out demons, how to preach, how to teach. It's not recorded that they asked that.

So we don't know. But here, Luke 11 one, one day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples. Now we'll look at the pattern of the Lord's prayer later on. But notice that this is something, one of the disciples says, teach us to pray.

It's a good prayer. Pray, Lord, teach me to pray. Maybe you've been saved for many years.

You've known the Lord many years. It's something that I've prayed even after 53 years in the Lord. Lord, teach me to pray more effectively.

Teach me to commune with you more deeply. Teach me to walk with you in such a way that I'm praying in ways that glorify you and draw me deeper into your presence and bring greater results. And then, Luke chapter 18, then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.

Why does Jesus give this parable? And again, we'll come back to it when we talk about persevering in prayer. Because prayer can sometimes be a battle. Because prayer can sometimes be challenging. Because sometimes it feels like we're talking to the wall. Sometimes it feels that words are coming out of our mouths and falling to the ground. Sometimes it feels like God's not listening. Sometimes we think it's my fault. I'm doing something wrong.

I'm too sinful a person. Or just our unbelief creeps in. I was believing for healing until we got the latest doctor's report. Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them they should always pray and not give up and not cave in and not lose heart. And then, Luke 22, what is Jesus doing in the Garden of Gethsemane? He's praying. He's praying.

He wants his disciples to pray. Oh, I'm tired. How many times have you had that happen? You're having a conversation with someone. Ah, absolutely alert and alive.

Time to pray. I'm feeling tired. Same with reading the Word.

You can read anything else. You go to read the Bible. Feeling tired. It's a spiritual battle. It's a spiritual battle. And sometimes it's the light and beautiful and wonderful.

But sometimes it's a spiritual battle. But here in Gethsemane, Jesus, Luke 22, 39 to 46, his prayer is so intense. It's like drops of blood falling from his head. His prayer is like drops of blood. He's praying in such anguish. Being in anguish. What does the Son of God do? He prays.

Sometimes when we're in anguish, we do everything but pray. Here's another invitation from the Father. Seek me first. Lean on me. Cast your burden on me. Make your request known to me.

Look to me. I will answer. I will bless. I will answer. I will bless.

I will help. When we get over to the Book of Acts, when we get over to the Book of Acts, what do we have? Acts 1, 14. Jesus has ascended to heaven and he tells his disciples, don't leave Jerusalem until you're endued with power from on high. In Luke 24, 49. And then in Acts 1, 8, you receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. So what were they doing?

What were they doing? Luke 24 speaks of them praising God in the temple. Look at Acts 1, 14. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the woman in Miriam, Mary, the mother of Jesus and with his brothers. They all joined together constantly in prayer.

This was the prelude to Pentecost, to the Feast of Shavuot, when the Holy Spirit is poured out. What are they doing? They're praying. They have a mission. Jesus tells them, don't start on your mission until you're endued with power, until you receive the Spirit that I'm going to send.

What do they do? They're praying. They're praying. There's nothing more important we can do than pray. We can do a lot after we pray. There's often a lot we have to do every single day after we pray. But there's nothing you can do better than pray.

Pray and then act. Acts 2, 42. Acts 2, 42. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. Leonard Ravenhill used to measure the amount of people in the church.

How big is your church? He would say, how many come to prayer meeting? Now, again, prayer can be different in different settings. Sometimes there's a lot of prayer in homes and things like that. But he really wanted to see, especially in older days when prayer meeting was a more major tradition in churches.

It's a shame that it's not foundational, everything we do today. Because that's your church. Who's devoted to prayer? And of course, you don't have to be in a prayer meeting to be devoted to prayer. But am I devoted to prayer?

Are you devoted to prayer? The only disciples were. And then what happens when persecution comes in Acts the fourth chapter? Persecution comes and they gather together and they pray.

This is what they do. They cry out to God. Acts the fourth chapter. On their release, Peter and John went to their own people, reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. Acts 4, 23, verse 24. When they had heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God.

Sovereign Lord, they said. And they cry out to him and they asked him to stretch forth his hand and perform miracles. Acts chapter 6, verse 4. The apostles say, brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom.

We will turn this responsibility over to them and we'll give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the Word. And then when some of the leaders are getting killed and now Peter's in prison and he's going to be killed, what does it say? Acts the 12th chapter. Acts the 12th chapter, verse 5. So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.

And that's what happens. God answers the prayers of the people and sets Peter free and miraculously delivers him. Friends, we are underperforming in the most unimaginable ways when it comes to prayer in terms of our potential in God and how much is available and his promises. For me, this is a constant call to deepen your life in prayer.

If the Spirit's speaking to you, it's not condemnation, it's invitation. Remember, we put out new articles, new videos every week to equip you, to help you stand strong on the front lines. Here's how you get them for free. Go to TheLineOfFire.org. TheLineOfFire.org and click subscribe.

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