Jesus’ prayers recorded in the Bible provide deep insight into His relationship with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. Through studying Jesus’ prayers, we can learn more about who He is, His priorities and passions, and how He relied on the Father. Jesus’ example shows us how we ought to pray and provides wisdom for our own prayer lives.
Jesus displayed complete dependence on the Father through prayer
One of the most striking things we observe about Jesus’ prayers is His complete reliance upon God the Father. Even though Jesus was fully God, when He took on human flesh He chose to limit the use of His divine attributes (Philippians 2:6-7). Jesus lived His life as a man dependent upon the Holy Spirit and submission to the Father. This posture is perhaps seen most clearly in His life of prayer.
Jesus habitually rose early or retreated to solitary places to speak with His Father. Mark 1:35 says, “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.” Jesus did not try to accomplish the Father’s will or perform miracles in His own strength. He looked to the Father for direction, strength, and help.
In John 5:19 Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.” Jesus lived in continual, desperate dependence on the Father. If the all-powerful Son of God recognized His need for the Father’s help, how much more should we acknowledge our inability to live the Christian life apart from abiding in Christ and relying upon the Spirit (John 15:5)?
Jesus prayed with reverence, awe, and intimacy toward the Father
Jesus’ prayers also reveal the awe-filled reverence and intimate relationship He shared with the Father. When Jesus prayed, He addressed God intimately as “Abba, Father” (Mark 14:36). Abba conveys the idea of a daddy or paternal figure. Yet Jesus’ use of Abba did not imply a lack of reverence toward the Father. It reflected a close, trusting relationship.
Jesus’ prayer in John 17, sometimes called His High Priestly Prayer, offers a glimpse of the unity, love, and glory shared between the Father and the Son from eternity past. Verse 5 says, “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” Jesus prayed to the Father as one who shared glory and fellowship with God before time began.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus pleaded with the Father to let the cup of suffering pass from Him. This reveals Christ’s very real human emotions as He contemplated the cross. Yet Jesus submitted to the Father’s will, recognizing that the Father’s ways are higher than His own (Matthew 26:39). Jesus’ prayers demonstrate profound reverence for the Father, intimacy with Him, and submission to His perfect will.
Jesus prayed for Himself
While much of Christ’s prayers focused on interceding for others, He also brought His own needs and desires to the Father. This reveals the humanity of Jesus and provides an example for believers to freely make requests of their Heavenly Father without shame or guilt. The book of Hebrews says, “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence” (Hebrews 5:7). Jesus cried out to be saved from the inevitability of the cross, yet He surrendered to the Father’s higher purposes.
Jesus also prayed for His own sanctification and protection from the evil one. In John 17:15 Jesus asked the Father, “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.” And Hebrews 7:25 says Jesus “always lives to make intercession” for believers. Jesus interceded for Himself and for those the Father had given Him. As adopted sons and daughters of God, believers can follow Christ’s model by praying boldly about their own needs while trusting the Father’s perfect will.
Jesus’ prayers focused on glorifying the Father
The overarching theme of many of Jesus’ prayers was a focus on bringing glory and honor to the Father God. Jesus repeatedly stated this as His supreme goal and mission. John 17:4 records Jesus saying, “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.” Jesus lived to testify to the nature and glory of God, not to draw attention to Himself.
This attitude characterized all of Jesus’ earthly ministry. In John 12:27-28, Jesus prayed, “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then God replied, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” Jesus submitted Himself fully to the redemptive plan of the Father, knowing this would ultimately bring the greatest glory to God.
Jesus prayed for His followers
Jesus often brought the needs of His disciples before the Father in prayer. In John 17:9, Jesus prayed, “I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.” Jesus interceded on behalf of those the Father had placed under His care.
Jesus prayed specifically for key needs such as the disciples’ unity and protection from the evil one (John 17:11,15). He asked the Father to sanctify them by His word of truth (John 17:17). Jesus prayed that God would accomplish His work in and through their lives, giving them joy and keeping them faithful just as He had kept Jesus faithful (John 17:13-26).
Not only did Jesus pray for His immediate disciples, but He also interceded for all those who would later believe in Him. John 17:20 records Jesus praying, “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.” This includes all Christians throughout history! What an encouragement that Christ personally prays for His people.
Jesus’ prayers teach us to align our will with God’s purposes
Perhaps the greatest lesson we can take from Jesus’ recorded prayers is the example of surrendering our human will to the greater plans and purposes of God. Jesus repeatedly chose the Father’s will over His own, trusting that God’s way would prove best.
In Luke 22:42 Jesus prayed, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” Christ’s prayers were marked by humble submission to the Father. His petitions often contained requests followed by “yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). Jesus entrusted Himself fully to the Father’s purposes, even when it meant great personal cost.
As we come to God in prayer, Jesus models how we can honestly bring our desires yet ultimately surrender to greater wisdom. Rather than pursuing our own comfort and will, we can pray God’s will be done in our lives. This posture proceeds from trust that the Father perfectly orchestrates all things for our growth in godliness and glory.
Jesus’ prayers encourage perseverance and importunity
Jesus’ prayers also reveal His perseverance and importunity before the Father. Importunity means boldly and relentlessly bringing our requests before God. In Luke 11:1 the disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Jesus responded with the parable of the persistent neighbor in Luke 11:5-10.
This parable encourages believers to persistently ask, seek, and knock in prayer (Luke 11:9-10). We can have bold confidence approaching the Father, even being willing to “shamelessly” ask for what we need (Luke 11:8). Jesus assured His followers that if sinful fathers give good gifts, “how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him” (Luke 11:13)!
Jesus also modeled importunate prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, imploring the Father repeatedly to remove the cup of suffering (Matthew 26:44). While the Father did not grant Jesus’ petition, the example remains. Jesus’ prayers reveal that bold, persistent prayer is pleasing to God.
Conclusion
The record of Jesus’ prayers provides Christians wisdom and encouragement about our own relationship with God. Studying how Jesus communed with His Father gives deep insight into Christ’s character, His dependence on the Spirit, and His submission to the Father’s will. We see Jesus’ humanity as He wrestled in fervent prayer and His divinity as He surrendered to the Father’s higher purposes.
Jesus’ example challenges believers to persistently approach God in humble, dependent prayer. Though Jesus was fully God, He chose to live in complete reliance upon the Spirit’s power to accomplish the Father’s will. As adopted sons and daughters, Christians today can follow Christ’s model by coming before their Heavenly Father with bold, dependent, importunate prayer that ultimately aligns with God’s perfect purposes.
