Millions of people are expected to travel to see the spectacle, which also will attract scientists from across the country to study its unique effects. But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.
Prayer is a fundamental aspect of the Christian faith, and understanding how Jesus wants us to pray is essential for believers. In the Bible, Jesus provides guidance on prayer through his teachings and examples. So, how does Jesus want you to pray?
Pray with sincerity and humility
Prayer is the greatest and most important conversation we’ll have all day. Through simple human expressions, prayer touches the divine heart. Infant lips may babble and intelligent lips may baffle, but for both, the Lord hears in His heaven and acts on His earth. To pray is to breathe the air of heaven and to whisper into the ear of God.
Jesus emphasized the importance of praying with sincerity and humility. In the Gospel of Matthew, he teaches his disciples not to pray like the hypocrites who seek to be seen by others but to pray in secret. He encourages his followers to approach God with a humble heart, acknowledging their dependence on Him.
The “teachers of the law” strove to fence the Law by a stringent oral law. Thus a “Sabbath day’s journey” encoded how far one could travel and not break the command to not labor on the Sabbath. Passionate and faith-filled, these short post-Resurrection prayers will keep your Easter celebration alive and ongoing. The more you do it, the more natural it becomes. Like talking or breathing – before you know it, you’ll do it without giving it any thought at all. God is crazy about you and He wants you to spend time with Him in prayer.
Pray with faith and persistence
Robert Godfrey’s, Harry Reeder’s, and Burk Parsons’ answers given during our 2023 National Conference, and has been lightly edited for readability. To ask Ligonier a biblical or theological question, email or message us on Facebook or Twitter. First, Christians make a big mistake in this area by saying that we resist temptation and flee Satan. I think the Bible would have us do the opposite. The Bible does not want us to flee Satan; the Bible wants us to resist Satan, and he will flee from us.
Jesus also teaches his disciples to pray with faith and persistence. In the Gospel of Luke, he tells a parable about a persistent widow who kept asking a judge for justice. Through this story, Jesus emphasizes the need for believers to have faith that God will answer their prayers and to persist in prayer even when they do not see immediate results.
You can pray when someone treats you unfairly and you need God to help you hold your tongue. You can praise God when a beautiful sunset catches you by surprise. You can pray in your bed at night – but don’t let this be your only prayer time, since it is SO easy to fall asleep and miss your time with your heavenly Dad.
Pray according to God’s will
He prayed for himself and his mission, and he continues to pray for all believers. In coming to God daily, we look to him to provide what we need for the day, and then we come back tomorrow. God desires it to be this way so that our dependency will always be on him and nothing else. He is doing this for our own good because we can easily forget to depend on him when everything is going well.
Another important aspect of prayer according to Jesus is aligning our prayers with God’s will. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus models this in the Lord’s Prayer, where he prays, “Your will be done.” By submitting our desires to God’s will, we demonstrate trust in His wisdom and sovereignty.
In conclusion, Jesus wants us to pray with sincerity, humility, faith, persistence, and according to God’s will. By following His teachings on prayer, we can deepen our relationship with God and experience the power of prayer in our lives.
