Priority of Prayer

1986

Number two is the priority of prayer. I guess if the appeal of saving your marriage or making your marriage worthwhile or the appeal of saving members of your family from the perils of hell or the appeal of resisting temptation and having a victorious life instead of being in the sludge and in the slime all the time—if that isn’t really appealing enough to cause you to want to pray fervently, then maybe we can take a different approach to that. And that would be the priority that Jesus Christ placed on prayer in His own life, plus what the Word of God places as a priority as it teaches and commands about prayer in the Bible.

If we are really going to become like Jesus in every way then certainly one aspect that certainly dominated His life, it HAS to for that reason dominate our life, is His prayer life. You see, to be a Christian means to be Christ-like, to be Christ-like means that you’re like Christ, and Christ was a man of prayer from A to Z. The Alpha and the Omega was a man of prayer when He was on this earth, and you can’t tell me you’re like Jesus if your life is not totally devoted to prayer like His was. It has to be dominating our lives just exactly the way it was dominating His life.

Now you know all about Jesus’ prayer life. You probably could show me all the verses about how Jesus was most definitely, above all, a man of prayer. In Mark 1:35, “Very early in the morning,”“A great while before day,” some of the translations say, “While it was still dark Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place to pray.” Now that’s who Jesus was. In Mark 6:46, “After leaving them, Jesus went up into the hills to pray.” In Luke 5:16, “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” In Luke 6:12, “Jesus went out into the hills to pray, and spent the night praying to God.” I think that’s an important point to realize that Jesus even though He was the Son of God and had this intimate relationship with God (He could raise people from the dead with three words, probably with one word if He wanted to) the awesome Son of God who could raise people from the dead like that still longed to be with the Father in prayer. That was the deepest passion of His heart was to be with the Father in prayer. It sounds ridiculous to us. Why would He need to pray? He was God, right? And yet the deepest passion of His life as He put on flesh was to be with the Father in prayer.

In 1 John 2:6, “This is how we know that we are in Christ.” Now that’s an important passage, right? I want to know how I know I’m in Christ. Now I know that you are baptized into Christ, but that’s not what the verse says if you read it. "This is how we know we’re in Christ.” Not by whether or not we are baptized. “This is how we know we are in Christ: Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.” Whoever claims to be in Jesus must walk as Jesus walked. Now, how did Jesus walk? There’s a question that you ask right away. Well, maybe He often left His house to go off to a solitary place to pray. Now, what about you? If you are in Christ you must walk as Jesus walked, and somehow, someway you are going the find the place—if you have the heart of Christ, find a way, a time, and a place to be off in a solitary place to pray. Somehow you’re going to find that time. I’m going to tell you next week about a woman who had 12 children that was able to do that because I know it’s a struggle that we all have. “Well, I have this list of things to do, and so therefore it’s hard for me to find that solitary time, to find that prayer time.” Jesus, it says, got up a great while before daybreak. Now what time is that? Would you say 4 AM, 4:30 AM? “A great while before daybreak,”—maybe 5? Maybe 5, who knows? But Jesus got up a great while before daybreak, and it was after a late night if you read in Mark 1. He didn’t go to bed at 9 to do that. It was after a late night, and then He went off to pray a great while before daybreak.

Now, in a very practical sense, are you ready to throw off the sheets a great while before daybreak to walk as Jesus walked? “Anyone who claims to walk in Him must walk as Jesus walked.”—have that same heart, the same desires, and to function in the same way that He did. Are you ready to spend an entire night praying before a big decision and a busy day? See, Jesus didn’t plan on taking naps all the next day when He stayed up all night to pray. That was the night that He was making a very big decision, and His next day was going to be packed with decisions that He was making. So He stayed up all night to pray. Now do you have that kind of heart? “Anyone who claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus walked.”—not just talk about it, but begin to function like Jesus functioned. “This is how we know that we are in Christ,” is what the apostle by the Holy Spirit said. Now if you’re like Jesus and walking as Jesus walked, there will be times when you don’t even have time to eat! Mark 3:20, Mark 6:31. You may not even have time to eat at times because you are so busy about your Father’s business, but there will always be time to pray. Mark 6:46—bingo! There He is praying even in spite of the fact that He didn’t have time to eat just a few verses earlier.

So there is our example. Now what about command, and we know all about that too. The Bible clearly teaches us to pray continually, to make intercession on all occasions, to always pray. Your whole life is to be a life of continual prayer (1 Thessalonians 5:17, Ephesians 6:18). Your whole life is to be described as a prayer. My life is a prayer—continual communion with God. Last week Dave Latullipe was telling me that he said he just had a really neat experience. He woke up one morning and a prayer was on his lip, like automatically. He didn’t decide to pray when he woke up because it was his “quiet time,” but the prayer was automatically on his lip as soon as he woke up. He said, “Wow, it was such a neat thing.” And I’m here to assure you that if your life is hidden in Christ, that will happen every day. That will be a continual thing that you’ll be constantly in prayer from the moment you wake up till the minute you go to bed. You’ll wake up in the middle of the night, and the first thing you’ll be doing automatically will be praying. That is what will happen as your life grows in the likeness of Jesus. And that to me is a valuable thing and an exciting thing. It’s something that I promise you have to look forward to as you grow in the likeness of Jesus.

1Timothy 5:5, it talks about a woman that belongs to God. It says, this woman “continues in prayer night and day.” She continues in prayer night and day. Does that describe your life? It will as you grow in Christ. In Luke 18:7, “Will not God bring about justice for His chosen ones who cry out to Him day and night?” That’s the people that God is going to give justice to are “His chosen ones that cry out to Him both day and night.” Is that a description of your prayer life? See, Jesus assumes here that His chosen ones are going to pray day and night. It’s going to be a continual thing. I hope definitely that is the direction that your life is moving right now.