Praying Like Jesus (3)

Praying Together In Jesus’ Name.

As believers we are torn between longing for heaven and the hard work of seeking God’s kingdom in the midst of a hard and challenging day to day existence.

The first followers of Jesus - identified in Acts 1:13 knew even more deeply than we do this tension.

Three years of day to day life with Jesus changed with His death and resurrection. Jesus was present with them in a new and difficult to define way. He would appear and then be gone. Luke simply tells us that Jesus

Acts 1:3 (HCSB)

After He had suffered, He also presented Himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

As Jesus ascended these followers of Jesus exhibit a longing for that which they felt they had lost -

Acts 1:10–11 (HCSB)

While He was going, they were gazing into heaven, and suddenly two men in white clothes stood by them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen Him going into heaven.”

With those challenging words these followers returned to Jerusalem - the places where the betrayal, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection had occured.

Without Jesus’ presence the city would have seemed odd, empty, and a place to fear without the physical reality of Jesus’ presence.

Doing as they knew to do…

Prior to ascending Jesus gave them clear instructions:

Acts 1:4–5 (HCSB)

While He was together with them, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father’s promise. “This,” He said, “is what you heard from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

Luke tells us that these eleven, some women, and the mother of half-brother’s of Jesus simply did what Jesus had asked of them.

Acts 1:14 (HCSB)

All these were continually united in prayer, along with the women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, and His brothers.

Over the three years Jesus and these people had been together they had seen Him ‘often withdraw’ to secret and deserted places to pray. Some of them had been present as He prayed and they watched Him be physically transfigured before them. Several had been invited to spend an hour or so praying with Jesus prior to Judas Iscariot’s betrayal into the hands of the Jewish and then Roman authorities.

With His instructions fresh in their minds, these three groups began to pray.

The eleven mentioned by name in vs 13 had been with Jesus from the very beginning of His preaching, teaching, and healing ministry. They had been set apart by Jesus Himself as Mark’s gospel explains

Mark 3:14–15 (HCSB)

He also appointed 12—He also named them apostles —to be with Him, to send them out to preach, and to have authority to drive out demons.

With the self-inflicted death of Judas Iscariot there were only eleven of those men remaining.

There was a group of women in that gathering as well. Jesus had always attracted female followers. Luke records in

Luke 8:2–3 (HCSB)

and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses: Mary, called Magdalene (seven demons had come out of her); Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward; Susanna; and many others who were supporting them from their possessions.

Luke unashamedly pointed to the significant role women played in Jesus’ God-given assignment

Who can forget the accounts of Mary and Elizabeth in Luke 1? Or what of Anna whom we meet in the temple area eight days after Jesus’ birth?

What are we to make of Luke’s inclusion of the widow of Zarapheth; the widow.grieving over her only son in Nain; the women featured in two of Jesus’ parables recorded in Luke 15?

Finally, Luke mentions Mary, the mother of Jesus and several of Jesus’ step-brothers (same mother, different fathers). Sometime between the events recorded in Luke 3 Jesus’ mother, and brothers had placed their faith in Jesus the Son of God.

What’s important about these groups?

Acts 1:14 (HCSB)

All these were continually united in prayer, along with the women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, and His brothers.

There are some principles in this one Greek word that can help us as we seek to pray like Jesus:

They were of one mind

These three groups had different experiences with Jesus. Mary, His mother and brothers were recently converted. The women mentioned had a financial stake in supporting the three years of Jesus’ physical ministry. the eleven could boast of having been with Him from the beginning.

But none of those characteristics mattered.

As Jesus modeled prayer for all these groups, He always modeled a unity - a one-ness with the Father and the Spirit.

His final prayer - an unanswered prayer, recorded in

Luke 22:42 (HCSB)

“Father, if You are willing, take this cup away from Me—nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.”

Even in that pain filled experience, Jesus modeled an one-ness of mind and purpose - ‘Not My will, but Yours, be done.’

Being of one mind is not as simple as it sounds. Though we gather for worship and study every week, there are different motives, varying purposes, and a wide range of efforts at participating.

To pray as ‘one mind’ is a spiritual discipline.

Paul, after encountering the risen Lord on his way to imprison and perhaps put to death ‘Jesus followers,’ would later write:

Romans 12:16 (HCSB)

Be in agreement with one another. Do not be proud; instead, associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own estimation.

He would also challenge believers to

Philippians 2:5 (HCSB)

Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus,

Simply put: being of one mind is a choice we can make. We may need to lay aside our own weariness, our own longings and diligently seek to collaborate with others - who are different from ourselves.

I have experienced this in so many ways over the last 40 years. Praying with pastors and faith leaders from a variety of denominations has challenged me to lay aside prejudices, preferences, and seek to align my heart and mind with that of a group of folks seeking to advance the kingdom of God

They were devoted to prayer

I confess. I have led many prayer meetings that were devoted to gossip, to spreading misinformation, to speaking ill of one another, and even on occasion playing doctor - you know, well my mothers third cousins fourth wife had that condition and that dr said this; I had that problem and my dr prescribed a much better system of care…

If we could have observed that prayer meeting - which lasted ten days (not ten seconds, minutes, or even ten hours…) we would have heard times of silence and stillness.

We can usually handle 30 to 60 seconds of stillness before we reach for our phones, our something to occupy our time.

Observing that group in prayer we might have heard confession of sin…those eleven men had bickered among themselves from time to time (remember, James and John were nicknamed ‘Sons of Thunder’ for a reason).

We likely would have heard recitation of Scriptures…FROM MEMORY! Singing from the book of Psalms, sharing from God’s Word as to how Jesus was all God promised.

Ten days….

REFLECT AND RESPOND

In a book published over thirty years ago, noted NT scholar D. A. Carson offered the following lessons regarding prayer (slightly modified for our congregation)

D. A. Carson, A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers (Grand Rapids, MI.: Baker Books, 1992, reprint 2005) pp.19-followng.

Plan to Pray

Do you have a set time to spend time with God?

Develop strategies to avoid mental drift

Pray Scripture. Write your prayers. Remove as many distractions from the place you pray as possible.

Find a prayer-partner

Use the phone, get together in a coffee shop, a restaurant, or in one another’s home. Come together here at church - let me know and l’ll open the doors!

Learn to pray

Listen to others. Read books on prayer. Study the book of Psalms. Read Paul’s prayers.

Develop a system for prayer lists

There is no ‘secret.’ What works for you works for you! We print prayer lists, I email prayer lists, and provide other prayer lists. Develop a system and use it.

Tie praise, thanksgiving, and requests to specific Scriptures.

Use a concordance, find some good books on prayer and take the time to dig around in God’s Word!

Write your prayers

When asked to pray in public it is permissible to have a written prayer. That’s what the book of Psalms is!

Pray

When invited to a prayer time make it a priority.

Some describe the condition of the church in our culture as a crisis. Taking a page from another leader I admire I believe we are at a crossroads (thanks to Dr Jamie Dew, NOBTS).

We can not just survive as believers, but we can thrive…if we pray.