Jesus and Prayer: Habits & Patterns of Prayer
Pursuit in Prayer • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Men’s Conference Recap
Introduction
Introduction
Recap Season of Pursuit in Prayer: 12th week
Summarize next leg of the season: 4 weeks of what we can learn directly from Jesus about prayer.
This week: Jesus and Prayer: Habits & Patterns of Prayer
You’ve heard it said that Actions speak louder than words…
Mere words are worthless if they do not lead to action, and, therefore, faith is useless if it is nothing more than a matter of words!
Roger Ellsworth
James, the brother of Jesus asks,
14 What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?
So when we look at whether a person can be trusted, we don’t look just at his words, but at his actions, the way he lives his life…
If you intend to teach me about a topic, I expect you to be engaged in that topic in your life…
For example, if you’ve never had kids… please don’t write a book about parenting.. Any parent out there will tell you I had it all figured out until the first one showed up!
I’m not taking dieting advice from someone who doesn’t look like I want to look…
And I’m not taking instruction about spiritual matters from someone who doesn’t have a drop of anointing and spends no time in the prayer closet!
Isn’t it funny how many critics can offer words, but no practice?
I want to tell you what you’re doing wrong, but not offer up my actions to show you how to do it right?
I’m sorry, but I don’t need your theory on life. What I need is some experience to step in and tell me, “Hey I’ve been there and this is how it went.”
That’s why I got so fired up about the prayers in the psalms last week, because the psalmist has been in those places to be able to write songs like that…
Next week, we are going to jump into Jesus’ teachings on prayer, but aside from Him being who He is, here’s something else that we can appreciate about His teachings: HE LIVED IT!
He’s not just teaching us about prayer from the perspective of God hearing prayers, but He is teaching us about prayer from His own habits and patterns of prayer.
So before we jump into his teaching about prayer, I want to take a close look at the patterns of Prayer Jesus exemplified and what we can learn from it.
There are several points I want to share that we can draw from the prayer life of Jesus and the first is this:
1. Jesus Actually Prayed
1. Jesus Actually Prayed
16 But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.
If anyone had an excuse of having too much to do that was too important, it would be Jesus.
If anyone could get a pass and just spend all their time in action rather than slowing down to pray, it would be Jesus…
After all, He’s healing the sick and opening blinded eyes, causing the lame to walk and the storms to calm..
If anyone would be expected not to have time to pray it would be Jesus!
If anyone could get a pass, don’t you think it would be the one that the bible says was there in the beginning with God and through Him were all things created and without him was nothing made that was made…
He’s been in communion with God for eternity past, he was the creative word through which all things were brought into existence,
if anyone could be excused from prayer, wouldn’t it be one who John says was with God and was God?
But Jesus did not just teach about prayer, instruct us in prayer, or command his disciples to pray…
JESUS PRAYED!
And He prayed Often!
2. Jesus Prayed Often
2. Jesus Prayed Often
16 But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.
OFTEN… It was a regular occurrence..
He didn’t just pray on special occasion…
He didn’t just pray when others could hear…
He prayed frequently…
He would OFTEN slip away to pray…
The crowds would search Him out for His healings and provision.
They would come find Him and He would have to “slip away” to pray.
Imagine being around people so much that you have to slip away without them noticing to get a moment of prayer.
But despite the fact that He had the most important mission in history…
Despite the fact that He was One with God…
Despite the fact that He had the world to save… He still took time often to pray…
For some of you, you need to take time during the day, slip away, and pray…
For others, your job or circumstance may not allow you moments to slip away, so you may have to do what Jesus did on other occasions:
Sometimes He had to get creative:
35 In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.
It was so important to Jesus that He spend time in prayer that He would not only slip away, but He would get up before everyone else so He could have a quiet moment…
Some of you are stressed out every day and feel like you’re running from the time your feet hit the ground and you need to pick up on this practice from Jesus…
Brian attested to how this has effected his life just a few weeks ago…
You would be amazed at the difference in your days if you would begin with prayer, waking up a little earlier than the rest of your house to pray…
But, For some of you, getting up any earlier would mean getting up the day before so you may have to take another page out of Jesus prayer playbook:
12 It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.
He prayed morning and night, and throughout the day. For some of you, the time you need is early morning…
For others of you, it means staying up at night to prayer…
Still there may be time when you can slip away and pray..
Either way, the importance of this pattern is that we pray as Jesus prayed… OFTEN.
Jesus prayed often and intentionally.
If we are not intentional about our time of prayer, the busyness of life will steal that time away…
We must be intentional about the time we spend in prayer.
Which is what Jesus exemplified in my third point:
3. Jesus Withdrew to Pray
3. Jesus Withdrew to Pray
Jesus didn’t just hope for more time for prayer, He intentionally sought it out and prioritized it!
He sought solitude over business..
23 After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone.
In a world so connected, surrounded by people constantly, it’s important that we take time alone to be with God.
I think if we aren’t careful, we turn prayer into a passive thought here and there rather than an intentional pursuit where we carve out time for solitude, quietness, and focus on God’s voice.
Prayer was not squeezed between ministry tasks. It was the source of Jesus’ ministry.
He wasn’t ruled by urgent need but by divine communion.
4. Jesus Prayed Before Major Decisions or Milestones
4. Jesus Prayed Before Major Decisions or Milestones
Key Point: Prayer was a pattern of preparation, not just reaction.
Luke 3:21 – He was praying at his baptism before the Holy Spirit descended.
Luke 6:12–13 – All-night prayer before choosing the 12 apostles.
Luke 22:32 – Prayed for Peter’s faith before his denial.
John 17 – High priestly prayer before the cross.
Matthew 26:36–46 - He prayed to prepare for the crucifixion
🌱 Challenge: Do we wait until after the trial or the decision to pray—or is prayer the foundation beforehand?
5. Jesus Prayed for Others
5. Jesus Prayed for Others
There is a pattern of intercession in the prayers of Jesus.
Key Point: Jesus didn’t just commune with the Father for Himself—He carried others in prayer.
Luke 22:32 – “But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail.”
32 but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”
John 17 – Prayed for disciples and for us (“those who will believe”).
15 “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.
16 “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
17 “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.
18 “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.
19 “For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
Luke 23:34 – “Father, forgive them…” (on the cross)
34 But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves.
Hebrews 7:25 – He still lives to intercede for us.
25 Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
Jesus didn’t just pray for His own needs, His own direction, or His own mission.
He prayed for those around Him, interceded for others, and still makes intercession for us to the Father.
If we are to follow His pattern, then, we too should be intercessors for those around us, praying for our families, friends, or even those we do not know.
6. Jesus Prayed with Emotion
6. Jesus Prayed with Emotion
Key Point: Jesus’ prayers weren’t cold or mechanical. He brought His heart.
Hebrews 5:7 – “He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears…”
7 In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears…
Luke 22:44 – “Being in agony, He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood…”
44 And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.
These as well as other occasions of emotion show that Jesus was not afraid to allow His emotions to show before God.
He was not one to try and seal up his emotions, fight them, or deny their place in prayer.
Rather, He embraced His emotions as expressions of how seriously He thought about that which He prayed…
This is not to say He was driven by His emotion, but that He was not afraid of them, and neither should we be.
7. Jesus Prayed in Relationship, Not Ritual
7. Jesus Prayed in Relationship, Not Ritual
Key Point: Jesus always prayed to “Father.” His prayer life was intimate.
41 So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.
42 “I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me.”
36 And He was saying, “Abba! Father!
Abba was a term that was used by a child to a father, not a formal title.
He was in relationship with the Father, not addressing Him from afar.
The prayers of Jesus were not just asking or addressing, but abiding inn the Father, to sustain His relationship with Him!
All of these patterns add up to a prayer life that shows a consistent pattern of prayer, not long prayers every now and then…
Not spotty prayers only when He needed something…
But a deep, abiding prayer life that was rooted in the presence of God…
Early morning, late night, before meals (Matt. 15:36, Mark 6:41), before decisions, during pressure, after miracles, etc.
He never disconnected from the Father’s will—prayer was the sustaining thread of His life.
Call Worship Team
If Jesus lived with this kind of rhythm of prayer, fueled by intimacy, not just urgency—then we must reframe how we approach prayer.
Next week we will look at what Jesus taught about prayer, but His patterns and habits of prayer are a teaching in and of themselves…
Jesus exemplified what it looks like to live a life of prayer…
And now by following His example, we develop in ourselves patterns and habits of prayer that Look like Jesus…
Because, “We grow disciples in here that embody Jesus out there…”
Here’s what I want you to do today:
While they sing this next song, take one of those prayer cards in the seat back pocket in front of you…
Pray and ask God what a pattern or habit of prayer would look like for you…
Think about your schedule, think about what God wants…
Then write down on that card what an ideal week of prayer would look like.
I don’t want you to give it to me. In fact, I want you to write it down, then take that card with you.
Put it in your bible. Hang it on your fridge, but look at it and pray that God help you build a pattern of prayer that looks like Jesus…
