‘MOVED TO PRAY’  -  BY THE PRAYER-LIFE OF JESUS

Introduction:  Isn’t it amazing that the very Son of God during His life on earth needed to pray – and prayed so frequently?  If He did, then surely, we do!  In His manhood, like us He needed all that is gained by prayer.  ‘Luke’ tells us of many occasions when He prayer; and we may guess that for every one we hear about there were dozens not recorded. This week we look at Luke’s account of Jesus’ prayer –life to see how it can speak to us.

LUKE 3. 21-22: PRAYING AT HIS BAPTISM

• Here at the very beginning of his ministry, as he’s baptised, we find Jesus praying. What do you think was going on in his heart at this momentous moment?  What do you think he might have been praying about?
• (Just why was Jesus baptised?)
• What was the response of heaven to his actions and prayer? Anything to learn?

LUKE 4. 42 (See Mark 1.35) and 5.5-16:  PRAYER AMIDST BUSYNESS

• What is the context in the life of Jesus of these withdrawals to ‘lonely places’ to pray? Why did he do so?
• What things does it tell us? Any lessons?
• LUKE 6. 12-16: EXTENDED PRAYER BEFORE BIG DECISIONS What do you think Jesus was praying about all that night on the mountainside?  How big and important was the event that took place next day?  Why was it so very far reaching?
• Any lessons for us here? (How do we select people for very responsible positions?)
• LUKE 9. 18-25: PRAYER AND ANOTHER BIG MOMENT Once more, Luke records Jesus giving himself to prayer at a vital moment in his ministry.
• Do you not think that, again, there must have been a connection between his praying and what took place between him and his disciples immediately afterwards?  What did take place?  Why was this so vital a moment in his ministry?  And what do you think the connection as between the two?

LUKE 9.28-35:  PRAYER AND A FURTHER BIG MOMENT

• Why was this a big moment in Jesus’ ministry?
• What was obviously filling Jesus’ mind at this time? (Notice what the subject of his conversation with Moses and Elijah was about). Who do you talk to about life’s ‘big’ things?

LUKE 11.1(-13):  PRAYER , THE IMPACT OF A PRAYER-LIFE ON OTHERS

• Exactly what do you feel moved and motivated the disciples to make the request to Jesus that they did?
• Has the prayer-life of a friend or acquaintance ever impacted and moved you? How?
• (2-13: Should we take ‘the Lord’s Prayer’ as a pattern to shape our praying? Or as a prayer to repeat regularly?)
• How would you sum up the other great principle of prayer that Jesus underlines in these verses?]

LUKE 22.39-46: PRAYER AND STRENGTH FOR THE TEST

• Talk about Jesus’ praying in Gethsemane:
• What impresses and impacts you about it? What is revealed about the relationship between our praying and our spiritual power?

How has studying Jesus’ prayer-life impacted you?