Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus
We have been learning steadily about the demands that Jesus makes of His followers. In this session let us now concentrate why Jesus asks us to pray.
And He told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. - Luke 18:1
But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. - Matt. 6:6
Jesus intends to create a praying people. His demand is clear, and the issue is so important that He tells us why, how, for whom, and what we are to pray. And though we might think that the Son of God would be above the need to pray, He sets the example for us, as a perfect human being, by rising early in the morning to pray (Mark 1:35) and seeking times alone to pray (Matt. 14:23) and sometimes spending the whole night in prayer (Luke 6:12) and, in the end, preparing for His suffering by prayer (Luke 22:41-42).
WHY? FOR THE GLORY OF GOD
Why did Jesus think prayer was so important for His followers? The reason is that prayer corresponds with two great purposes of God that Jesus came to accomplish: God's glory and our joy. Jesus said: "Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son" (John 14:13). Prayer is designed by God to display His fullness and our need. Prayer glorifies God because it puts usin the position of the thirsty and God in the position of the all-supplying fountain.
Jesus knew the Psalms and read Psalm 50:15 where God, like Jesus, demands that we pray for help and shows that this gives glory to God: "Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me." Prayer is designed as a way of relating to God, so that it is clear we get the help and He gets the glory. Jesus said that He had come to glorify His Father. "I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do" (John 17:4). Part of what God had given Him to do was to teach His disciples to pray, because when we pray in Jesus' name, "the Father (is) glorified in thee Son" (John 14:13).
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus
This is just the beginning of the next session of why we are meant to be a praying people to the Lord. In the next session we will see why prayer is for our joy. Let the mercy of the Father, the love of Jesus and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all.
Please do keep me in your prayers
Your brother in Christ Jesus
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