Once Jesus was in a certain place praying. As he finished, one of his disciples came to him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” Luke 11:1

 

Some do it five times a day, without fail. There’s no shortage of ideas about when, where, how and for how long people should pray or what prayer really is.

For many, prayer is an obligation to be fulfilled. For others, it’s a last ditch go-to in crisis. But for Jesus, prayer was the rhythm of His life.

Scripture records Jesus praying as He was baptized (Luke 3:21), before He chose His disciples (Luke 6:12), before and after doing miracles (Luke 9:16, 5:15-16), when He withdrew to rest (Luke 5:16). He prayed before teaching His disciples how to pray (Luke 11:1), as He was transfigured back to heaven (Luke 9:29) and on many other occasions. The only time we see Jesus’s disciples asking Him to teach them something, it is when they say, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1-4). Jesus’s disciples wanted Him to teach them the lifestyle they had watched him live—a rhythmic life of prayer that was natural, familiar, and relational.

Over 60 times in scripture, Jesus used the word “Father,” when he prayed. He knew that His Father was always with Him. Jesus lived in God’s presence so intimately that when God’s presence was taken from Him as He was dying from crucifixion, Jesus cried, “My God, God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46)

Jesus’s death and resurrection paved the way for God’s presence to constantly live with you. When you surrender your life to Jesus, God’s Spirit comes to live in you. Like Jesus was, you are always in God’s presence. As you build a habit of bringing your awareness to His Spirit with you, you too can learn to live by a rhythm of prayer.