2023 October Prayer Corps

The Gospel of Luke provides powerful insights into our Savior’s life of prayer. Jesus prayed for others, taught His disciples how to pray, and gave us the ultimate model for prayer.

But what about the personal prayer life of Jesus? What did He pray? How did He pray? What happened when He prayed? The Gospel of Luke shows us how we can be praying disciples who are perfectly trained [matured, disciplined] and like our teacher (Lk 6:40).

Luke mentions Jesus’ prayer life 7 times. We can learn from these verses what to seek and expect as we follow in the Master’s footsteps (use your Bible to read the references given):

At His water baptism by John, as Jesus prayed, the Holy Spirit baptized Him, anointing Him to fulfill His Father’s will in ministry. In this passage:


These powerful answers to Jesus’ prayer are the very things we also need to navigate the challenges of this life. We are commanded to be filled again and again with the Holy Spirit (Ep 5:18). And God delights in giving His Spirit to those who ask (Lk 11:9-13).

Jesus often withdrew into the wilderness to pray. The demands of ministry were pressing in (Lk 5:15), but Jesus did not glory in the crowds or fame. He gloried in doing the will of His Father. He knew His source of life and truth, and how to be refreshed in His mission, power and authority.


Jesus modeled what should be the pattern in our lives. If Jesus needed the Father’s presence often, how much more do we also in order to be fruitful in our lives? And one day, when all the demands of this life are over, we do not want our beloved King to be a stranger to us. We want to know Him as our dearest friend, the source of all we need.

As faithful Christ-followers, we must seek to know God’s will clearly. We will all face serious decisions with lasting repercussions and situations that are hard to discern. Sometimes these require prolonged seeking to resolve, but not because God is reluctant or uncaring. It is because the more we are in God’s presence, the more we will be aligned with Him and have our discernment sharpened. We will more quickly recognize His promptings and know His voice. “The fervent [sustained, persistent] prayer of a righteous man avails much” (Ja 5:16).

This moment marks a turning point in Jesus’ ministry. It had been about the Gospel of the Kingdom both taught and displayed in miracle power, with much excitement and some opposition. But now Jesus reveals the ultimate purpose of His life – the Cross.

While praying with His disciples, He asks them the question that every person through the ages must also answer, “Who do you say that I am?” The answer goes beyond doctrine to personal revelation (Mt 16:17) which shapes our thinking and behavior, and our present and eternal destinies.

It is in prayer that we encounter the real Christ, the One Who came, lived, taught, died for our sins and rose again, our risen King of kings and Lord of lords. It was in prayer that, with only months to go before facing the Cross, Jesus was strengthened and His will was continually aligned with His Father’s will no matter the cost (Lk 22:41,42). This happens for us in prayer as well, preparing us for all that life will hold (Ro 8:11).

It was on this mountain that the person and ministry of Jesus was validated by the Law and the Prophets, and where He received the ultimate stamp of approval from God, Who proclaimed: “This is My beloved Son, hear Him!” (9:35).

The Son only said what His Father directed Him to say (Jn 7:17,18; 8:26-28), and only did what His Father directed Him to do (Jn 5:19,20; 8:29; 10:37,38). This was possible because Jesus “often withdrew” to seek and hear the Father. We, too, must become seekers, pray-ers, God listeners and followers if we would be His disciples.

The disciples saw and admired the full attributes of God that were clearly visible in Jesus’ life and ministry. And knew they needed the same for themselves. So they asked to be taught how to pray.

Jesus did not give them a formula of religious or “magical” words. His model prayer was instead filled with dynamic spiritual principles, each phrase worthy of study, meditation, and incorporation into our personal prayer lives.

Jesus then followed this with multiple parables, all revealing the importance of prolonged, consistent and earnest praying. These prayers are not for us to earn the right to get an answer from God, but instead to position us to hear, know and receive from God all that He has for each one of us. It is not just necessary to pray fervent, yielded prayers every day – it is mandatory. For if we do not pray, we will lose heart (Lk 18:1).

Jesus is facing His ultimate moment of need. He did not fear physical suffering. Rather, His agony in the Garden was anticipating the full weight of every human sin being laid upon Him at the Cross (2Co 5:21), as He paid the penalty of death for each one of us (He 2:9).

The highest priority of Jesus was always obedience to God and His will. Jesus’ faith and trust in God were seen in His every action and teaching. For us to be pleasing to God and bring glory to Him, we must also live in this daily place of surrender and obedience to God’s will and written Word, led by His Spirit.

The Holy Bible and the Holy Spirit will always be in agreement. Any leading, prophecy or revelation that is truly from the Holy Spirit will always agree with the whole counsel of God’s Word.

May we, like Jesus, always be found seeking God’s presence and help in daily prayer, and gratefully fulfilling God’s will in obedience to Him!  

There is a steep rise in restrictions, tighter surveillance, legal punishments and outright persecution in this communist-dominated nation. But of greater concern in China are the ongoing changes to the “government authorized” version of the Bible now being printed and distributed. There are egregious additions, deletions and reinterpretations leading to serious and heretical textual changes. This has the potential to lead many astray, as even a basic knowledge of the Scriptures in their fullest form is more limited even among pastors.

Please pray for:

• Open doors to supply or print within China accurate translations of the Bible, along with safe methods of distribution.
• An outpouring of the Holy Spirit, giving supernatural discernment, wisdom and knowledge to believers regarding God’s Holy Word.
• Pastors, teachers, evangelists and church leaders to correctly and thoroughly teach the Word to equip the saints.
• This program by the government to dilute God’s Word with heresies and lies to fail in such a way that it is abandoned.

Right now, particular “hot spots” for violence, economic and political turmoil and religious persecution are making life exceptionally difficult – often life and death circumstances – for Christians. They include: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Niger, Burkina Faso and Syria.

Please pray:

• Against the demonic forces at the root of this mindless hatred toward Christians.
• For international authorities to be convicted, and apply pressure to stop the suffering.
• That Christians would be supernaturally protected, provided for and given freedom to worship.
• For the continued, even increased, spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as there are reliable reports from these nations that the Church continues to grow in the midst of horrific opposition.

Thanks for praying for the upcoming World MAP team trip to India in November – for the preparations, details and will of the Lord to be confirmed and set in place by His Spirit!

There are also many shipments of Shepherd’s Staffs en route to various parts of the world, including nations closed to the Gospel. Thanks for covering these shipments in prayer!

Also, a critically important video teaching series about the Holy Spirit is in process. We covet your prayers for this series, as the challenges to its completion are real. Thank you!

Conclusion 

Jesus gave us so much more than a single model prayer – He continually modeled for us a life of prayer! Each of the seven points above have even more depth and principles of understanding, so I encourage you to give yourself to further prayerful study about each one.

Let us all grow together in a life of prayer and surrender, as did our precious Savior and Lord, unto the glory of God!

Praying with you,
Dr. Frank and Wendy Parrish,
World MAP