21 Days in the Gospel of John With Levi Lusko Voorbeeld

The Real Lord’s Prayer

Does it strike you as odd that Jesus, being fully God, would ever need to pray at all? It seems sort of unnecessary. Since they are three persons, but One God, wouldn’t the Father know what the Son is thinking all the time? The answer is, of course, yes. Jesus took on humanity, but never stopped being fully divine. He was always in perfect harmony with His Father, so in that sense, He didn’t need to pray to communicate to Him.

Yet, during His time on earth, He prayed frequently and intensely. Why?

I believe it was more for our sake than it was for His. His prayer life on earth provided an example for believers. Jesus not only paid a price, but set a pattern. His life was to be a guide to trace. He responded to the human weaknesses that He experienced with the power of prayer, and so should we.

In Luke 18:1, He says that “men ought always to pray, and not to faint.”

Have you ever been so tired you fainted? It’s the worst. I took up cycling a few years back and early on learned the necessity of riding prepared. One of the things I learned to carry was goo in case I bonk. Yup, you heard that right. A biker ‘bonks’ when they hit a wall and no longer have the energy to ride. They get pins and needles, their limbs get heavy, their vision gets blurred. When you bonk, you have nothing more to give. ‘Goo’ is a packet of syrup full of the fuel your body needs to keep going and push past the bonk. So it is with prayer and your spirit.

In His life, Jesus said—and demonstrated—that prayer is the secret to not bonking spiritually. This, of course, doesn’t mean to wait until you’re at your wits’ end, but rather to “pray without ceasing.” Prayer will keep you going when you hit the wall and feel like you can’t go on.

Remember: Prayer is powerful.