Jesus' Prayer Life
But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. – Luke 5:16, NIV
“Characteristically Luke tells us that there he prayed (both verbs, withdrew and prayed, indicate continuous action). In the midst of pressing duties he found it necessary to be quiet and pray.” – Leon Morris
Embodied Redemption has much to teach us by simple observation. Jesus’ life on earth, and his ministry in particular help us to live well for Jesus on earth. One of the recurring themes of Luke’s narrative of Jesus’ ministry and life is prayer. Chapter 5 and verse 16 is one of several places where Luke tells us that Jesus’ habit was to withdrawal for payer. In other words, Jesus practiced the spiritual disciplines of solitude and prayer. If we hear this well in Luke’s gospel, we will catch on to the fact that Jesus’ ministry and mission accomplishment are tied directly to these disciplines. Jesus had to be alone to hear the Father well. Jesus had to turn to the Father to carry out the work God had given Him. All of that should speak loudly to us about our own need for more prayer and more solitude. If you are alone with your Heavenly Father, life-giving realities are about to invade your space and the lives around you. If you neglect time to pray and be alone with your Father, it will be much more difficult to see your life or the lives of others impacted with Divine life and resources. Neglecting your prayer and solitude time will make it increasingly hard to keep God’s priorities and mission front and center in your life. Knowing what God wants us to do and walking in it is far more problematic when we have not disciplined ourselves to spend time alone with Him and converse with Him. Our goal then is for growth in these (and other) spiritual disciplines. How are you doing at listening as much as you talk in prayer? What is one way that you can grow in creating a listening posture before God? When and where could you take time to be alone with God? What kind of space/place helps you in solitude? (Indoors, outdoors, time of day, et. al) Don’t be afraid (or bullied by the Enemy of our souls) in starting small. Can you take an extra 5 minutes today to be alone with God and ask Him if He has anything He wants to say to you? Can you use your commute as time for solitude and prayer? Go for it! These seem like ‘inconsequential’ changes which won’t make a big difference in your life. The reality is they are demonstrations in growing to be more like Jesus. Refuse to believe the lie that to do these things you must be a spiritual giant who prays for hours at a time or goes on retreats to be alone with God for days. Start where you are, ask God to help you grow, take the next step. One extra minute in prayer and solitude can be the building block God uses to cultivate a vibrant connection with Him. To quote Thomas George, “What if God invited us to the great commission to be with us?” What if the core mattering thing in your life is your communion with the Father?
Further questions for life application/discussion on Redemption Embodied:
What does it look like for you to give yourself permission to be human and holy?
Jesus is redemption embodied. He also used His body to accomplish redemption by suffering and dying for us (see Isaiah 53, 1 Peter 2:24, 3:18). As Christians, we ought not believe that our bodies are a hinderance to our relationship with God. They are in fact the temple of the Holy Spirit, purchased by Jesus (1 Cor. 6:19-20). They are the space in which God meets us. How are you letting these realities shape your view of your body? In what way(s) have these realities escaped your experience of your humanness?
How have people labeled you that has produced shame in you (e.g.-sinner, unclean, dirty, worthless)? What truth(s) of God need to be applied to those labels? What truth(s) need to be brought to bear on them to erase the shame?
When have you been the ‘religious’ person in between Jesus and someone who needs to experience His redemptive work? How will you move out of the way?
Is there someone in your life that you need to bring to Jesus for His redemptive work? How will you move them closer to Jesus?
Reflecting on your story: When and where have you experienced the redemptive presence of Jesus in your body? In your soul? How did it happen?
Bonus Joel B. Green quote:
“Salvation is neither ethereal nor merely future, but embraces life in the present, restoring the integrity of human life, revitalizing human communities, setting the cosmos in order, and commissioning the community of God’s people to put God’s grace into practice among themselves and toward an ever-widening circles of others. The Third Evangelist knows nothing such dichotomies sometimes drawn between social and spiritual or individual and communal. Salvation embraces the totality of embodied life, including is social, economic and political concerns. For Luke, the God of Israel is the Great Benefactor whose redemptive purpose is manifest in the career of Jesus, whose message is that this benefaction enables and inspires new ways for living in the world.” (Italics mine)