The Purpose of Prayer: Lessons from Jesus

This article was written by Melody Lipford…

Imagine you’ve reached this point in your life timeline…your last night on Earth. Imagine that you knew it was the final twenty-four hours ticking away till your final breath. Specifically, your final breath with your physical body nailed to a cross. Is it hard to put yourself in this scenario? Understandably, it is difficult to think of how one might feel in this situation.

Thankfully, we do not have to ever face such a fate due to our precious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ who put Himself in this situation not for his own benefit, but for ours, and with a desire to glorify the Father.

With this in mind, how did Jesus handle the night before His crucifixion?

Although fully God, he was also fully man. As we look to Christ for our example to live in a relationship with God, what can we take away from these final moments of HIs life on Earth? What interactions did He have with God as a man while also recognizing God’s role as sovereign with a divine plan? How did Jesus handle being human while also partnering with God to participate in His will for mankind? We will further explore this through Jesus’s last night on Earth by examining His interaction with God in the Garden of Gethsemane in Mark 14:32-38 (NIV).

Starting at the beginning of this section it is essential to note the heart posture of Jesus that leads Him to seek time to go to a secluded part of nature and commence in prayer to the Lord. For instance, in Mark 14:33-34 we see this when it says, “He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.” Here, we see Jesus expressing his emotions as fully man approaching his friends and drawing near to the Lord in a heart posture full of vulnerability.

Even more so, we see this as Jesus begins to speak to the Lord in prayer admitting how he truly feels saying in Mark 14:36 “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” Here, we see Jesus and the specific way He addresses who God is in the relationship before going on to casting His cares. This is important to note when thinking about the purpose of prayer. The purpose of prayer is first to recognize the other person present in the conversation.

Next, we see Jesus expressing who God is and His sovereign ability and control of all things. Jesus is not afraid to be honest with God and make requests such as for God to “take this cup” of the crucifixion away from Him with the knowledge of God’s ability in His situation. Nevertheless, we also see a turning point in Jesus’s prayer to God when after expressing his honest emotions He acknowledges God’s plan as higher than His own when He finishes His prayer with, “Yet not what I will, but what you will”. Here, we see the essence of Jesus’s view of His relationship with God: that He is His Son while also under the dominion of God’s sovereign will. Jesus knows God is a safe place to cast his cares while also having reverence to realize the person He is communicating with and His overall role and participation in God’s divine plan.

Unfortunately, during the time of Jesus’s emotional distress on the night before His crucifixion, the disciples who were also His friends did not keep awake but fell asleep amidst His prayers. Here, we see another amazing insight from Jesus as His observations of His disciples reveals a deeper truth that all humans face today. For instance, as He says in Mark 14:37-38, “Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Simon,” he said to Peter, “are you asleep? Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

While the disciples rightfully could have been tired from the day and fell asleep, Jesus is not talking about the surface-level reality of our flesh being weak and tired. In turn, He is talking about something much deeper and spiritual in relation to who we will choose to serve. Also, it’s important to note that Jesus is providing insight from a level unknown to His disciples of the level of the temptations of the flesh that Jesus had to overcome in order to be a perfect sacrifice for the redemption of our sins. With this in mind, readers can see the weight of Jesus’s words as He just finished wrestling with God being fully man with the temptations of His flesh pulling Him to want to escape the crucifixion. However, His prayer at the end ultimately shows who He chose to serve as He says, “Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Jesus is not just asking His disciples to stay awake while He is praying but is also warning His disciples to stay watchful of who they are submitting to. He wants His disciples to be aware of the internal nature of mankind. One where the spirit is willing, but the temptation of the flesh can easily weaken them to serve not the will of God, but the will of man. Jesus’s love for His disciples and for us is beyond measure.

With all of this in mind, it is helpful to apply Jesus’s example and examine the usage of prayer in our own lives. Additionally, it is essential to ask ourselves what we believe the purpose of prayer is through our current and past prayer lives. For instance, how do we address God in prayer? Do we come to God and immediately make our requests? Or like Jesus, do we first address and revere the other person who we are in conversation with? Next, do we recognize an aspect of God’s character? For instance, Jesus does this in Mark 14:36 when He tells God “all things are possible for You.”

Afterward, do we come with boldness to the throne of God such as Jesus does when He asks God to “take this cup” of the crucifixion? And finally, do we humbly recognize that while God is our Father and hears our prayers, it’s not ultimately what “we will”, but what God wills that is above all and for our good and His glory?

While God is not asking us to follow a perfect prayer structure, the ultimate goal is to commune with God in relationship while letting His Spirit do the inner work to align our wills to His divine will.

Now, I’ll leave you with a final challenge: In what areas of your life do you need to take to God in prayer and say as Jesus did in Mark 14:36 “Not what I will, but what You will?” This simple, yet effective prayer might challenge you, but also pleasantly surprise you with the joy and freedom you experience when you truly walk in obedience to the call God has over your life. And my friends, they are for your good and His glory!