Priority of Prayer in the life of Jesus: Our Great High Priest

While on the earth, we see the life of prayer as the highest priority and the deepest desire of Jesus' heart.  He would not let the demands of the people, the sorrow of His own soul or the busyness of ministry keep Him from praying to the Father. He is the greatest example for our own lives. Jesus is the Great High Priest! 

Hebrews 7:25, “…He always lives to intercede for them…”

Romans 8:34, “Christ Jesus who died~ more than that, who was raised to life~ is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”

The ultimate intercessor is the beautiful, wonderful, precious Lord Jesus. Job 16:20 says, "My intercessor is my friend..."  He is the One who inspires us, challenges us, and encourages us to choose to live like Him. 

Jesus made prayer a priority in His own life so that His followers asked Him to teach them how to pray (Luke 11:1).  Let's look at the priority of prayer in Jesus' life in a few areas:

1. Jesus prayed at His baptism just before His public ministry. 
"When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too.  And as He was praying, heaven was opened."  (Luke 3:21).  God's response was to open heaven, speak identity as a Son over Jesus and empower Him with God's Spirit.  (Luke 3: 22) 

We see that when Jesus prayed the heavens were opened, revealing his sonship. The Spirit (in the form of a dove) rested on Jesus (the Lamb of God). The dove represents the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit to fulfill his ministry.  Following Jesus' baptism, scripture tells us in Luke 4:1, “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit…” ~ the Spirit strengthened him for the wilderness testings.

2. Jesus prayed in solitude, demonstrating His need for prayer during times of "popularity". 
Jesus' ministry included preaching, teaching, demonstrations of the miraculous as He met needs of many kinds.  All four gospels record incidents of Jesus' praying in such circumstances.  He kept the relationship with the Father the top priority. Jesus knew where His source came from and He met with the Father in secret often.

Matthew 14:13 says, "Jesus withdrew to a solitary place." 
Matthew 21:17, "And He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night." 
Luke 5:16 tells us, "Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed..."
Luke 6:12, "Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray and spent the night praying to God."
Mark 1:35, "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed." 

Revelation of truth came to others when Jesus taught.  From the intimacy Jesus had with the Father, His Words were endued with power.  Over and over the gospels record "when the crowds heard this, they were astonished at His teaching."  (Matthew 22:23). 

3.Jesus prayed all night before he chose his 12 disciples (Luke 6:12-16)
Jesus talked with the Father all night because the men he chose would be those who would take His kingdom message to the ends of the earth. These first followers of Jesus would be the foundation of the church. 

Revelation 21:14 tell us that the city of God has twelve foundations and on each foundation are the names of the 12 apostles. The idea here is that the church rests on the work of the apostles ~ those who were the first followers of Jesus.

4. Jesus prayed with praise & thanksgiving to the Father. 
There was nothing formal about Jesus' prayer life.  It was established from intimacy with the Father. 

We see Jesus publicly praying immediately before raising Lazarus from the dead.  Jesus thanked God for hearing Him, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me..."  John 11:41.

At the feeding of the five thousand, John 6:11 tell us, "Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted.  He did the same with the fish. " 

In Luke 10 upon the disciples returning from being sent out on mission, the 72 returned with joy and Jesus' response encouraged them and He praised God, "...at that time, Jesus full of joy through the Holy Spirit said, 'I praise You Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned and reveal them to little children.  Yes, Father, for this is what you are pleased to do.'"

5. Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane reveals several things about Jesus in his humanity. 
1st point: The Son of man revealed His need of prayer support and comfort of those closest to Him. 
Jesus invited them to join Him in prayer at a time of intense anguish.  "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.  Stay here and keep watch with Me," Matthew 26:38b.  What evidence of Jesus' humility, vulnerability and humanity.   "Going a little farther, He fell with His face to the ground and prayed..."  Matthew 26:39a.   

Jesus prayed for strength and glory as the terror of calvary lay before him according to Luke 22:41-46.  Prostrate before God, Jesus faced the intense agonies of spirit, mind, and soul related to being separated from His Father while becoming sin as mankind's Redeemer.  He had lived in communion with His Father since before time began.  The agony of separation and the Father's judgment is entirely beyond human comprehension.  

2nd point: Jesus prays to be glorified. Recorded in John 17:1-5, Jesus prays that the Father would glory him (the Son), that Jesus (the Son) may glorify the Father. He prays to finish the work the Father gave him to do that Jesus would bring God, the Father, glory.

3rd point: John 17 reveals the deep prayer for Jesus' present and future disciples.   
For his disciples ~ In John 17: 6-19 Jesus prays for his disciples who were with him on the earth.  He prays a 2-fold prayer in verses 15-17, first he prays for protection from the enemy and second he prays that they would be sanctified by the Word of Truth

For us (future disciples) ~ In John 17: 20-26 Jesus prays that we would be one as he and the Father are one and Jesus shows his desire: He wants us with him (vs 24)! 

In John’s gospel, we see that there have been many hours of teaching (chapters 13, 14, 15, and 16) and in chapter 17, Jesus goes deep into prayer.  Intercession never took a secondary place in His ministry.  

6. The prayer life of Jesus did not end at His resurrection. 
He is still the praying Jesus.  He is never not praying. If we desire to be like Jesus, we will ultimately be intercessors, because that is what He is like.  Intercession is Jesus continuing His ministry at the right hand of the Father.

Hebrews 7 gives us a glimpse into the priestly ministry He continues in heaven & will continue when He returns to earth to rule & reign: “Because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. Therefore, He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them” Hebrews 7:24-25.
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“Such a high priest truly meets our need ~ one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens,” Hebrews 7:26.