Prayer is a common way to worship God, where we invoke his help, ask for our needs, beseech him with supplications, and intercede for others. We see it first when Noah called down a blessing from God on his son Shem: “He also said, ‘Blessed by the LORD my God be Shem’” (Genesis 9:26).
Moses would speak to God with great intimacy, saying “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” (Exodus 3:13). David also spoke to God that way, especially when he realized he had sinned against him: “I have sinned greatly… But now, I pray thee, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly” (1 Chronicles 21:8); Solomon followed his father’s example too (2 Chronicles 1).
As the New Testament begins, we see the people praying to God as Zechariah enters the Temple to offer incense to the Lord, and the angel Gabriel tells him that his prayers have been heard and his wife will conceive a son. (Luke 1:9-13). Luke also describes Mary and Elizabeth praying, as well as Simeon and Anna—this was the way righteous men and women prepared for the coming of the Messiah.
Our Lord too prays, when he was baptized (Luke 3:21), when he spent forty days and nights in the desert to prepare his public ministry (Luke 4:1-2). Often Jesus would get up early before everyone else to pray in the wilderness (Mark 1:35) and the whole night in prayer as he chose the twelve apostles (Luke 6:12), or leave the apostles to go up the mountain to pray alone (John 6:15). He taught the apostle about the power of prayer:
“Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:7-11).
Jesus’ prayer to the Father for his apostles at the Last Supper and during his agony in the garden of Gethsemane were particularly intimate and revealing (John 14:15-17; 16:26-27; 17:9-23; Matthew 26:36-46)
The Lord’s Prayer
Jesus Christ also gave his followers this wonderful way of worship in prayer:
Pray then like this: “Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our debts, As we also have forgiven our debtors; And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil” (Matthew 6:9-13).
In giving this prayer Jesus is teaching us to honor God as our true father and to glorify his name. He encourages us to pray for and welcome his kingdom, his church, both in heaven and on earth by carrying out his will and commandments. In particular Jesus wants us to pray for the strength to “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36).
Jesus also gives us instructions on how to pray in a way that truly honors God: “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6:5-8).
The Holy Spirit encourages prayer throughout the Bible: some 250 times in the New Testament and more than 700 times in the Old. We would do well to follow the lead of saints from both before and after Jesus Christ.
