Look at that verse again with me, Luke chapter 6 and verse 12. I picked out four words. Four words this morning. It says, He, you find that one? Underline it if you write in your Bible. Unless you're Mark Waldemeyer. He, another word I want you to underline is continued. And then later on, the two words are in prayer. He continued in prayer. There is another verse in the Bible in 1 Peter 2 and verse 21 that talks about Christ leaving us an example that we should what? Follow His steps. One example that Christ gave us was that He continued in prayer. Christ continued in prayer. Prayer is talking to God. It's asking God for your needs and other people's needs. Do you have trouble continuing in prayer to God? Do you have trouble? Now, Jesus didn't. Jesus continued in prayer. Do you have trouble praying consistently? Do you have trouble finding time to steal apart for some time of prayer. Do you have trouble getting motivated? Do you pray? Believers in Christ, redeemed by the Heavenly Father through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, ought to feel on talking terms with the Heavenly Father so much that they want to talk to the Heavenly Father. That's how Jesus felt. We tend to think that Jesus, of course Him being the Son of God, meant that He didn't have very much to pray about. We focus more on His miracles. We focus more on His work on Calvary and His teachings than we do on His prayers. On His prayers. But Jesus prayed often and His prayers are instructive for us. He was dependent on the Father for everything. There's a lesson for us. Dependent on the Father for everything. Jesus loved to pray. Prayer was as much a part of His life as breathing was a part. This was His time with the Father. When is your time with the Father? Now when we pray, the Bible instructs us to pray to the Father in Jesus' name. So our prayer time should be to the Father. When do you talk to the Father? How much have you talked to the Father in the last seven days since we met? If we gathered all 20 of the recorded prayers of Christ, we could repeat them in about 10 minutes. They're not very long. Jesus continued in prayer. I wonder if we would study the example of Christ in prayer, if we might find a secret that would help us to be better in prayer. And boy, I'll tell you right now, I don't know if you're like me, this is a challenge. This is a challenge. Prayer life is important. And I want to try this morning with you to examine some of the prayer life of Jesus Christ. Consider first the posture, the posture of Christ's prayers. Is there one position that is more effective than another position in prayer? You say that's a dumb question. No, it's not. Not in our day and age. Do you always have to assume the same position because people who teach yoga believe that you do? Do you have to assume the same position for God, our Heavenly Father, to hear you? No. No, the truth is the bodily position is secondary to attitude of heart. Nonetheless, we learn that Christ prayed in many bodily positions, postures. I want you to go to Matthew chapter 14 and verse 19. Matthew 14, 19, Jesus prayed while he was standing, while he was standing. in Matthew 14 19 and he commanded the multitude to sit down well the idea here is that he's still standing by contrast to sit down on the grass and took five loaves and two fishes and looking up to heaven he blessed and break and gave the loaves to his disciples and the disciples to the multitude now I cannot imagine him addressing of the multitude and and leading the multitude of five thousand people not standing up and it was in that posture that he prayed here he looked up as he stood up in john chapter eleven and verse forty one 1141, then they took the stone from the place where the dead was laid. Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always, but because of the people which stand by, I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. Jesus prayed while he was standing and as he looked up. You don't always have to have your eyes closed when you're praying. He was looking up. In Mark chapter 11 and verse 25, I want you to see this one. I'll take time for you to get there. Mark 11, 25. Jesus instructed them about standing and praying. He's assuming that there will be times when we stand and pray. In Mark 11, 25. And when ye stand praying, Forgive, if you have ought against any, that your Father also, which is in heaven, may forgive you your trespasses. So standing to pray is fine with the Lord. In fact, He expects us to, unless we have an unforgiving spirit towards someone, or you're standing in the congregation to be seen. If you're doing it to get attention to yourself, Then that's wrong in Matthew 6 5 it says and when thou prayest thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are for they love to pray Standing in the synagogues and in the corners of every street of the street that they may be seen of men verily I say unto you they have their reward so the standing to be seen that's That's no good and standing and harboring in your heart Unforgiveness towards somebody that's no good Jesus taught that the attitude and motive of prayer must be pure. Your standing or your sitting means nothing if your attitude is wrong. Another time Jesus prayed while He was kneeling in Luke chapter 22 and verse 41 and He was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and he kneeled down and prayed. So you can kneel when you pray. That's an acceptable posture in prayer. Another time, Jesus fell on his face to pray in Matthew 26, 39. And he went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed, saying, oh, my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou will. but he went and fell on his face and prayed. Now, if the son of God saw the need once in a while to fall on his face and pray, it's all right for you and me to do it. In fact, when have you done that? When have you fallen on your face and prayed? Posture is not everything try them all stand sit kneel fall on your face whatever, but by all means pray Believers ought to pray and forgive others and pray with a right heart attitude as you pray all right number two the place of prayer first the posture of prayer and and the posture is not as important as the attitude. But number two, the place of Christ's prayers. Is there a location that you can find that would make you closer to God and make it easier for you to pray? Well, we know as we study the life of Christ that Jesus prayed in secret. There is a good place to pray. Normally he tried to get away into a private place alone to pray. In Matthew chapter 6 and verse 6. Turn there with me. Matthew 6 and verse 6. He instructed his disciples and by extension he instructed us to find a place so handy as a closet to get alone to pray. Now closet. Well, let's see. We've got two closets on the lower floor and we've got one, two, three closets, four closets on the upper floor. A lot of closets. There's a lot of places to pray. They're all handy. Find a place. Matthew 6 and verse 6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou shuttest thy door, pray to the Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. Now the whole idea of the closet was not only availability but privacy. and a place of quiet and no distractions. And Jesus practiced this principle of getting alone for prayer as we'll see in a moment. Find a place nearby. Where can you go nearby? A place that's quick, has daily access to it where you can pray to the Father and commune with the Father. Where is that place? I hope you're thinking in your mind, now where is that place? If you don't have a place, think of where you can have a place today. Not only in secret, but Jesus prayed in the company of others, not just alone, but with others. In Luke chapter nine and verse 18, we find him doing this. 9.18, and it came to pass as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him. And he asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I am? He is with his disciples. Go down ten verses. Luke 9 verse 28. And it came to pass that About an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James and went up into a mountain to pray. Not always alone, he's with others. Jesus believed in agreeing in prayer with others, praying with others. Matthew chapter 14 and verse 23, go there with me. Matthew 14 and verse 23. Also notice that Jesus was a mountain climber. There were other mountain climbers that we know about in the Bible. When we think about Moses, he went up and met God on the mountain. And Caleb took that mountain and Elijah and Abraham and others went up on the mountain. And so Jesus did the same thing in Matthew 14, 23. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray. And when evening was come, he was there alone. Jesus loved the quietness of the mountainside. It seems that Christ's first thought was the shortest way to get to the nearest mountain. And he taught his disciples the same value of getting away to pray private prayer. For example, the housewife may find it most quiet in the kitchen. Although in our kitchen, it's the crossroads of the whole house. So that doesn't seem to be where I would go, but that may be it. It may be while you're mowing the yard. It may be in a bedroom, in a den, in the living room somewhere. You can sing and praise and pray during your commute to and from work. Some do that. I used to pray while I was hunting, primarily because there wasn't anything else going on. Even if I saw a deer, I probably couldn't hit it. You can pray in a noisy machine shop. You can pray while you take a daily walk. There's all kinds of places. Be creative and redeem the time. If you want to talk to the Lord, listen, if you want to talk to the Lord, you can find time to talk to the Lord. We find time for everything that we want to do. Everything. If we want to talk to the Lord badly enough, we'll find a time to do it. And the fact that we don't find a time reveals something about our heart. But then there ought to be times when we purpose to get alone to pray. I know you can pray while you're driving down the road and that's good, and while you're working around the house and that's good, and while you're mowing the yard and that's good, and while you're walking and that's good. All those have distractions to them. Sometimes God really does want us to get in the closet. Sometimes God really wants us to be away from all distractions. Jesus prayed in secret. He prayed in the company of others. Number three, we also know that Jesus prayed in the garden. You can pray while you're gardening or out in the garage working. Jesus prayed, number four, he prayed in the wilderness in Luke chapter five and verse 16. And he withdrew himself into the wilderness and prayed. You can pray in the hospital. Yeah, you can. Pray in the campground. You can pray on vacation. You can pray when you're facing some wilderness in your life. He went into the wilderness alone and prayed. Number five, Jesus also prayed in public. Again, the place of prayer is not as important as your attitude and your motive for praying. You can stand or sit, fall on your face, whatever posture. You can pray in public and private, on the mountain, in the garden, in the wilderness, alone, with others, or whatever location. The main thing is, do you pray? The challenge this morning is for every Christian in this building to take an inventory of your devotional life and when is it that you pray? Where is it that you pray? Are you praying? Are you consistent in your prayer life? Do you want to talk to the Heavenly Father? Are you availing yourself of your privileges in God to be able to talk to the Heavenly Father? when we consider that He continued in prayer. Thirdly, this morning, I want us to see the prompting of Christ's prayers, the prompting. First, we see the posture, then the place, and now the prompting. When do you pray? What prompts you to pray? What is it that motivates you to pray? What prompted Jesus Christ's prayers? What were the occasions that we find that Jesus was praying? Well, Luke records nine of Christ's 20 prayers, and listen to the situations where he was praying. In Luke 3, at his baptism and the beginning of his ministry. When you begin something new, You know that you need God's help. You need prayer. And so you seek God. After a fatiguing day of miracles, Christ prayed in Luke chapter 5. Luke chapter 6, before making the decision of the choice of His disciples. Luke chapter 9, there are two of them. It's before His first prediction of His death and on the Mount of Transfiguration He was praying. Luke chapter 10 is when the 70 return with their report. Luke chapter 11, before teaching his disciples to pray, and we're gonna review some of these so you'll get to hear them again. Luke 11, before teaching his disciples to pray, he prayed. Luke 22, in the garden of Gethsemane prior to his severe suffering, Luke 23, when he was on the cross suffering for our sins, dying for our sins. and that's just in the book of Luke. Let's look at Mark chapter 1 and verse 35 and look more closely at those occasions in Christ's life where he prayed. See if we can learn what ought to prompt our prayers. What is it that ought to motivate us to pray? Well, Mark chapter 1 and verse 35, he prayed in the morning at the beginning of the day. And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place and there prayed. In the morning, great while before day. Why? Why did Jesus Christ get up early to pray? In his case, before sunrise. What is the benefit of prayer at the start of your day? I can think of a number of them. Let me share some that I thought of this week. Early morning prayer helps us look to God first every day. Start your day looking, focusing on God as our source of strength, your source of strength and blessing. When the discouragements and setbacks come throughout the day, you're better prepared for them. Your mind is on the Lord. Number two, early prayer helps us be led by the Holy Spirit as we are starting the day. And who here would contest the fact that we need to be led by the Holy Spirit? According to the scriptures, the Bible says we will be led by the Holy Spirit. We should be led by the Holy Spirit. Getting up and praying before your day begins helps you to be led by the Holy Spirit. You can discern his leadings, his promptings for the day before, You become distracted with the day's challenges. Start the day with the Holy Spirit in view and aware, cognizant of His presence, and then He has a plan for you today. Then, number three, early prayer gives us an opportunity to express our gratitude for life and breath and a good night's sleep. Why, we ought to thank God for these things. We can intercede for others and certainly pray about the day's challenges that we have. We are also instructed to pray for wisdom and love and compassion and power and the will of God. All those things are fair game in prayer. We ought to pray them. We are commanded to pray them. The morning seems the normal time for this to occur. Jesus prayed early in the day. Is there a way? I'm just asking. Is there a way in your busy schedule, and you have a schedule like I have a schedule, we have a schedule every day, and we're used to our schedule. Is there a way that you could find 10 to 15 minutes in the morning? I mean, it may be 10 to 15 minutes that you get up earlier. It may be that you eliminate something else that you're doing and you put in there the time of prayer. Could you somehow make room for God in your schedule? You say, I'm a Christian. I'm kind of aware of God all day long. That's good. When do you talk to Him? Jesus talked in the early morning. Some here could say, I used to do that. Some in this building would say, I used to do that. And they would also have to admit that when they did that, it was a sacrifice, but that they felt the closest to the Lord that they ever felt when they were doing that. Why don't you do it again? 10 to 15 minutes isn't that much of a sacrifice for everything that you gain by spending the time with the Heavenly Father. You know, you spend time with someone, they're going to rub off on you. That's the danger of letting your young people, your children, have the wrong kind of friends. The wrong kind of friends will rub off on them. But spending time with the Heavenly Father, that's got to rub off on us. Number two, Jesus prayed at the end of a day's work. We're analyzing the promptings of Christ's prayers now. Jesus prayed in the early morning. And number two, He prayed at the end of a day's work. In Mark chapter 6 and verse 46, Mark 6 and verse 46, I'll wait until you get there. here's what it says and when he had sent them away he departed into a mountain to pray he sent them away the days works over and now he prays are you tired at the end of your day of course you are I am too Jesus was too but he still prayed after feeding five thousand in the wilderness place he had to be fatigued but he chose to close out the day with prayer. Why pray at the end of the day? Well, it's an opportunity to give thanks for all that God did that day for you. Not only did he do some things, but he prevented some things. Maybe an accident. Maybe some bad health. Maybe you got some good report, and you can praise him for that. The protection of the day. And then, secondly, not only to give thanks, but to ask for his blessing and renewal of your body strength as you sleep, because you need that. Help, ask him to help calm your mind. Jesus prayed at the beginning and the close of the day. You and I, every one of us in this room, it's within our grasp to do that. That's not too much to ask. All right, not only that, but Jesus prayed just before great crises in his life. Just before he went into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, we read about him praying right before the temptation. And notice that Christ's first temptations challenged his sonship. Did you ever know, if thou be the son of God, always challenged his sonship. And that's exactly what the devil begins on every believer. He challenges our sonship. Look at John chapter one and verse 12. He tries to get us to doubt that God has accepted us and that we really are sons of God, children of God, heirs of God and joined heirs with Christ. He tries to get us to doubt our sonship. But the Bible has the answer. John 1 12, but as many as received him, have you received him? Now, if you haven't, you ought to doubt your sonship, because you're not a son or child of God. But to as many as received him, to them gave he power to become something, to become sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. It's to those who receive Christ, believe on the name of Christ, that God gives us power to become the sons of God. Amen. First John chapter 3 and verse 2, you need to see this verse. Again, I'll wait until you get there. It's a powerful verse. We are the sons of God. It's not that we're going to become the sons of God. Some people have this misconception that right now we're down here as people, but those who are accepted into heaven, they will become the sons of God and nobody knows who that is and who it isn't. But that's not true according to the scripture. 1 John chapter three and verse two. Beloved, now are we what? the sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is. Right now we are the children of God and the devil is a liar. Just before a great crisis, Jesus prayed. First, we see that he prayed before his temptation. Secondly, before he selected his 12 disciples, he prayed. Luke chapter six and verse 12, let's go back there now. Luke 6, 12, our text. In fact, he prayed all night because he had an important decision to make. He prayed all night. Luke 6, 12. And it came to pass in those days that he went out into a mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God, verse 13. And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples, and of them he chose 12, whom also he named apostles. His decision would make world history. Who were going to be the 12 that would follow Jesus Christ? And remember, the future for Christ is bleak. He's gonna be crucified. So these 12, although they'll have the blessing of hearing Him teach truth and perform miracles, are also going to have to suffer. Who would these be? It had to be the right decision. Do you have important decisions? that you are facing looks to me like we would all learn from Jesus Christ that when we have major decisions those major decisions need to be bathed in prayer. Did you hear me? Bathed in prayer. Not sprinkled, bathed. What are you talking about? I mean we need to spend some time. We need to talk to the Heavenly Father and get the mind of God before we go running off half cocked. We need to have the mind of God on decisions that we make. Are you doing what Jesus did before the choosing of the 12? Number three, he prayed before he told his disciples that he was going to die in Luke chapter 9. Do you have bad news to tell someone? It'd be good to pray before you tell them. Number four, Jesus prayed before his transfiguration, also in Luke 9, he prayed. So before major decisions, major events like that, he prayed. Jesus prayed in the morning, he prayed in the evening, he prayed before great crises and before decisions that he had to make. Number four, Jesus prayed before his greatest achievements. Listen now, follow Christ's example of prayer and you would have the same kind of achievements. Maybe not the same ones, but the same kind. For example, he prayed before feeding the 5,000. Ladies, do you pray before you feed your troops in your house? Before you put the food on? Or are you just relying on yourself and you've got it all in hand, you don't need to pray? He prayed before feeding 5,000. It's proper to pray before the missionaries arrive. It's proper to pray before Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, birthdays. He prayed before walking on the sea. A great accomplishment again, but he prayed before that. He prayed before raising Lazarus from the dead. The pattern is clear. Prayer first, then accomplishment. Jesus prayed before healing the insane boy. It seems like we could accomplish so much more if we would precede our efforts with prayer to God, sincere prayer to God. God, I can't do this. Acknowledge that you can't do it in your own strength or that you could do it in your own strength and really blow it and just acknowledge that you need Him. Jesus prayed before His great accomplishments. Then Jesus prayed after His great accomplishments. Don't be slow to return thanks for what God enables you to accomplish. Again, when one of the most successful days in His ministry was over, you can find Jesus in prayer. Matthew 14, 23, that's when He went up into the mountain to pray after He sent the multitudes away. Remember to thank Him for your successes. You who are going out hunting need to be very careful, but when you shoot the deer, you need to say, ìBoy, Lord, I want to thank you for that deer. Going to help feed my family. Thank you so much for that.î Thank Him for your successes when God gives you a better job, gives you a job, helps you pay your bills. thank Him for your successes when you get the raise or the promotion. Jesus prayed extra when there was extra pressure on Him from His Jesus was under constant pressure, but sometimes He had no leisure, even for meals. He had nowhere to lay His head, and sometimes He didn't even have time to eat. Amazingly, Jesus never let the pressure from the multitudes squeeze out His time of prayer like we do sometimes. And when we do it, we're frazzled, I understand. Been there, done that. But we're wrong, and Jesus was right. and you know that's true. And it's a rebuke to us. And it's a challenge to us not to keep letting it happen. We use busyness and work sometimes as excuses why we can't pray. Men sometimes think that they are exempt from this matter of prayer. I pray when I'm at church. That's not enough to lead a family. You need to do a lot more than that gentlemen. with Christ. It was a reason why he had to pray more, because there was so much stress, there was so much going on, so much extra pressure. When the distractions came, the decisions came, the discouragements came, when the demands came, when they were mocking him, when the exhaustion set in, he continued in prayer. Don't forget that. He continued in prayer. Jesus prayed when he faced great sorrows. He prayed. Remember that Jesus was the man of sorrows. Never think that you're experiencing more sorrows than Jesus was. He was, had so many that they identified him, the Bible identified him as the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. We have sorrow here and there. He had sorrow in abundance, many of them. No wonder he's able to comfort us. No wonder he's able to come alongside us. No wonder he sent the Holy Spirit to help us in our sorrowing. When he faced his greatest sorrow of all when he was on the cross, being rejected by his own, being spat upon, becoming sin for us and forsaken therefore by the heavenly father and suffering and bruising and being whipped, cursed. he drew strength to face it all by his prayer. Prayer in the garden, and then lastly, he prayed as he was dying. I wonder, maybe some here are sorrowing God has an avenue for you to get help and strength, and it's through prayer. Go to the Lord in prayer. He's waiting to help you. And then Jesus prayed as he was dying. His lifetime habit of prayer couldn't be quenched in the hour of death. Now, listen to me closely. When you have the emergency come, when you have the trouble come, you resort to what you practiced your whole life. You need to have a practice in your life of prayer. When he was dying, they couldn't quench his lifetime practice of prayer in the hour of his death. His last utterance was a prayer. Who is Jesus? That's the series we're on. Well, he's our example in prayer. He continued in prayer. Every head bowed, every eye closed. no one moving around except for our musicians and pastor Chris. The first prayer that a person ought to pray is a prayer to receive Christ as his Savior. God be merciful to me a sinner Pray that prayer. I know a lot of sinners think that they are on prayer ground with the Heavenly Father, and they're not. They pray all kinds of prayer for God to get them out of trouble, and maybe God is merciful and does it, but the first prayer that God hears from a sinner is, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. God, save my soul. Only Christ can save your soul. I wonder if you would start to learn to pray today by receiving him. Jesus is waiting for you to say, yes, yes, this is what I want. I wonder who it is here that would say, I need to pray that prayer today, preacher. I've dabbled around with religion. I've dabbled around and hung out at churches and so forth. I need to say yes to him and be saved. Be thoroughly cleansed of all my sin. Would you pray for me? I need to pray that prayer today. Let me see your hand. Someone in this building that God is speaking to, to pray that prayer to receive Christ today. Someone? We'll have someone help you. instruct you, show you how to do that. You can leave here knowing Jesus Christ as your Savior. Is there someone? Believer, I've primarily preached to you this morning the posture and the location of prayer is not critical. It's most important that you place the value on prayer like Jesus did by example. He prayed in the morning and He prayed in the evening. Do you? When do you pray? He prayed before great crises and decisions. Maybe you have a crisis in your life or your family, or you have a decision that you're facing. Christ is calling you to prayer today. He prayed before and after great achievements. We could accomplish so much more if we would do it Christ's way and pray about our attempts. Who here needs to pray about something that you're attempting? He prayed when the pressures of life were great upon him. He didn't let up in the pressures, he prayed more. The pressures forced him to pray more or they motivated him to pray more and they ought to do the same for us. Is that what you're facing today? More pressure than you know what you ought to be doing. He prayed when he faced great sorrow and even when he faced death. I believe that God is calling His people to see His Son's example in prayer, to see how much we are failing in this area of our Christian walk. Actually, when we continue without prayer, we are saying that we think we can make it without God. Prayer is when you believe that you can't make it without God. God is calling us back to prayer. by the example of his son Jesus continued in prayer. Let's pray right now. Heavenly Father in Jesus' name thank you for your word. We pray oh Lord that it has been plowing some furrows in our life. It's been helping us to refocus what is really important to us. and in some lives there needs to be a greater focus on prayer. It's not that we don't pray. It's that we don't maybe pray enough or consistently enough or that we are in a situation right now that demands more than the normal praying. I pray in Jesus' name that you'll speak to hearts. Help us to be obedient quickly to you now. In thy name we pray. Amen.