What They Don't Teach You about Prayer 2

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Here's Part 1

And have you ever noticed how Jesus is seldom seen praying in the Gospel? Checkout Matthew. In chapter 5, when he saw the crowds approaching, he told the disciples to sit on the grass because he was about to teach them. And what did he do first? He said "Blessed are the poor in spirit" right away.

He didn't pray first!

Don't we always first pray before we do anything in ministry? We do. We love opening and closing in prayer. But Jesus never did. He just went on doing things. With a big crowd aching to listen to your sermon, I bet you'd pray first before you preach. Acknowledge the Lord in all your ways and he will lead you by the right path, says Proverbs 3.6. The NLT has it more powerfully:

Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.

So why didn't Jesus do it?

Then right after that, we see Jesus in the 8th chapter healing a man with leprosy. Now, imagine yourself in front of a leprous man and you're asked to heal him. There he is, nose melted, skin gangrenous, flesh exposed and rotting and fingers eaten up by the leprous bacteria. Picture that in your mind and feel the situation like it's really before you. How would you proceed?  Most likely, like how I would also do it---pray. And I'd pray well before making any move.

But Jesus didn't. He touched the man right away and proclaimed healing. And "immediately" the man was healed. I'd probably pray lengthily about it and even ask other Christians to agree in prayer with me, but then get zero results just the same. Then I'd justify that by saying, "maybe it's not yet God's time for him to be healed." We often do that when we fail. Jesus never said excuses.

Now, how come Jesus didn't pray for it and yet instant healing occurred? There's a powerful Kingdom principle involved somewhere here which the church hasn't seen yet. Religion, tradition and human theology can really blind church people.

And no doubt his apostles learned his secret. Yeah, they prayed a lot, but their long prayers were done behind closed doors. Did they pray before doing a miracle? Watch this.

Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed 10 and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk. [Acts 14]

Did Paul pray?

Then I looked at other healing and miracles the Lord did and in most cases Jesus didn't pray. And yet church tells us to always pray first. But why can't we get Jesus' results? Some smart Aleck once said, "Well, Jesus doesn't need to pray. He is the Lord. What do you expect?" Do you agree with that? I don't and I'll tell you later why.

Then there was the water he turned into wine. If we are tasked with that, I can imagine how we'd bombard the situation with prayers, and probably fasting, too. But he didn't. He just gave instructions and the water turned wine.

With multiplying bread and fish to feed thousands, Jesus' prayer was unique---in fact, something Christians never do (because they fail to understand). He merely looked up and said, "Thanks." As simple (and radical) as that! If we're to do it, we'd shout in prayer or have overnight prayer meeting and fasting or assign prayer warriors to bombard the heavens with prophetic prayers.

Jesus didn't have any of those things. He made ministry simple. He just looked up heaven and said something like, "Gee, thanks Father!" And behold, 5,000 and then 4,000 men were miraculously fed!

Another thing here---Jesus touched the leper to heal him. It was a definite no-no then. Leviticus 5.3 and Leviticus 13 forbade touching anything unclean, and leprosy was one. Yet, Jesus did it---in effect, he broke the law. And look what he got from God. Instant miracle! Why can't we have the same today even if we fill our ministries with prayers?

Is prayer wrong?

Definitely not. Jesus even said some serious demon possessions cannot be solved unless through prayer and fasting. Then why didn't he pray first before casting out demons? You never see him do it in the Gospel. He just ordered them out and they scrammed like mad. Perhaps we need to pray less? Nope. The bible tells us to pray without ceasing.

Well, here are Jesus' secrets, and make sure you get them:

1. He prayed more alone than in public. Remember his teaching about prayer? He said only hypocrites loved praying in public for men to see. Instead, we should go to our room and pray in secret. And the Father who sees in secret will reward us. Church doesn't pay much attention to this truth, not realizing this is a very powerful Kingdom principle. Church people love being seen praying in public. They love people to hear their "powerful" and bold and well worded and inspiring prayers.

When Jesus was called to read a passage in Isaiah in a synagogue, he didn't pray first. He just read it and declared God's Word that the prophesy had been fulfilled in him. In contrast, we pray first before we preach.

When Jesus prayed, he looked for places that gave him privacy. He didn't want anyone seeing his intense and long talks with the Father.

After making the disciples ride the boat and go ahead of him and dismissing the crowd, Jesus "went up on a mountainside by himself to pray," [Matthew 14.23]. 

And likewise...

"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went to a solitary place where he prayed," [Mark 1.35]. 

Here, his disciples "looked for him," hinting that Jesus intentionally hid from them to enjoy privacy with the Father. Why? Because he had to "go inside your room and pray in secret."

2. He kept public prayers short. His private conversations with God sometimes lasted all night [Luke 6.12]. But when praying in public he kept his prayers short. He didn't want much to be seen praying in public. When he fed the thousands, he simple said, "Thanks." His longest public prayer was Matthew 11.25:

“I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.

In contrast, church today loves long prayers. Church people have to make them long, thinking that short prayers are not heard in heaven. When I pray short public prayers, Christians and even pastors laugh at me. They find it funny or even wrong. Some pastors get pissed off when I do that. Sometimes, I just say "Thank you, Lord" when publicly praying for food. And they find it absurd.

3. He prayed in his mind. Praying aloud is good, especially when we need the brethren to agree with us in prayer. But when performing ministry and service, we need to pray mentally like Jesus did. Jesus did it very often. In fact, the times we don't see him praying in the bible are times he talked with the Father mentally. And he revealed this secret in John 11.41. He said:

“Father, I thank you that you have heard me."

Heard him? Did he pray? Check out the passage carefully and you won't see him praying at any time. But he said "you have heard me." Meaning, when he said this, he had already prayed. And that means he prayed mentally while on the way to the tomb to raise up Lazarus.

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Jesus always talked with the Father in his mind, so when an actual healing or miracle had to be performed, he didn't need to pray anymore. He just performed or declared it. He was confident that the Father would do the miracle because, "I knew that you always hear me."

He also hinted that prayer in public is sometimes needed so people may be helped with their faith. He explained that, "I said this (in public) for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me." But he kept his public prayers short.

Thus, Jesus prayed without ceasing because he always talked with the Father in his mind. And we should do the same. If we do as Jesus did, we'd have a powerful ministry, operating in signs and wonders.

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