The Bible paints a crystal clear picture of Jesus’ prayer life. Numerous instances are given to show us how indispensable he thought prayer was. Of course, the Bible could not document every single time that Jesus prayed. Like John said, there would be no room to keep it. However, the amazing number of times that the Bible records Jesus praying is there to teach us something about prayer–that it is essential for Christian life and godliness and is essential for all Christian ministry. Below, I list different times that Jesus prayed. The sheer number of times should help us know that prayer is of utmost importance to Christ and to God. It should also make us ask ourselves, “if Jesus prayed so much, should we pray less?”.
- During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Hebrews 5:7
- Jesus is praying (interceding) right now for all the believers (Romans 8:34; I John 2:1; Hebrews 7:25; 9:24)
- Jesus prays at his baptism (Luke 3:21-22)
- Jesus is led into the wilderness to fast and pray for 40 days and 40 nights after he was baptized. (Matthew 4:1)
- Jesus gets up very early to go praying before his first preaching event in Galilee (Mark 1:35-39)
- Jesus prays all night before choosing twelve key leaders from among his disciples to give a special name and role as apostles (Luke 6:12-13)
- Jesus prays his high priestly prayer (John 17)
- Jesus went up on a mountainside alone to pray and stayed there late into the evening after a long day of preaching after feeding 5000 people (Matthew 14:22-23)
- Jesus prays after the healing of a leper (Luke 5:16)
- Jesus prays before feeding of 5000 people (John 6:11)
- Jesus prays after being rejected by certain cities in Galilee (Matthew 11:25)
- Jesus prays as He healed a deaf man (Mark 7:32-37)
- Jesus prays before feeding 4000 people (Mark 8:6)
- Jesus prays before Peter’s great confession (Luke 9:18; Matthew 16:14-17)
- Jesus prays during His transfiguration (Luke 9:28-35)13. Praying after hearing the report of the seventy (Luke 10:17-19, 20, 21)
- Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray with the Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11:1; Matthew 6:9-13)
- Jesus praying at Lazarus’ grave (John 11:41-42)
- Jesus prayed over little children (Mark 10:13-16)
- Jesus prays in the temple on Palm Sunday (John 12:20-28)
- Jesus prays over Jerusalem (Matthew 23:37-39; Luke 19:41-44)
- Jesus prays in the upper room just before he dies (Matthew 26:26-28)
- Jesus prays for Peter (Luke 22:31-34)
- Jesus prays in the garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:32-42; Matthew 26:39-46)
- Jesus prays on the cross (Luke 23:34; Matthew 27:46; John 19:30; Luke 23:46)
- Jesus prays at His resurrection (Hebrews 2:12,13; John 20:17)
- Jesus prays at Emmaus (Luke 24:30)
- Jesus prays at the Ascension (Luke 24:50-53)
- Jesus prays prior to Bethlehem (Hebrews 10:5,7)
Everything written in the Bible is written for our instruction. There are more times that Jesus prayed than this. These are listed to show us something about prayer. May we all start praying like Jesus did!