Jesus Valued Prayer

Key Verse: Luke 6:12

One day soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night.

Additional Reading: Luke 6:12-19

I titled today’s devotion “Jesus Valued Prayer”. I’m hoping to invoke all of us to think that since our Lord Jesus valued prayer, surely, we should value it, as well.

When we value something, we are careful how we deal with it; we pay close attention to it. Have you ever parked a new car far out into a parking lot so it doesn’t get scratched? If so, you placed a high value on that car and were willing to walk extra distance to protect it.

When we value something, it’s usually noticeable by ourselves and others. There are usually actions and behaviors that we can all recognize when something is being highly valued!

Jesus valued prayer, so He prayed regularly. In today’s scripture, He prayed all night. His actions speak louder than words; Jesus valued prayer! Now we must ask the tough question: do we, as His followers, value prayer the way we ought to? I’m sure we all want to quickly answer that with a resounding “yes”! However, I’m going to ask you to go a step further and give evidence of your answer. Surely the first behavior of someone who says they value prayer is that they do pray! Of course, we don’t truly know how often and how long our prayers should be. Does Luke tell us that Jesus prayed all night to convince us that we should pray all night? I hope not. I doubt that very many of us have ever prayed all night; I certainly have not.

I pray every morning with very few exceptions. However, I do wonder sometimes if I am praying effectively. My prayers are very repetitive. I wonder how God looks at my daily prayers when I say much the same thing over and over.

I’ve reminded myself, many times, that we are promised that the Holy Spirit that lives within us and helps us in our weakness in prayer. God knows our hearts and He knows when we are trying our best to honor Him and seek Him.

If I asked you to prove that you value prayer highly, would you be able to give evidence of that? Could you prove it? We don’t live under any condemnation, so please don’t condemn yourself on this matter. I’m only trying to get all of us to see that Jesus valued prayer and that it’s a powerful blessing to be able to pray.

I’ve always liked the first verse of Luke 18, “One day Jesus told His disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up”. Jesus went on to tell the story, of course, but as far as I’m concerned, He didn’t need to. If Jesus tells me to pray and never give up… I’m going to do my best to obey Him. I won’t look at the story in this devotion; we will study that later. I want this devotion to focus on the value of the prayer itself.

Someone has said, about things in general, that most of us do what we truly want to do! I think that is true with prayer. If we truly value it, we will seek whatever answers we need about prayer and make it happen in our lives. Jesus valued prayer because He knew that it is the way to communicate with the Father in Heaven. Jesus valued prayer because He knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the God of this Universe was listening to Him.

The Bible teaches us over and over that we should value prayer for the same reasons Jesus did. We are told that we can pray, and that it is what God has given us to communicate with Him. We are told to pray because the God of this Universe is listening to every sincere prayer, even if the method or the words are not perfect! I hope you grasp this, so you will highly value prayer!

Father, I know you hear my prayers, and I thank you for it. In Jesus’s Name, amen.