THE UNRECORDED PRAYERS OF JESUS

One time a preacher was shaking the congregation out after services one man asked him how many times Jesus prayed? He did not know at the time but told him he would look it up.

I counted the times in the 89 chapters of Matthew, Mark, Luke and, John and found that the Lord is said to have prayed 23 times. We know He prayed thousands of times when you consider the importance placed on prayers, but 23 times is all that is mentioned.

Of those 23 prayers that Jesus prayed only 9 of them are recorded. The other 14 prayers are unrecorded. We know He prayed, but we don't know what He said.

The recorded prayers would be, the Model Prayer which begins "Our Father who art in heaven." The prayer He prayed in Matthew 11, "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes."

He prayed at the grave of Lazarus; "Father I thank You that You heard Me, and I know that You hear Me always, but for the sake of the multitude that stands around I said it that they may believe that You did send Me." He prayed also after the triumphal entry when He looked up to Heaven and said, "Father glorify Your name."

He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane; "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass away from Me; nevertheless, not as I will but Your Will be done." He prayed that prayer three times.

Then there is the long intercessory prayer of John seventeen for the unity of His followers: I pray that they all might be one. Then there are the three prayers He prayed on the cross.
"Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." "My God My God, Why have You forsaken Me" and "Into Your hands, I commend My Spirit."

We note here that Jesus died praying. Prayer was the last thing He did before He died. The other fourteen prayers are not recorded. We know that He prayed, but again we just don't know what He said. But by looking at the situation when He prayed these prayers we might be able to figure out what His unrecorded prayers were all about?

Over our next few times together we will look some of His unrecorded prayers.
The first one we will consider will serve as a text for the other thirteen. It is found in the gospel according to Luke chapter eleven.

TEACH US TO PRAY

Luke 11:1 "And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto Him Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples."
We don't know what He prayed but one of the disciples said, Lord, show us how to do that. We never read that they ever asked Him, Lord teach us to preach. Teach us to sing. Teach us to organize. They did say, Teach us to pray. At least one of them did. It was then that He gave them the "Our Father who art in Heaven" prayer as a guide to prayer.

By looking at the rest of the unrecorded prayers of Jesus we might be able to learn how to pray as we consider the circumstances that brought on prayer at certain times. So Lord teaches us to pray. The first unrecorded prayer is the one we hear at the point of His baptism.

We will continue to look at these unrecorded prayers in our next lesson. God bless until our next time...