New Testament Prayer Times
Let’s look at when Jesus prayed in the Bible. He tells us how to pray by giving us his model prayer (the Lord’s Prayer).
Jesus’ Prayer Life
Jesus shows how we are to pray. Through His example, we see how often He was in prayer with the Father.
Jesus prayed with others and Jesus prayed alone (Mark 1:35, Luke 9:18, Luke 22:39-41).
And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone.
Matthews 14:23
Jesus also prayed in public places (John 11:41-42, John 12:27-30).
Let’s look at the specific times when Jesus prayed. While researching I came across this website where they listed all the times Jesus prayed recorded in Scripture. You can check it out here.
When Did Jesus Pray?
We can see that Jesus rose up early to pray, he prayed before important decisions, prayed before and after healings, and would stay up into the night to pray.
- Jesus rose up early to pray. In the morning before heading to Galilee. (Mark 1:35-36)
- Jesus prayed before healings and after healings (Luke 5:16)
- Jesus prayed all night before choosing his 12 disciples (Luke 6:12-13)
- While speaking to Jewish Leaders (Mark 11:25-26)
- At His Baptism (Luke 3:21-22)
- In the morning before heading to Galilee (Mark 1:35-36)
- To give thanks to the Father before feeding the 5,000 (John 6:11)
- Before walking on water (Matthew 14:23)
- While healing a deaf and mute man (Mark 7:31-37)
- At the transfiguration (Luke 9:28-29)
- At the return of the seventy (Luke 10:21)
- Before teaching his disciples the Lord’s prayer
- Before raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11:41-42)
- When praying for the little children (Matthew 19:13-15)
- Asking the Father to glorify his name (John 27-28)
- At the Lord’s Supper (Matthew 26:26)
- Prayed for Peter’s faith when Satan asked to “sift” him (Luke 22:31-32)
- Prayed for himself, his disciples, and all believers just before heading to Gethsemane (John 17:1-26)
- In Gethsemane before hi betrayal praying three separate times (Matthew 26:36-46)
- Right after being nailed to the cross, Jesus prayed, “Father forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34)
- While dying on the cross, Jesus cried out, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34)
- In his dying breath, Jesus prayed, “Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit.”
- Prayed a blessing on the bread before he ate with others after his resurrection (Luke 24:30)
- He blessed the disciples before his ascension (Luke 24:50-53)
Jesus prayed anywhere. He didn’t just go to the synagogue or temple to pray, he prayed wherever he was.
In fact, when he wanted to get away, it was more common we see that he would go to the mountains or isolated places to pray.
Luke 6:12 says,
In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God.
Luke 6:12
From reading all of this, why do you think Jesus prayed? Jesus prayed to do the will of the Father and be in communication with Him, throughout his life on earth.
Jesus could have gone to a home, a synagogue, or if he were near Jerusalem he could have gone to the temple to pray. But there were times when Jesus made the decision to pray where he was. When he did want to be completely alone with the Father, he would often go into nature.
Now from looking at when Jesus prayed, when did his disciples & early Christians pray?
Reference: justdisciple.com
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