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My life’s desire has always been to be more like Jesus, to live a life exemplary of my Savior and Lord. But no matter how hard I try, it seems I always fall short of my quest. I have spent years studying the life of Jesus, but I seem to lose touch with the reality of being Christ-like. I marvel at the victory Jesus had over His flesh. He was tried, tempted, and enticed to pursue the dictates of the flesh, but not once did He succumb to its offerings! We know that Jesus was Divine as well as human. We know the Divine nature in Him could not sin, but the human aspect of His being was not immune to the temptations in life. He struggled just as much as any other individual, yet without fault, slip, or failure. What was the ingredient in Jesus’ life that made Him victorious throughout His brief earthly ministry? What was it that enabled Jesus to overcome every trial and testing? He was not immune to sufferings and struggles, yet there was never a situation in which He failed to achieve the victory. Is it possible to achieve such a Christ- like life that we can say at the end of each day, “It is no longer I that live, but Christ?”
I believe that the key to Jesus’ success was His prayer life. Beginning at His baptism, He stood in the water praying. (Luke 3:21) He would go up into a mountain and pray all night long. (Luke 6:12) Just before selecting His twelve disciples, He spent all night praying. (Luke 6:12) After the feeding of the five thousand, He took His disciples with Him and prayed. (Luke 9:18) One time, He took Peter, James, and John up into a mountain to pray and as He was praying, He was transfigured before them. (Luke 9:28, 29) There were times He would get up before dawn and go and pray. (Mark 1:35) Jesus’ life was highlighted by prayer. All the way to the cross, His road was covered in prayer.
When I look at my prayer life, I see my spiritual scale completely out of balance. I pray, but not with the regularity and sincerity that is required from God’s children. I pray, but it is more with an attitude of compliance and obedience than with a heart-felt desire to commune with my Heavenly Father. We Christians tend to traditionalize our prayers around the food table and the bed. Between our regimented petitions, we scatter our supplications of wants and needs. If time permits and we don’t forget, there are the quick prayers for those for whom we said we would pray. When is the last time we remember “saying” our prayers at the end of the day and being able to say “amen” before the “zzzzzs” take over?
I want to be more like Jesus, but without understanding the value of prayer and its role in my life, I will never be able to achieve the Christ-likeness that I desire. We love to talk about the miracles, signs, and wonders Jesus did, but we fail to understand the importance of prayer in His life. Jesus followed God’s directions for His life, and His destinations were achieved through His communion with His Father! We may be able to quote Scripture by heart. We may be able to exhibit some of the characteristics of Jesus’ life, but we will never to able to truly be like Him until we understand the importance of prayer in His, and our, life.
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