Prayer Jesus Taught

What Jesus told disciples about prayer - secret devotion, the Lord's Prayer, persistence, and asking in His name.

Key Concept

• The Gospels record what Jesus said to disciples about prayer - not the same lane as the prayers He spoke to the Father.
• Level 1: The Gospels tell what Jesus taught His followers about prayer - not the prayers He said to God Himself.
• Level 2: The Gospels tell us what Jesus taught His followers about how to pray, which is different from the prayers He said directly to God.
• Level 3: Two lanes in the text - Jesus speaking to the Father in John 17:1-26, and Jesus coaching disciples on posture, place, and words.

  Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me. I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled. But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. “O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”John 17:1-26 NASB1995

• Level 4: Because the model prayer names kingdom, daily bread, and forgiveness, teaching prayer is discipleship, not a private monologue archive.
• Level 5: The Gospels record what Jesus said to disciples about prayer - not the same lane as the prayers He spoke to the Father; Jesus' Prayers indexes both.
• Eternal Principles holds the one-claim notes; this hub maps the prayer thread across Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
• Jesus' Prayers holds verbatim speeches to the Father; Jesus' Rhythms shows how often He prayed; this lane is the instruction He gave others.
• Spine notes below carry six review cards at /notes/review/ with filter Prayer or Eternal Principles.
• Under Free Grace, learning to pray is not the price of heaven - it is how a child talks to the Father after the gift is received.

Note Relationships

Start here

• Eternal Principles - teaching lane hub; prayer spine notes sit under Heart and priorities
• Jesus' Prayers - verbatim lane: what the Gospels quote Him saying to the Father
• Jesus' Rhythms - biography lane: withdraw, pray before big forks, Pray When Drained
• Free Grace - prayer is how a dependent child talks to Dad, not wages for heaven

Lord's Prayer and persistence

The disciples asked Him to teach them (Luke 11:1). He gave them words and a rhythm.

It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.”Luke 11:1 NASB1995

• Ask Seek Knock - Lord's Prayer order (Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4); ask, seek, knock (Matthew 7:7-11; Luke 11:9-13)

  “Pray, then, in this way: 'Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.']Matthew 6:9-13 NASB1995

  And He said to them, “When you pray, say: 'Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.' ”Luke 11:2-4 NASB1995

  “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!Matthew 7:7-11 NASB1995

  “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”Luke 11:9-13 NASB1995

• Luke 11:5-8 - friend at midnight; keep asking

  Then He said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; and from inside he answers and says, 'Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.' I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.Luke 11:5-8 NASB1995

• Luke 18:1-8 - persistent widow; pray and do not lose heart

  Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, 'Give me legal protection from my opponent.' For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, 'Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.' ” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge said; now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”Luke 18:1-8 NASB1995

Garden link: Periodic Knowledge Review - scheduled return, not one crisis burst.

Secret audience

• Secret Devotion - do not pray for applause; pray in secret for the Father who sees (Matthew 6:5-8)

  “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.Matthew 6:5-8 NASB1995

Garden link: Let Your Light Shine - public good works and hidden piety are different lanes.

Posture before God

• Justification - Pharisee vs. tax collector; humility, not self-promotion (Luke 18:9-14)

  And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: 'God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.' But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner!' I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”Luke 18:9-14 NASB1995

• Childlike Faith - receive the kingdom like a child; prayer is not merit theater

Who to pray for

• Love Your Enemies - bless and pray for persecutors (Matthew 5:44; Luke 6:28)

  But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,Matthew 5:44 NASB1995

  bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.Luke 6:28 NASB1995

• Matthew 9:38; Luke 10:2 - pray that the Lord of the harvest would send laborers

  Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”Matthew 9:38 NASB1995

  And He was saying to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.Luke 10:2 NASB1995

Asking in His name

• Abide in Me - remain in Him; ask what you wish (John 15:7, 16)

  If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.John 15:7 NASB1995

  You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.John 15:16 NASB1995

• John 14:13-14; 16:23-24 - ask the Father in Jesus' name

  Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.John 14:13-14 NASB1995

Together and when you pray

• Matthew 18:19-20 - agreement in prayer; where two or three gather in His name

  “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”Matthew 18:19-20 NASB1995

• Mark 11:24-25 - believe when you pray; forgive when you stand praying

  Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you. Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions.Mark 11:24-25 NASB1995

• Forgiveness - forgive others in the rhythm of prayer (Matthew 6:14-15)

  For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.Matthew 6:14-15 NASB1995

Watch and pray

• Matthew 26:41 - watch and pray lest you enter temptation (Gethsemane)

  Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”Matthew 26:41 NASB1995

• Matthew 21:13 - My house shall be called a house of prayer (Isaiah 56:7)

  Even those I will bring to My holy mountain And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar; For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.”Isaiah 56:7 NASB1995

  And He said to them, “It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer'; but you are making it a robbers 'den.”Matthew 21:13 NASB1995

Cross-links