“Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children…” (Ephesians 5:1)

If you think someone is inspiring and want to be more like them, you probably pay attention to what they do and how they do it.

How do they live their life? What makes them different? What can I learn from them and incorporate into my own life?

Young hockey players look up to someone like Connor McDavid. Baseball players look to someone like Shohei Ohtani. How do they prepare? What gives them their edge?

Since Jesus is inspiring, and since we look up to him and want to emulate him as our Teacher and Lord, the same is true when it comes to faith. 

Over the past several years I’ve spent a considerable amount of time researching what the Bible says about prayer. I’ve also been learning more from a much-neglected source of information:

How Jesus himself prayed.

Jews in the first century shared many things in common. Since Jesus’ earthly life was lived as a devout Jew, he too would have had these same customs.

He would have recited a creed called the Shema from Deuteronomy 6:4-9 when he got up and went to bed. He also would have said a series of formal prayers. In addition to the morning prayers, he would have said a prayer called the Amidah at 3 p.m. as well. 

Jesus didn’t only pray in that way. He also prayed based on the needs of the moment (Luke 22:42) and when he was all alone (Mark 1:35). He also spoke with honesty and intimacy with his Father (ex. John 17).

As Christians today we aren’t commanded to pray in the exact same way that Jesus did. However, we can learn a lot from his pattern: It was structured, rooted in prayer and Scripture, and taken seriously.

As theologian Joachim Jeremias observes: “We can sense from this [pattern] something of the hidden inner life of Jesus, something of the source from which he drew strength.”*

I’ve put a podcast episode together which explores this whole topic more fully. If you’re interested in going deeper, you can link to it below. But today, my point is this. If we seek to emulate Jesus we can benefit from looking closely at how he prayed and used Scripture on a daily and weekly basis.

His devotional life wasn’t haphazard. It was structured, rooted in prayer and Scripture, and taken seriously.

As Jeremias reminds us, “We can sense from this [pattern] something of the hidden inner life of Jesus, something of the source from which he drew his strength.”

May we too be intentional about our communion with God, and draw from his strength as we follow Christ.

Notes and extra content:

-“What can we learn from Jesus’ personal devotional life?” New podcast episode.
     Do you want to be “like Jesus”? Many people say yes–but neglect the formative practices that help get them there. This audio essay is an invitation to become more like Jesus by more closely emulating his own spiritual practices. These reveal something of his “hidden inner life” from which he drew strength. Click here, or find it on ‘The Pulse Podcast with Matthew Ruttan’ wherever you listen (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc.)

-*Joachim Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus (SCM Press, 1967), 75.

-Bible quotes are from the NIV.