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40 Episodes with Jesus: The Prayer-Prioritizer (E4)
20 Plays5 months ago
Just as we need food and water to sustain our bodies, prayer nourishes our souls. In this episode, Brandon and Chris explore a powerful moment when Jesus prayed and discuss why prioritizing prayer is essential in our daily lives. Tune in for insight, encouragement, and practical ways to strengthen your prayer life.
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Transcript
Reunion and Snowpocalypse
00:00:22
brandon g b
Welcome to the Faith 168 Podcast. My name's Brandon. I'm with Chris. We're two of the co-hosts of this podcast, and it is so good to be back with you. It's been a little while.
00:00:35
brandon g b
We've had a lot of things going on, but we're excited to um bring you another episode and talk about um the Lord Jesus and how we can live faithfully for him 168 hours a week.
00:00:35
Christian McKenzie
yes
00:00:48
brandon g b
But Chris, how's things been going, man? How's life treating you?
00:00:53
Christian McKenzie
Well, everything's been going good. Life has been treating me well. I survived snowpocalypse and I'm preparing for the next one right now. So, uh,
00:01:04
Christian McKenzie
So maybe maybe we'll get through that.
Jesus' Prayer Life
00:01:07
Christian McKenzie
So how's life been treating you?
00:01:08
brandon g b
Yes. Well, same here. Yeah, we we survived the snowpocalypse as well and getting ready for round two and just... We'll right back.
00:01:22
brandon g b
are going to experience a little snow well we just hope this podcast warm your heart so
00:01:29
brandon g b
yeah oh man terrible
00:01:30
Christian McKenzie
this
00:01:31
brandon g b
terrible terrible
00:01:32
Christian McKenzie
yeah
00:01:32
brandon g b
all right what gets so some good stuff then so um we have been going through the life and ministry and teachings of the lord jesus um through the gospels somewhat in chronological order
00:01:46
Christian McKenzie
Yeah.
00:01:46
brandon g b
and One of the big things in the life of Christ was his prayer life. Well, that is a big, big topic. As you read the Gospels, you see Jesus praying all the time.
00:01:59
brandon g b
You see him praying early in the morning, late at night, all night sometimes. You see him praying prior to miracles and even before meals, and praying at pivotal moments in his life as well, such as when he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane prior to the cross, before selecting his disciples and calling them to follow him.
00:02:22
brandon g b
He was a prayer. He was sweating and supplicating. you know
00:02:28
Christian McKenzie
Never heard it put that way.
00:02:28
brandon g b
He was all the time praying. Yeah, that's right.
00:02:31
Christian McKenzie
Yes.
00:02:32
brandon g b
um And we are so blessed to have record of his prayer life in the Gospels. And there's a lot of things that his prayer life teaches us, and we're going to dive into that.
00:02:39
Christian McKenzie
yeah
00:02:44
brandon g b
So um just to begin, you know, if any of you out there listening to this podcast struggle in prayer, if that's a difficult spiritual discipline for you, as it is for me, i mean, I'm one of the worst prayers ever.
00:02:59
brandon g b
um We hope you'll find encouragement from this because, you know We can learn to be better prayers um prayers um from the life of our Lord Jesus.
00:03:09
brandon g b
So we're going to jump in talk about his prayer life.
00:03:10
Christian McKenzie
like
00:03:12
brandon g b
One great passage on the prayer life of our Lord is in Mark 1, verse 35. And Chris, I'm going to let you read that to get
Purpose of Jesus' Prayers
00:03:24
brandon g b
us started.
00:03:24
brandon g b
Okay.
00:03:26
Christian McKenzie
And the scripture says, in rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place. And there he prayed.
00:03:37
brandon g b
So in the Gospel according to St. Mark, this is one of the first instances of Jesus' prayer life. And there's a couple of details to note here. He prays early.
00:03:49
brandon g b
It was still dark, so super early. The sun hadn't even come out yet. And he was alone. He departed. He got away from where he was and away from the crowds and such, which probably wouldn't have been very busy um that time of the morning.
00:04:04
brandon g b
And says that he prayed. And we're not told what he prayed about, ah what his purpose was for being there.
00:04:07
Christian McKenzie
Yeah.
00:04:13
brandon g b
But Chris, why don't you talk to us about why this is significant, though? um Because, you know, a lot of times when we read about Jesus' prayer life, it kind of dawns on us, like, why?
00:04:27
brandon g b
Why did Jesus pray? He's the Son of God. He's God in the flesh, you know. He had all authority in heaven it on earth.
00:04:33
Christian McKenzie
we
00:04:34
brandon g b
So why is he praying here? Why is this significant?
00:04:40
Christian McKenzie
Well, I think whenever you have a relationship with someone, that that relationship is solidified and built up within conversation and communication.
00:04:57
Christian McKenzie
And that that's how you and I became friends. I remember the first time I met you, it was one of the meetings for our Baptist Association when
00:05:00
brandon g b
Right.
00:05:07
Christian McKenzie
We were both in Murray and you walked through.
00:05:09
brandon g b
and I remember.
00:05:10
Christian McKenzie
I had never met you before. We said a couple things, not really a relationship at that point, but then we started messaging each other here and there, emboldening each other, encouraging each other.
00:05:23
Christian McKenzie
And before long, we we knew we could come to each other and talk back and forth. and And it became a thing to where we could make that a priority
Communication and Relationship
00:05:33
Christian McKenzie
even in our lives to talk to each other because of the relationship that we built.
00:05:33
brandon g b
yeah
00:05:39
Christian McKenzie
And I think that's a big thing, you know, is as we see Jesus, he's he's showing the strength of that bond between the son and the father. He's communicating and and setting an example even there for us to communicate with the father as well.
00:05:59
Christian McKenzie
and And I hear people all the time talk about, you know, well, you know, I don't feel like God is is active in my life and things like that.
00:06:09
Christian McKenzie
All the other things you hear, you can ask them almost nine times out of 10, are you even talking to them?
00:06:17
brandon g b
Right, yeah, exactly.
00:06:19
Christian McKenzie
Well, no, not really. And then that's where we or we get sometimes. It's not that God isn't already there. It's not that God isn't already close to us. It's not that God doesn't know the number of hairs on our head.
00:06:36
Christian McKenzie
It's that he is asking us to talk to him and grow our relationship with him. He's already perfect. He's already there. He knows us inside and out and he wants us to get to know him.
00:06:48
Christian McKenzie
And how do we get to know people? We pray and we prioritize or we communicate and we prioritize that. And same way with God, we, we, uh,
00:06:59
Christian McKenzie
prioritize communicating with him. Yeah.
00:07:04
brandon g b
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I mean, it's not like a ah big theological question if you think about it. You know like, well, if Christ is God in the flesh, why did he pray?
00:07:12
Christian McKenzie
Yeah.
00:07:15
brandon g b
It's actually pretty simple. He loved God. He loved the Father. And he wanted to maintain an intimate relationship with him. um As you said, communication and communion with those who you love, it's normal, it's natural.
00:07:31
brandon g b
um And, you know, you kind of...
00:07:31
Christian McKenzie
Right. Yeah.
00:07:33
brandon g b
you can kind of see this exemplified in real life when you can sit down and talk with somebody for hours and hours and hours. And it's like, it's just been a little span of time. You know, um a lot of, lot of people have friendships like that.
00:07:44
Christian McKenzie
right
00:07:47
brandon g b
And, and that's the way it is with Christ in this account, especially here. He is probably running on a very limited amount of sleep.
00:07:59
brandon g b
um If you read the,
00:07:59
Christian McKenzie
yeah
00:08:01
brandon g b
the context, he just spent a whole evening healing people, casting out demons.
00:08:07
Christian McKenzie
Mm-hmm.
00:08:07
brandon g b
And, you know there's the, um, the casting out of the demonic spirit in Mark one 21 through 28. And he's, he's gotta be exhausted, you know, but he loves the father.
00:08:19
Christian McKenzie
right
00:08:21
brandon g b
And so he gets up early as he was, as it was his discipline to do. And he talked to God anyway. And it just shows you that he loved God with all of his heart.
Prioritizing Prayer
00:08:31
brandon g b
all his soul, mind, and strength. And he even declared that in John 14, 31.
00:08:36
brandon g b
But I do as the Father has commanded me, he said, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Now, Chris, you'd also mentioned that Jesus appears very clearly here to have made prayer a priority.
00:08:52
Christian McKenzie
Yes.
00:08:52
brandon g b
um Talk to us about the priority of prayer and how we can maybe you know, grow in that area. Cause like say, you know, I'm, I'm one of the poorest prayers that there is, uh, but probably have a priority problem.
00:09:02
Christian McKenzie
Yeah.
00:09:05
Christian McKenzie
Yeah.
00:09:08
brandon g b
I'm sure.
00:09:10
Christian McKenzie
Yeah, I think it boils down to a priority problem. Maybe a little bit of a fear problem too, but I think the biggest thing is ah is a priority problem. Because I think when we look at the simple definition of of prayer as being communication between you and God and in seeking out the will of God, that it becomes pretty simple in what prayer is, and that eliminates the fear factor. But the priority factor is huge because...
00:09:40
Christian McKenzie
we get busy in the world and just like everything else, we can prioritize the wrong things. Like maybe I want to play video games, but I need to clean my house.
00:09:54
Christian McKenzie
And then I prioritize playing video games and I play video games all day. And then I'll look around and it's the end of the day and I have to clean the house and it's all dirty and it can become stressful.
00:10:02
brandon g b
Yeah.
00:10:05
brandon g b
I've been there before.
00:10:06
Christian McKenzie
Yeah, I know. I get there quite often. and It's a priority problem. You prioritize the things that mean the most to you.
00:10:17
Christian McKenzie
I hate cleaning the house. I hate doing the chores. I like playing some video games here and there and kicking back and relaxing.
00:10:23
brandon g b
Yeah, yeah.
00:10:25
Christian McKenzie
And so when it comes to prayer in a Christian's life, we must prioritize that really above all else because it's in our prayer life that we are able to really get the most out of everything else. Well, what are saying, Chris? Like, should I prioritize prayer above church attendance?
00:10:46
Christian McKenzie
Well, yeah, because if you prioritize prayer above church attendance, when you do attend church, you're going to get a lot more out of that.
00:10:54
brandon g b
Yeah, exactly.
00:10:55
Christian McKenzie
And, you know, and I'm not saying skip up and and go off into the woods and pray all the time and never go to church again.
00:11:01
brandon g b
Yeah. I missed church today because I was praying.
00:11:03
Christian McKenzie
Yeah. Yeah. they're Like pastor is going to like, yeah, well, we prayed too. you should have been there with us. But, uh,
00:11:09
brandon g b
Yeah.
00:11:10
Christian McKenzie
But what I'm saying is that when we prioritize prayer, we get so much more out of our walk with Christ. We get so much more when we pray and prepare our hearts for services at church.
00:11:24
Christian McKenzie
We get so much more when we pray and prepare our hearts in the morning and we have a day with our families and our friends. we We get so much more out of our walk with Christ when we prioritize prayer.
00:11:37
Christian McKenzie
But I hear it all the time, you know, well, I just don't have time. And yet I see people make time for football and basketball games, make time for friends and family.
00:11:50
Christian McKenzie
They make time for all of the things in this world that we can think of. But how often do we make time to pray? Because I can tell you this, is that when you look at your schedule, you're not going to find time in your schedule to pray.
00:12:04
brandon g b
Yeah, that's true.
00:12:04
Christian McKenzie
You have to make time in your schedule to pray.
00:12:05
brandon g b
That's right.
00:12:08
Christian McKenzie
And Jesus, um he's prioritizing it. And again, I'll i'll say this again. i see a great example that we're supposed to follow in the Savior's footsteps. And if he's prioritizing it and he's making a big deal out of this, then we should to wake up early when there's not a lot going on and pray.
00:12:29
Christian McKenzie
I have to. I have to wake up really early because as soon as my kids wake up, I can't do anything else.
00:12:37
brandon g b
Yeah, right.
00:12:37
Christian McKenzie
oh I pray internally and I cry a lot all day. But, you know, but oh I have to make a conscious decision. To say, you know what, if I really want to start my day out in prayer, I've got to wake up before my kids.
Prayer as Spiritual Fuel
00:12:55
Christian McKenzie
And my wife does that too. She wakes up and she prays and she reads in the Bible. And the only time we can do it is to wake up. But we we realized that we had a priority problem and we held each other accountable and we set 20 different alarms to wake up early so that we can get up and do that.
00:13:15
Christian McKenzie
and because it's supposed to be important. And let me tell you, that's made all the difference and in my days.
00:13:19
brandon g b
Yeah.
00:13:21
Christian McKenzie
I went through a slump a couple months ago where I just felt horrible inside, you know, and, and know ah as I really looked at it, I think I found what was wrong.
00:13:35
Christian McKenzie
I wasn't prioritizing, communicating with God.
00:13:37
brandon g b
Mm-hmm.
00:13:39
brandon g b
Yeah, right.
00:13:40
Christian McKenzie
I was waking up, I was jumping into the mix of the world and Going, going, going all day, getting home, feeling lazy, feeling like I didn't accomplish anything, going to sleep, repeat, repeat, repeat.
00:13:54
Christian McKenzie
But when I started waking up a little bit earlier and talking to God, that's when I think things started to change. And now, I mean, i'm I'm dealing with the same things around me, but there's a difference.
00:14:08
Christian McKenzie
There's a difference now. I have a peace and I have a joy and I have a strength that I get from my communication with God to make it through all of the same things I was going through a couple months ago.
00:14:21
Christian McKenzie
But I can do it better because my priority is prayer now.
00:14:26
brandon g b
Yeah. Well, and I think when it comes to prioritizing something, you have to understand the value of it.
00:14:29
Christian McKenzie
Yes. Yes.
00:14:33
brandon g b
You know, you'll you'll prioritize what you value.
00:14:33
Christian McKenzie
yeah
00:14:35
brandon g b
that's That's an inevitable principle that you can apply across the board. And actually heard one of our local pastors put it this way in regards to ah Bible reading.
00:14:47
brandon g b
He said, you're not too busy to eat, are you? And I kind of, I was listening in, you know, a little bit convicted. And um the point that he was making is, you know, no, you're not too busy to eat because you know you need to eat.
00:15:02
brandon g b
You're not going to make it very long without some nutrients. Now, some of us like me could go could good do better with a little more fasting, you know, and a little less eating.
00:15:06
Christian McKenzie
Yeah.
00:15:11
brandon g b
But um in any case, it applies to prayer as well. You know, um there is just there's just no such thing as being too busy to pray because we need prayer.
00:15:24
brandon g b
We absolutely need it for that vital connection with the Lord God.
00:15:25
Christian McKenzie
yeah
00:15:27
brandon g b
um And it's as important as as Bible reading. you know um
00:15:33
Christian McKenzie
yeah
00:15:33
brandon g b
In Scripture, you know that's when when we read Scripture, God is talking to us, and we have to reciprocate that by talking to Him in prayer. and you know And again, the thing is, like for Jesus to prioritize prayers, what's so amazing here, because again, He was the Son of god able to do any miracle.
00:15:54
brandon g b
He's God in the flesh and he's prioritizing something that we need more than he needed it um which again is just so amazing.
00:16:04
Christian McKenzie
Yeah.
00:16:06
brandon g b
So amazing. So in talking about Jesus prayer life here, obviously, you know, one reason, two reasons rather he prayed is because he loved God and he sets an example for us.
00:16:08
Christian McKenzie
yeah
00:16:20
brandon g b
um Now, Here's something I actually wanted it to cover. um We didn't talk about this in the the pre-show, but um why do you think he prayed early?
00:16:32
brandon g b
Actually, you kind of covered that a little bit, but why don't you elaborate on that a little bit more?
00:16:34
Christian McKenzie
Yeah. Yeah. Because kids wake up way too early.
00:16:39
brandon g b
Right, yeah, yeah.
00:16:40
Christian McKenzie
oh Well, ah when you see, when Jesus walks around, people are everywhere searching for his attention and demanding his attention, really.
00:16:54
Christian McKenzie
And that that's tough. I think if you think you're busy, you've never walked in Jesus's shoes.
00:17:04
brandon g b
yeah yeah that's true
00:17:06
Christian McKenzie
out Like you think of the busiest people in the world. i don't think it comes close. ah You know, look at a president, for example, you think they're busy. And I even think about that. Look at how they, they go into office and look at the way they look coming out of office.
00:17:22
brandon g b
yeah right yeah
00:17:23
Christian McKenzie
They look like 20 years older after a span of four to eight years. And when, when you think about that, how busy people are and how much is this required of them. Jesus had more required of him and he was the busiest as he walked this earth.
00:17:41
Christian McKenzie
He came here for a purpose and, and every day he woke up to fulfill that purpose. And he went so to sleep simply to get enough physical energy to wake up again, to fulfill that purpose.
00:17:54
Christian McKenzie
He was a nonstop machine, uh, for that purpose.
00:17:54
brandon g b
Exactly.
00:17:59
Christian McKenzie
And, The thing is, you need more than that physical
Morning Prayer and Daily Tone
00:18:05
Christian McKenzie
fuel. You need that spiritual fuel as well.
00:18:07
brandon g b
Yeah.
00:18:09
Christian McKenzie
And he had to get up before people. He had to, and sometimes even stay up later.
00:18:15
brandon g b
Yeah.
00:18:15
Christian McKenzie
we We see instances where he prayed through the night as well.
00:18:20
brandon g b
yeah
00:18:20
Christian McKenzie
And that was important to him. He prioritized that. And the moments where he could get away, even if he was tired, he took those moments.
00:18:32
Christian McKenzie
pray and talk. so
00:18:35
brandon g b
Which is pretty amazing because just as you said, he would have known exhaustion more than any of us. um
00:18:42
Christian McKenzie
Right.
00:18:43
brandon g b
And the fact that he was God in the flesh does not negate um or eliminate his physical exhaustion. He was a man. you know He was God in the flesh.
00:18:51
Christian McKenzie
Yeah.
00:18:53
brandon g b
He had a body just like ours, except you know he was sinless. He was subjected to you know the things that we're subjected to like hunger and thirst and exhaustion. um In fact, you know one of the most comforting episodes in the life of Christ to me is when there's the storm at sea and he's asleep inside the boat.
00:19:14
brandon g b
I mean, he had to have been just so beat from a day of ministry that you know the most comfortable place for him to sleep was
00:19:14
Christian McKenzie
Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:19:22
brandon g b
in the bottom of a ah little boat while a storm was going on. you know So that's comforting that you know even the Son of God knew what ah sheer exhaustion was all about.
00:19:27
Christian McKenzie
yeah
00:19:34
brandon g b
But the point is, exhausted or not, he loved God. He wanted to set an example for us, and he prayed, and he prayed early, which again I think is important here.
00:19:45
brandon g b
um Sets the tone for the day, like you were talking about earlier. Um, cause you know, the day starts early, um, especially for pastors, dads, uh, working people, anybody, there's always so many things to do.
00:19:52
Christian McKenzie
right
00:19:58
brandon g b
Um, actually you may find this interesting. I read a story all about five years ago in the entrepreneur and, uh, it said that, the first 20 minutes of your day pretty much determines how the rest of your day is going to go, or at least how you're going to handle it.
00:20:15
brandon g b
um
00:20:15
Christian McKenzie
right
00:20:16
brandon g b
Obviously, you know, we can't determine how our day is going to go. Only God knows the future. But it says, um this is quoting it, whether you get out of bed at 5 a.m. or 3 p.m., it's the first 20 minutes of your day that can set you up for success.
00:20:33
brandon g b
And this is from several mental health studies that they compiled and just found that what you do in the first 20 minutes of your day determines how you're going to handle what life throws at you.
00:20:46
brandon g b
And what do most of us do?
00:20:46
Christian McKenzie
right
00:20:48
brandon g b
We get on these idols.
00:20:50
Christian McKenzie
Yeah. Yeah.
00:20:52
brandon g b
We get on these things, you know. Oh, what's going on on Facebook? And, you know, what's on X? Or I'm checking my emails. All that stuff can wait. It's going to be there, and it's meaningless, quite frankly.
00:21:04
brandon g b
But how much better would we be able to handle temptation and what life throws at us if we just started our day by starting to pray?
00:21:04
Christian McKenzie
Yeah.
00:21:14
Christian McKenzie
yeah
00:21:14
brandon g b
It'd be a lot better, I think.
00:21:17
Christian McKenzie
Well, you, you had mentioned that or maybe someone else, but I think it was, you had mentioned that to me before. And, uh, that, that resonated with me. I was like, man, you know, I need to, to make ah more of an effort in my first 20 minutes of the day.
00:21:32
brandon g b
Yeah.
00:21:33
Christian McKenzie
And so, you know, that, that was one of the big things and trying to wake up and, and, uh, pray and read the Bible and,
00:21:44
Christian McKenzie
I even get a little bit of a sermon prep done in that time.
00:21:48
brandon g b
Right, right.
00:21:50
Christian McKenzie
And so it really does. It sets the day. And what what better way to start out each morning than to talk to the God of creation who knows you better than anyone.
00:22:05
brandon g b
Yeah, right.
00:22:07
Christian McKenzie
And even though he knows you to your core, he loves you anyway and wants to talk to you. So, Because ah here's yeah if people knew me to my core or knew you to your core, here in this world, we might not want to talk to each other.
00:22:14
brandon g b
Yeah, that's
00:22:22
brandon g b
yeah
00:22:23
Christian McKenzie
But here here is the God of creation. He knows everything about us, loves us anyway, and wants to talk to us anyway.
Gethsemane and Prayer's Strength
00:22:31
brandon g b
yeah that's a great encouragement.
00:22:32
Christian McKenzie
Why wouldn't we do that? Yeah.
00:22:34
brandon g b
Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, by the way, this none of this is to negate um doing ah Bible reading and praying in the evening. it's We need to do it all the time that we can.
00:22:45
Christian McKenzie
Right.
00:22:47
brandon g b
You know, because like ah we have a deacon in our church, for instance, and um what he does as far as his time with the Lord is right before he goes to bed. And he finds that that's really helpful for him. um it kind of you like...
00:23:03
brandon g b
helps him sleep, and then when he wakes up, he's thinking about what he read you know the night before in Scripture and what he prayed about and whatnot. But still good to set the tone of the day if you if you're able by praying.
00:23:15
Christian McKenzie
Yeah.
00:23:16
brandon g b
Well, let's talk about some other things that may be conveyed here by Jesus' prayer life, perhaps some other reasons um why he prayed. Any other reason ah maybe why Jesus prayed in the Gospels?
00:23:34
Christian McKenzie
Well,
00:23:38
Christian McKenzie
we've talked about prioritizing it. We've talked about love. We've talked about setting the tone. um ah think too, he there were stresses in this world.
00:23:57
Christian McKenzie
And he he reminds us, you know, that we need to to talk to God to to find strength and to find peace. And if there's anyone that experienced any type of stress,
00:24:14
Christian McKenzie
that that is worthy of note compared to anyone else.
00:24:17
brandon g b
Yeah.
00:24:19
Christian McKenzie
It's Christ because he would go places and be completely rejected for speaking the truth.
00:24:20
brandon g b
Correct.
00:24:25
Christian McKenzie
He was put on trial and called a liar for speaking the truth. He was killed and condemned as a criminal, even though he was blameless.
00:24:39
Christian McKenzie
And everywhere he went, there was was controversy because he spoke truth. And ah remember what Paul writes in ah Philippians chapter four, oh where he says, don't be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
00:25:08
brandon g b
Mm-hmm.
00:25:09
Christian McKenzie
And I'm reminded of the time that Christ prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. And the stress, the physical stress of of that moment, you know, where he's he's crying and it says, tear tear drops like blood. Some people say he was even actually crying tear drops of blood. I don't know.
00:25:33
Christian McKenzie
oh But either way, this is right before his crucifixion.
00:25:39
brandon g b
Right.
00:25:39
Christian McKenzie
And he's talking to the father. He could be making a plan to break forward and get out of the way and not get caught. He could have done a whole lot of other things in that moment. But he sought the will of the father and he sought the peace of the moment.
00:25:55
Christian McKenzie
Not my will, but your will be done. I know it's going to be all right. i know that. I know that. My body doesn't want to accept it. uh, or, you know, it was, it was just a tough moment and where we would have run probably and stayed hidden.
00:26:17
Christian McKenzie
He, he faced it. He knew the time and the place of his death and he went to the father and he prayed if there's any other way, but I know there's not. I know this is the way I'm taken.
00:26:27
brandon g b
Right.
00:26:29
Christian McKenzie
I knew this from the moment I got here, but now I'm going to get up and I'm going to walk that path to Calvary and I'm going to die and give myself as the ransom for many.
00:26:41
Christian McKenzie
And no so I think, I think there's peace that's needed there. Not, not in the sense of a, of the idea of, of a spiritual unrest, but stress is,
00:26:55
Christian McKenzie
weighs on the body as well, ah the physical. And I do think that he gave us the understanding that whenever there's not peace around us, we can go to the Father and find it.
00:27:09
Christian McKenzie
so
00:27:09
brandon g b
Yeah, and I think that's a great episode to point to is the Garden of Gethsemane because that was the apex of his stress prior to his main mission, which was to give his life as a ransom for many.
00:27:18
Christian McKenzie
Yeah.
Eternal Intercession
00:27:22
brandon g b
And man, there is a lot of stress going on in that garden. um and I don't know if you've ah heard of this before, but there's um technically...
00:27:28
Christian McKenzie
Say
00:27:33
brandon g b
It's been reported as a rare clinical phenomenon called, let me get the pronunciation right, hematohydrosis. Evidently, if you're, and this doesn't happen very often because, huh?
00:27:46
Christian McKenzie
yeah that five times fast. say that five times fast
00:27:51
brandon g b
Yeah, I know, right? um This doesn't happen very often, so there's not a lot of record of it, but apparently um in situations of extreme, extreme stress, the blood vessels can dilate to the point of rupture and blood can actually get into the sweat glands and you actually can sweat blood.
00:28:11
brandon g b
Um, so, cause you know, I've always read that as sort of a metaphor, like he's in such anxiety that he's sweating like great drops of blood, which I think one gospel writer does say that and may convey that it's like he was bleeding, you know,
00:28:11
Christian McKenzie
Right. Yeah.
00:28:20
Christian McKenzie
Right.
00:28:26
brandon g b
but it's very possible that he actually might've been bleeding because he was under such high stress.
00:28:30
Christian McKenzie
Right.
00:28:31
brandon g b
Um, and not,
00:28:32
Christian McKenzie
Yeah. And that's why i always say, I don't know. It could have been one way. Or the other in the ab. I read about that too and I couldn't remember the name. Yeah.
00:28:40
brandon g b
and not to mention that Gethsemane means oil press. Um, you know, I mean, he's getting ready to spill his blood and and all of it be pressed out for the sins of man.
00:28:45
Christian McKenzie
Yes.
00:28:51
brandon g b
But yeah, I mean, what a great example though. was amazing is, You know, in that episode, he doesn't just rush to the cross. You know, he takes time to pray.
00:29:04
brandon g b
and And you're right, you know, in high stress situations, like ones that we experience every single day, every 24 hours, um we need to handle that stress in prayer.
00:29:04
Christian McKenzie
yeah
00:29:15
brandon g b
That's what Paul told us in Philippians 4.
00:29:16
Christian McKenzie
and
00:29:18
brandon g b
That's what Jesus exemplified for us in this account. But, you know, I think another reason why Jesus prayed is to foreshadow his future position of praying for you and me and for all of his saints in eternity.
00:29:31
Christian McKenzie
Yeah.
00:29:34
brandon g b
You know, a lot of people, when they think about the work of Christ, it stops at the cross. And, you know, there's some there's some justification for that, no pun intended, um where Christ says it is finished, you know, so you can't add to what he's done. You can't take away from it. No more sins to pay for. No more sin debt to to pay for, of course.
00:29:54
brandon g b
But Christ is actually still ministering to us um from heaven.
00:30:01
Christian McKenzie
yes
00:30:03
brandon g b
You know, the scripture says that he is seated at the right hand of God. And that's not just a position of power. That's a position of service because the scripture says that he is eternally interceding for us at the right hand of God.
00:30:19
brandon g b
And so his prayers on earth were actually a foreshadowing looking forward to his praying for us in eternity, which by the way, Chris, that makes Jesus the record holder for the longest prayer.
00:30:19
Christian McKenzie
Yeah.
00:30:28
Christian McKenzie
Yes.
00:30:34
Christian McKenzie
Yeah.
00:30:34
brandon g b
ah You know,
00:30:35
Christian McKenzie
I always thought was my grandfather. So,
00:30:37
brandon g b
Yeah. Yeah, he prayed on earth and continues to pray for us in eternity. So he, I mean, how encouraging is that, man?
00:30:43
Christian McKenzie
Yeah.
00:30:45
brandon g b
Just knowing that even when I don't pray, Christ Jesus is praying for me and he's not he's never stopping.
00:30:45
Christian McKenzie
Oh yeah.
00:30:54
brandon g b
um That's just, that's so so encouraging, man.
00:30:54
Christian McKenzie
Yeah.
00:30:57
Christian McKenzie
When we have no words, he's still praying. When we have no clue, he's still praying. When we're praying, he's still praying.
00:31:04
brandon g b
Yeah.
00:31:05
Christian McKenzie
Yeah.
00:31:06
brandon g b
Absolutely. and And that's part of his um role as our advocate. You know, ah John, the apostle, talks about Christ being our advocate, um the you know, the one who represents us in heaven.
00:31:11
Christian McKenzie
Yeah.
00:31:18
brandon g b
and um And, you know, we've really got it good as far as prayer goes. I just thought of this, that, you know, Paul says in Romans that the Spirit of God prays with us, you know, when we have groanings too deep for words.
00:31:32
brandon g b
um So we have a helper in our heart. And we also have a helper in heaven who prays for us.
00:31:35
Christian McKenzie
Yeah. Yeah.
00:31:38
brandon g b
so
00:31:39
Christian McKenzie
Definitely.
00:31:41
brandon g b
But you know, I think one final reason maybe to mention why Jesus prayed is just to please God. And we've kind of hit all around this, but obviously the scripture tells us the Father delights in prayer.
00:31:47
Christian McKenzie
Yeah.
00:31:53
brandon g b
And Christ always did that which delighted the Father. He came to fulfill all righteousness.
00:31:57
Christian McKenzie
Definitely. Definitely.
00:32:00
brandon g b
And He tells us over and over in the Gospels, I've come to do the will of him that sent me, and I always do the things which please him.
00:32:08
Christian McKenzie
yeah
00:32:09
brandon g b
And, of course, we can only pray that such a statement would be said of us, that it was certainly true of Christ, that he always did what that which was pleasing to the Father, and prayer was part of that God-pleasing obedience that he rendered.
Immediate Prayer Practice
00:32:25
Christian McKenzie
definitely
00:32:28
brandon g b
Well, a lot to take away from this, um ah lot to learn from the prayer life of our Lord Jesus Christ. And, you know, I got to say, as we've looked at this, it's just so different from the way my prayer life looks. So I've really been humbled.
00:32:46
brandon g b
You know, I mean, I think a lot of times my prayer life is more like a drive-through order, you know, or a voicemail.
00:32:47
Christian McKenzie
Yeah. Yeah.
00:32:54
Christian McKenzie
Yeah.
00:32:55
brandon g b
Um, I'm just trying to get it done, you know, tell God what I want, what I think I need, you know. um
00:33:02
Christian McKenzie
Right.
00:33:02
brandon g b
But man, it's just it's just not like that with Christ. And we could learn a lot from him.
00:33:06
Christian McKenzie
Yeah. Well, and I've, I've been trying to lately, you know, when, when you go up to people and they they're saying, well, I need prayer and I need,
00:33:17
Christian McKenzie
to talk about this and stuff. and And we get into this mode too, even in that moment saying, yeah, I'll pray for you and and putting it on a list of things to do later. But I've even been taking this recently where as soon as someone says, can you pray for me?
00:33:37
Christian McKenzie
I say, can I pray for you right now?
00:33:40
brandon g b
Do it right now, yeah.
00:33:41
Christian McKenzie
most sure okay In fact, it was it was interesting the other day, a young man walks up to me at Walmart yeah and he just said that he got a job there and and he was nervous and everything about that job and And so he said, will you pray for me in this job? And I said, well, yeah, how about we pray right here in the middle of Walmart?
00:34:11
Christian McKenzie
And it was the busiest day of Walmart too. I mean, it was horribly busy.
00:34:16
brandon g b
Yeah.
00:34:17
Christian McKenzie
And I was like, it'd be easier just to say, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll pray for you. and ah But I was able to pray for him right there. And not only that, but there were a couple of workers and you could tell that they were, they didn't want anything to do with the ah praying time, but But I even, you know, had a chance to witness to them in that time of prayer and asked them if they wanted anything to be prayed for at that moment or if they wanted to join in and they they kind of shied away from it. But at that moment, I still got to to pray with someone out loud in the middle of Walmart on the busiest day.
00:34:52
Christian McKenzie
And, you know, in the same time, lift up those that were around them in prayer.
00:34:52
brandon g b
Yeah.
Incorporating Christ's Prayer Life
00:34:59
Christian McKenzie
And that was something i I felt like I wasn't prioritizing, praying for people.
00:35:04
brandon g b
Yeah.
00:35:05
Christian McKenzie
Everybody says to the pastor, please pray for me. And we mean to, and we mean well, and yeah, I'll pray for you. Well, how about I do that right now?
00:35:15
Christian McKenzie
Because I don't want to be a liar.
00:35:16
brandon g b
yeah
00:35:17
Christian McKenzie
Yeah.
00:35:17
brandon g b
Yeah. Right.
00:35:19
Christian McKenzie
yeah
00:35:19
brandon g b
Yeah, I know how you feel. A good pastor friend of mine, that's ah what he actually does. um And we should all do that, especially me. You know I'm super forgetful. um I may forget later on, you know, unintentionally.
00:35:30
Christian McKenzie
Yeah, me too.
00:35:33
brandon g b
Might as well just do it. Do it now. You know, the good stuff. Well, you know, here's something else to think about. You know, we started this podcast with a question.
00:35:46
brandon g b
if If Christ is God, he's God in the flesh, why would he pray?
00:35:47
Christian McKenzie
Yeah.
00:35:51
brandon g b
But after what we've considered, really the question is, why wouldn't he?
00:35:56
Christian McKenzie
Right.
00:35:57
brandon g b
You know, why wouldn't he pray?
00:35:57
Christian McKenzie
Yeah.
00:35:58
brandon g b
And and why wouldn't we? You know, we are not Christ.
Conclusion and Prayer
00:36:04
brandon g b
You know, we're we're not even Christ-like most of the time.
00:36:08
Christian McKenzie
Right.
00:36:08
brandon g b
We're fleshly, we're weak, we're sinful.
00:36:08
Christian McKenzie
Mm-hmm.
00:36:10
brandon g b
Why wouldn't we pray? And why would we do anything other than that? Since you know Christ is interceding for us, he's given us the spirit of God to pray with us.
00:36:21
brandon g b
And the way of access is opened up. God wants to hear from us. we We should definitely learn from Christ's example. And I want to encourage all of our listeners just to think about one way this week, just one way this week that you can pray more like Christ.
00:36:39
brandon g b
Maybe that's in your time of stress.
00:36:39
Christian McKenzie
yeah
00:36:41
brandon g b
Maybe it's early in the morning, um before a meal, um prior to a miracle that you want the Lord to work in your life. Just look at the prayer life of the Lord Jesus and find one way this week that you can incorporate his prayer life into your own.
00:36:59
brandon g b
that' That'd be my encouragement. And I'm definitely going to try that myself after um having studied this topic with you tonight.
00:37:08
Christian McKenzie
Yeah,
00:37:09
brandon g b
What you think to add, Chris?
00:37:11
Christian McKenzie
I think it's definitely a call to to take seriously. ah you You really want to see the the the greatest part of your walk with Christ. You want to see growth in your walk with Christ. You want to see growth in your church, growth in your family, growth in your friendships.
00:37:30
Christian McKenzie
I think it all starts right there with prayer, prioritizing prayer. So if we're not doing that already, we need to strive to to get to a place where we're doing that.
00:37:43
brandon g b
Absolutely.
00:37:46
brandon g b
Well, we want to thank everybody for tuning in to the Faith 168 podcast. We pray this episode has been a blessing to you and that you've been greatly encouraged, especially in your own prayer life.
00:37:57
brandon g b
ah Until next time, keep praying, keep living faithfully for Jesus 168 hours a week. And you know what? Speaking of prayer, that'd be a great way to sign off. So Chris, why don't you pray for us?
00:38:06
Christian McKenzie
Yes, definitely. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for a time that I can come together with my brother Brandon and with these listeners and just worship you through seeking your will and reading your word and applying it to our life.
00:38:25
Christian McKenzie
And Father, we've talked a lot about talking to you and and just help us to prioritize that and press that upon our hearts. that that we need to spend more time with you and talking to you and seeking your will through prayer.
00:38:40
Christian McKenzie
Help us to wake up in the morning and talk to you. Help us to seek you throughout the day. Help us to take moments at the end of the day to seek your will and talk to you and and find that peace that surpasses all understanding that only you can give us through this communication that we have with you.
00:39:01
Christian McKenzie
Father, we love you so much and we thank you. And we just pray that you help us to to walk with you faithfully 168 hours of every week. It's in Jesus' name that we pray all of these things.
00:39:14
Christian McKenzie
Amen.
00:39:15
brandon g b
Amen.