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Why Don't We Pray?

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I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those You have given me, for they are Yours...I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, protect them by the power of Your name, the name You gave me, so that they may be one as we are one...I have given them Your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world...Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. 
John 17: 9, 11, 14, & 17

I am definitely not an expert in prayer. It is a huge struggle to pray: to know what to pray for when the One I'm praying to already knows everything before I ask Him! (Matthew 6:8)
But I have learned that the best way to be more like Christ is to imitate Him. 

And Jesus prayed.

He prayed early in the morning: 
Mark 1:35: Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed.

He prayed to rejuvenate:
John 7:53-8:1: They went each to his own house, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 
This one takes a little thinking. Assuming most humans are like me, they go home when they need rest. Throughout the Books of the Gospel, Jesus frequented the Mount of Olives as a place to be close to His Father, to talk with His disciples, and to pray. He went there before His crucifixion (Matthew 26:30). 

He prayed when He was sorrowful:
Matthew 26:39: He fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”

Jesus also told us where to pray:

Alone:
Matthew 6:6 & 7: But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling-like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.

With like-minded believers:
Matthew 18:19 & 20: “Truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in My Name, there am I with them.”

Finally, He gave us an example of how to pray, specifically for others in John 17.

Pray for those who belong to the Father:
I am not praying for the world, but for those You have given me, for they are Yours. (John 17:9)

For their protection:
Holy Father, protect them by the power of Your name. (John 17:11a)

For their unity with other Christians:
That they may be one as we are one...(John 17:11b)

That they be separate from the world:
They are not of the world any more than I am of the world... (John 17:14)

For their continued sanctification:
Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. (John 17:17)

Friends, we are without excuse when it come to our prayer lives. Jesus Christ, and many others, lived the example we need to model. 
Become more like the LORD in worship and prayer!

<3 Berea

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