Jesus’ Prayer Prescriptions: His Prayer Practices, Patterns and Implied Prescriptions

By Rev. Emmanuel Oghene

Jesus prayer prescription based on His passionate, purposeful persistent prayer endeavours – preferred prayer place/location, times, posture, beliefs and teachings. Jesus used prayer to propel His work of ministry or sacred service to prove that all Christians need to pray even more in order to do what John 14:13 confirms that He classified as doing greater works that He by all those that claim to believe in God of Israel through Him. Nothing is enough reason to abdicate the responsibility to fast and pray regularly as a Christian. If Jesus prayed regularly as if His life and ministry depended on it, then no Christian have any excuse to do otherwise. Praying procured God’s power for Him to live up to Isaiah 61:1-2 and Luke 4:16-19 detailed prophetic plan that He was anointed to set the captives free and heal the broken hearted. Christians need to pray more than Jesus did in order to impact their environment and generation like Jesus did.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Jan 31, 2020
• ISBN: 9781984592927

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Copyright © 2020 by Rev. Emmanuel Oghene.

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Rev. date: 12/17/2019

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Unless otherwise indicated, scriptures are from

21st Century King James Version (KJ21) Copyright © 1994 by Deuel Enterprises, Inc.;

Amplified Bible (AMP) Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.;

Contemporary English Version (CEV) Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society;

Easy-to-Read Version (ERV) Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International;

Good News Translation (GNT) Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society;

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King James Version (KJV) Public Domain;

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The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson;

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New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.;

New King James Version (NKJV) Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.;

New Life Version (NLV) Copyright © 1969, 2003 by Barbour Publishing, Inc.;

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.;

The Passion Translation (TPT) The Passion Translation®. Copyright © 2017 by BroadStreet Publishing® Group, LLC.

CONTENTS

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Introduction

1 Prayer Privatization Preferred

2 Kindly Mind Your Own Business

3 Have Faith in God

4 Add Fasting to Prayers

5 Give Thanks to God

6 Beneficial Brevity and Commendable Conciseness

7 How God Expresses His Love

8 Pray in Addition to Jesus’ Intercession for You in Heaven

9 Pray Knowledgeably

10 Profitable Persistence

11 Return to Pray More …

12 Prayer Propelled Performance

13 Profitable Promptness

14 Make Intense and Fervent Prayers

15 Pray to Prevent Payment of the Painful Price

16 Prioritize Personal Praying

17 Pray About God’s Promise

18 Tell Your Concerns to God

19 Prayerfully Choose Profitable Partners

20 Pray for and tell them to pray for themselves too

21 The Best Place to Pray

22 The Best Time to Pray

23 Why it is important to Pray

24 Still Pray Over Even the Obvious and Inevitable

25 Spend long lone time with God - Pray At Night

26 Do not react to spiritual information carnally

27 Pray Before …

28 Disregard People’s Praises to Pray more to do more

29 Pray Personally in addition to Others praying for you

30 Recommended Regular Primary Prayer Points Format

31 Prevailing Prayer Posture

32 Personalised Prayer Custom and Culture

33 Responsible and Rewarding Response to God’s Answer

34 Jesus’ Cautious Prayer and Self-protection practices

Dedication

To all prayer warriors.

Appreciation

Yet, my greatest gratitude goes to the Lord who, during the final phase of this work, proved beyond all doubts that this is His project. His presence and intervention were so real whenever I was ready to work on this manuscript. It was an unprecedented experience indeed. God bless my friend, Rev Akin Baiyeroju, Retired Brigadier General of the Nigerian Army, for his encouragement.

INTRODUCTION

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P rayer is telling one’s thoughts, expressing one’s feelings and emotions to God who John 4:24 confirms as a spirit being, and Deuteronomy 10:17, Psalm 46:10, 47:9, 82:1, 83:18, 92:8, 93:4, 99:2, Daniel 3:26, 4:2, 17, 24-25, 32-34, 5:18 and Isaiah 42:8, 43:10, 44:6 and 45:5-6, 18 and 21 confirm to be the supreme God of Israel or the God of all gods. Jesus provides the perfect example for mankind in the matter of worshipping and interacting (conversing) with the God of Israel through prayer platform. His prayer pattern is ideal and the best for mankind to follow. After all the prophecies concerning Jesus long before He was ever born, He still took prayers seriously. He believed that it was very important to continuously talk to God about what He should do to accomplish the reason God sent Him to live on earth during the three and a half years that Bible Scholars interpret that He engaged in public ministry. Acts 10:38 confirms that God anointed Him greatly, yet He still prayed at hilltops at night and return to continue to deploy God’s power to help the needy.

The prayer sessions were an opportunity for Him to consult/clarify with God the Father what He should do next and if He had not done wrong in the recent past. Matthew 1:1, 12:23, 15:22, 21:9, Mark 10:46-48, 12:35, John 7:42, Romans 1:3 and II Timothy 2:8 confirm that Jesus is the descendant of David whom Bible account strongly suggests to have being the most prayerful king in recorded human history. Coincidentally, II Samuel 3:9-10 17-18, 7:1-16, I Kings 5:1-5 and I Chronicles 17:1-15 and 22:1-10 confirm that David accomplished the reason God made him king and even tried to exceed it (free the Israelites from all their neighbouring enemy nations) before God restrained and got a God-given son successor, Solomon to accomplish that idea (the building of a temple of worship). Jesus accomplished God’s plan for Him and packaged His disciples led by Peter, John and James (PJJ) to carryon after Him. Interestingly, Solomon who ceased from asking God constantly in his later years could not pass on the mantle of leadership to his son and successor fully by the end of his life as David had done for him 40 years earlier. Peter and the other apostolic disciples were able to accomplish their assigned task/mandate because they prayed like Jesus in the physical absence of Jesus.

Moses’ declaration to the Israelites (in Deuteronomy 4:29 says) that … you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul-(NKJV) suggests that one of the conditions for getting God’s attention and support is when an individual seeks God’s help with undivided attention. It says if one seeks God with undivided attention that is when God would regard the individual’s determination to get His helpful answer. One of the all time famous and applicable Christian songs say –

Prayer is the key (2ce)

Prayer is the master key

Jesus started with prayer and ended with prayer

Prayer is the master key

Alleluia

No Christian should be so busy pursuing God’s plan or will to the extent of relegating prayers to Him to the background. Luke 21:37-38 suggests that the more Jesus did God’s work the more He went to pray to God the Father alone. Matthew 14:13-22-23 and Mark 6:30-46-52 confirm that after Jesus deployed God’s power to feed several thousands, He sent away both the mammoth crowd as well as His apostolic disciples and went to pray to God alone. It was upon His return from that private prayer meeting that He walked on water. He did not remain in the location where He performed the miracle of feeding several thousands to pray, perhaps, because He did not want anyone to come there to disturb Him while praying at night. The fact that God approved of Jesus did not make Him to disregard prayerfully asking God’s help frequently. The more He worked for God the Father the more He prayed, and the more He prayed the more miracles He got God’s power to perform. He used prayer to download God’s power to benefit all those that met and, sought God’s help through Him. This is the example that He left for all those that claim to have a relationship with God of Israel through Him. He did not abdicate His prayer responsibility for any reason whatsoever. Prayer to God of Israel is a personal responsibility of all who claim to believe in God of Israel through Jesus Christ, God of Israel’s only authentic mankind’s redeemer and saviour.

If Jesus who performed all the monumental miracles credited to Him prayed frequently, and He said that we could do greater works, then we should pray more than He did. His mention of the fact that we could do greater works can be interpreted to mean His own way of telling us that we should determine to do greater works than He did. He can be said to mean that whoever would do greater works than He did, should determine to pray more than He did during the last three and a half years that He lived in the flesh. John 5:20, 10:32 and 14:12-14 say:

20 The Father loves the Son and has shown him everything he does. The Father will show him even greater things, and you will be amazed. (CEV)

32 Jesus said … "I have done many good deeds in your presence which the Father gave me to do… (GNT)

12 I tell you for certain that if you have faith in me, you will do the same things that I am doing. You will do even greater things, now that I am going back to the Father. 13 Ask me, and I will do whatever you ask. This way the Son will bring honor to the Father. 14 I will do whatever you ask me to do. (CEV)

20 For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. (NKJV)

32 Jesus said, At God’s direction I have done many a miracle to help the people… (TLB)

12 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. (NKJV)

God produces and provides the power to perform miracles, but it is the responsibility of the God-designated and aspiring human miracle worker to use prayers to procure the power to work miracles from God the heavenly producer. Miracle working power is available in God’s power warehouse in heaven but the desirable miracle worker should make prayer effort to take delivery of the power from the warehouose and make it available to benefit all those that need God’s help around him or her. There are four factors that would help believers in God through Christ Jesus to do greater works: (1) believe in Jesus just as He believes in God the Father, (2) He is going to the Father, (3) those that believe in Him must formally request their hearts desire, and (4) deployment of God’s power to work miracles at God’s directive. It means that doing their heart desire is subject to believers in Him making formal request. No request no approval or granting the desires of those that believe in Him. Therefore, believing in Him is not enough you still have to formally request your desires. This seem to suggest that Jesus places emphasis on believing in Him, His going to God the Father in heaven to intercede for believers as much as He necessarily expect believers to ask or pray to God in His name. Verse 20 above suggest that one of the benefits of doing miracles is that witnesses to and beneficiaries of the miracle would marvel. Romans 8:34 and Hebrews 7:24-25 say:

34 … Christ who died … is … risen, … is … at the right hand of God … makes intercession for us.

24 … He continues forever, has … unchangeable priesthood. 25 … He is … able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. (NKJV)

This means that personal praying is required to optimize the benefit of the Jesus’ intercession for them beside God the Father in heaven. It is like the fact that God affirmed from heaven that He is pleased with Jesus when Matthew 3:17, 17:5, Mark 1:11 and Luke 3:22 say He was baptised at the River Jordan, He still went ahead to pray at regular intervals. God never said His approval of Him as a Son meant that even if He did not pray, He would still establish every promise that He had made concerning His stay on earth. There is no indication that God interpreted His prayer endeavours to be a sign that Jesus did not have faith in His (God’s) affirmation of Him (Jesus). Some think that once God have confirmed His promise, it is a sign of faithlessness to pray about the same promise. If it were so, Jesus did not need to pray after God’s voiced confirmation from heaven when He was baptised. Also, the fact that He humbled Himself, obeyed God to the extent that Satan could not find anything sinful in Him did not make Him to trivialize prayer. The unparallel knowledge of the word and will of God did not make Jesus to trivialize prayer.

Luke 3:21-38 traces the genealogy of Jesus through David, Abraham, and Noah back to Adam. Then, Genesis 3:15, Luke 2:7, Galatians 4:4 and Revelation 12:5 confirm that God had spoken about Jesus by describing Him as the seed of the woman since the time of Adam and Eve before they had Cain, Abel and Seth, yet Jesus prayed to enable Him to fulfil the prophecy. Jesus meant that it is prophecy plus prayers that establishes God’s promises for mankind to enjoy. It is prophecy-inspired prayers to God who indicated the promises through prophecy. Prophecy is meant to provoke the heaven-intended beneficiary to indicate to God that he/she is desperate for God’s help to have and enjoy the benefits of the prophetic promise.

Some Christians would imply that because God ordained them to serve as teachers, they chose to emphasize only the power of the word of God and less emphasis on prayers. No one can claim to know and teach the word of God at the level that Jesus did, yet He prayed. Some would claim that they have the gift of prophecy, word of knowledge or some other gifts of God’s spirit, no one can be more gifted like Jesus, yet He prayed like His life and work for God depended solely on it. Therefore, no Christian or Christian leader have any excuse under the sun to pray any less. In fact, to do greater works, Christians and their leaders need to pray more than Jesus did as we shall find out subsequently. All Christians are expected to pray irrespective of their calling, status and circumstance.

The understanding that just as we are praying so also Jesus is lending His prayer support to our efforts right there in the very presence of God in heaven should always encourage us to intensify in our prayers. He is praying for us and encourages us to offer personal prayers like Matthew 26:31-46, Mark 14:27-42 and Luke 22:31-34 and 39-46 confirm that much as He affirmed that He had prayed for His apostolic disciples, still He took them along to pray alongside Him at the Garden of Gethsemane (GOG) on the Mount of Olives (MOO) that overlooks the Temple on Mount Moriah. Matthew 26:36-75, Mark 14:32-72, Luke 22:31-71 and John 18:1-27 can be confidently interpreted to mean that Jesus played His part in the place of prayer, while His disciples failed to play their appropriated or apportioned prayer part, role and responsibility, as a result, the disciples fell short of their expectation when Jesus was arrested. Meanwhile, Jesus measured up when He was arrested.

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Prayer Privatization Preferred

T here is what can be called laudable lone meeting with God. Genesis 3:8 can be said to mean that God regard man’s attention so much that He visited Adam in the cool of the evening daily or regularly. Genesis 12 – 25:1-10 can be interpreted to mean that whenever God wanted to discuss any issue with Abraham, He appeared to him in different ways. And since they had a relationship, the responsibility was also on Abraham to approach God whenever he thought that he had something important to discuss. That is the understanding with which any human being should view his relationship with God. God involved Sarah in His meetings with Abraham once when Genesis 18:1-15 says God visited to talk about the imminent conception and birth of Isaac to Abraham by Sarah. Most of the other times that God appeared to Abraham, God never involved any other.

The reason God involved Sarah was because God had spoken about the same subject in Genesis 17:1-22 but Abraham failed to take any action to impregnate Sarah, so God returned three months later to involve Sarah because God was sure that Sarah would make Abraham to act on the information. Genesis 4:10 says Abel asked God to avenge his killing by his older brother, Cain while Revelation 6:9-10 says the saints asked God to avenge their killers. Even the dead talk to God about their experiences on earth yet some living would not – such living is guilty of an unforgivable misdemeanour. It is called the offensive communication gap, offensive communication breakdown or divine/heavenly communication deliquents.

Jesus spent His last three and a half years on earth to prepare His apostolic disciples to take over the work of sacred service that He pioneered. The three and a half years seemed so short compared to the enormity of the work that they had to do yet, Jesus did not take them along to pray to enable them to learn as much as possible from Him within the short space of time available. He still went to pray alone most of the times. The number of times He went to pray alone was more than the number of times that He took them along to pray. This suggests that there are prayer points that are better prayed privately or alone rather than let everyone know about everything that you must pray to God about. John 18:1-2 confirms that Jesus retreated to the GOG with the disciples regularly though we are not told if during each of those times they prayed together while there. Luke 9:18-36 and 22:39-46 say He took PJJ to a mountain-top to pray once and to the GOG to pray on His last time. Most of the other times that He went to pray at hilltops or mountains tops, He went alone. The only time that the subject of the focus or content of His prayer was mentioned was when He had the Mount of Transfiguration experience (MOTE) when Moses and Elijah showed up to discuss it with Him during the prayer meeting. The second time that the content of His prayer point was indicated was when He went to the GOG to pray for the very last time.

There is the subject of ‘From Jacob through Hannah to Jesus’. Genesis 29:1-35, 30:14-24, 32:1-32, 37:1-3 and 48:1-8 can be interpreted to mean that much as Jacob loved Rachel and Joseph, when he thought that he had what he considered a very serious issue to discuss with God, he sent everyone, including Rachel and Joseph away from his vicinity to be alone with God. When Hannah thought that she had a concern that she considered to be very important to discuss with God, she did not involve anyone, including her husband, Elkanah who claimed to love her greatly. Every human must learn to pray alone at some point. I Samuel 1:1-28 confirms that when God appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in dreams He partly meant to indicate that what He had to discuss with them was private and should not be known to any other meanwhile until the time of implementation. Genesis 28 confirms that Jacob was alone on his way to Laban’s place when he had encounter with God’s angels in his dreams at Bethel. This must be part of the reason he determined to be alone on his return journey twenty years later, so he could have another encounter with God because he thought that he needed to discuss Esau’s assumed threat with God. And just as he thought, God’s angel did appear to him during that lone night prayer meeting with God.

Genesis 30:17-24 says at some point, Leah and Rachel prayed to God to give them children and God obliged them. There is no record that they involved their husband, Jacob who fathered the children when they made their prayers. This means that just because someone is a major stakeholder in the answer to a prayer point does not mean that the stakeholder must be involved or informed about the prayer point. They prayed alone but involved Jacob in the process that produced the physical manifestation of God’s answer to the prayer request. When Jesus was asked to explain why He did not seem to compel His disciples to fast and pray as appropriate, Matthew 9:14-15, Mark 2:18-20 and Luke 5:33-35 say that He claimed that it was because His fasting and prayer was enough to make up for their spiritual need to excel in their daily lives as His fulltime disciples. He went further to say that however, when He would have returned to heaven to be at the right-hand side of God the Father, they would need to fast and pray by themselves for themselves. It means that the fact that He had prayed for Peter and the other apostolic disciples does not mean that they did not need to fast and pray themselves until after He would have returned to heaven. It means that though they were beneficiaries of His fasting and prayer endeavours, He did not involve them whenever He went to pray.

Eli’s involvement in Hannah’s prayer discussion with God for a son that would remove the heartaches of childlessness was never because Hannah formally invited Eli into the meeting she was holding with God. It is part of the reason that Eli mistook the movement of her lips for drunkenness-induced mumbling mannerisms. In fact, Eli never learnt of the content of her request to God when he gave his approval or made his contributions by confessing that ‘may God grant her heart desire’. It is as a result that I Samuel 1:9-28 confirms that when Hannah returned to dedicate Samuel and tried to remind Eli about her prayer meeting and Eli’s role, Eli never seem to have remembered. Hannah never sought the permission of her husband, Elkanah or Eli as the presiding High Priest of Israel at Shiloh or anyone else before she went to pray. The passage says that it was after eating their sacred meal, while everyone else might have been engaged in socialising that she sneaked from among them to go talk to God in the place of worship personally. In this respect, I Samuel 1:9-10 says:

9-10 One time, after they had finished their meal in the house of the

LORD

at Shiloh, Hannah got up. She was deeply distressed, and she cried bitterly as she prayed to the

LORD

. Meanwhile, Eli the priest was sitting in his place by the door. (GNT)

9 When the sacrifice had been offered, and they had eaten the meal, Hannah got up and went to pray. Eli was sitting in his chair near the door to the place of worship. 10 Hannah was broken-hearted and was crying as she prayed, (CEV)

She proved to God that she no longer derived any delight from the food like everyone else was. The meal was not the most important issue in her heart at that point. She had eaten similar meals for several years yet, her childlessness-induced sorrows had not vanished or abated. It was time to disregard the taste and satisfaction that the meal gave to talk to God about her most important need. She was one of the three adults in her marriage but the only one without a child though she desired the joy of motherhood. She shared her husband with Peninnah who already made her husband a father. It is a tormenting thought knowing that you are the only one that seemed disadvantaged among your peers. It was a personal problem and no other could ever understood the heartache as she did. That is why she went to pray without reference to those who did not feel the hurt that she was enduring. In the same way, Jesus went to pray alone because no other understood the enormity of the responsibility that He had to deliver on the prophetic promise concerning His duty to set the captives free as Isaiah 61:1-2 and Luke 4:16-22 confirm.

Daniel 2:1-19 can be said to mean that when Daniel’s life was threatened, he practised what Jesus recommended in Matthew 6:5-6 by going into his house locked himself up and prayed to God to provide the solution that would save his life. Verses 14-18 confirm that he involved his three Hebrew friends who believed in the God of Israel just like him and those ones prayed to God in their homes as well before verse 19 confirms that God revealed the solution to Daniel in a vision at night. Daniel 2:19-45 confirms that after thanking God for giving him the solution he went out from his home to King Nebuchadnezzar to reveal the solution that he (Nebuchadnezzar) demanded over which he threatened that if the solution was not provided all his wise-men, including Daniel and his three Hebrew friends should be killed. In this respect, Daniel 2:12-19 says:

12 At that, the king flew into a rage and ordered the execution of all the royal advisers in Babylon. 13 So the order was issued for all of them to be killed, including Daniel and his friends. 14 Then Daniel went to Arioch, commander of the king’s bodyguard, who had been ordered to carry out the execution. Choosing his words carefully, 15 he asked Arioch why the king had issued such a harsh order. So Arioch told Daniel what had happened. 16 Daniel went at once and obtained royal permission for more time, so that he could tell the king what the dream meant. 17 Then Daniel went home and told his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah what had happened. 18 He told them to pray to the God of heaven for mercy and to ask him to explain the mystery to them so that they would not be killed along with the other advisers in Babylon. 19 Then that same night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision, and he praised the God of heaven: (GNT)

The preceding verses 1-11 confirms that Nebuchadnezzar was the king who made the absurd request of insisting that his wisemen/advisers must remind him of his dreams as well as provide the meaning. When the advisers said he must tell them his dreams before they could provide the interpretation, he ordered their massacre. Daniel and his Hebrew peers were among the advisers that should be killed. Arioch too knew that Nebuchadnezzar’s demand and draconian directive was unreasonable so readily approved Daniel’s request for more time to provide the king’s demanded solution. Yet, as we can see, Daniel did not tell Nebuchadnezzar or Arioch how he was going to find the solution. He did not tell them that he was going to pray to God of his ancestors. The only people he told was his Hebrew peers who were like minded. Also, he did not ask them to join him in his home or residence so that they could talk to God jointly rather each of them went to their respective apartments to talk to God individually. Nebuchadnezzar, Arioch, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (DSMA) and the other palace officials were all stakeholders in this sickening saga, yet Daniel did not involve the king, Arioch and the other nobles. SMA that he involved he let them go talk to God on their own. It helps us to understand what Jesus taught and practised about individuals talking to God privately.

Daniel went to pray discretely like Jesus did to the extent that even His apostolic disciples joined other people to look for him. With regards to Jesus’ admonition to us to pray alone, Matthew 6:5-6 and Mark 1:35-37 say:

5 "And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. (NKJV)

5 "Also, when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to pray [publicly] standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets so that they may be seen by men. I assure you and most solemnly say to you, they [already] have their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your most private room, close the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees [what is done] in secret will reward you.

35 Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left [the house], and went out to a secluded place, and was praying there. 36 Simon [Peter] and his companions searched [everywhere, looking anxiously] for Him, 37 and they found Him and said, Everybody is looking for You! (AMP)

Jesus meant that anyone who seeks to make profit from his prayer to God of Israel should not quote such prayers on Christian colleagues’ stock exchange rather should privatise the prayer meeting and points or requests. Prayer to God should be top secret between the person praying and God who is meant to hear and answer. This suggests that prayer was not meant to be a showmanship exercise. It is hypocritical to advertise one’s prayer. God does not answer such prayers. The fact that Luke 11:1-4 confirms that Jesus’ apostolic disciples asked Him to teach them how to pray strongly suggest that they were not usually present most of the time that He prayed otherwise they would have learnt how to pray by observing Him while He prayed. The subject of God’s demand that the prayer warrior must not draw fellow human’s attention to himself can be said to suggest that God demands full concentration on Him by the person making prayers to Him for any reason, including His help. The focus of the heart of the intercessor