7. The principle of PRESERVATION.
In Luke 22:31-32 Jesus says, “Simon, Simon. Satan has asked to sift you as wheat but I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. When you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” This is a prayer of protection. We don’t just believe in prayer, we believe in God. Jesus not only saves you but He prays for you. Robert Murray McCheyne once said, “If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies.” God is praying for us right now. Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us.
8. The principle of PREPARATION.
In Luke 22:42 Jesus prays, “Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me. Yet not My will but Yours be done.” Notice the change in this prayer. First, He said, take it away from Me. Then He said, “Lord, leave it.” He prayed earnestly. Why? Because He knew He would be facing in the next few hours the greatest trial of His life and He didn’t want to approach it prayerlessly.
9. The principle of REVELATION.
This is the powerful prayer that Jesus prayed on the cross. One of the seven last words of Christ was, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they’re doing.” We can really learn a lot about Christ’s character here because He’s in agony. He’s in pain, yet He’s praying for other people. When you watch what other people say and do and pray when their back is up against the wall, it reveals what’s really inside of them. Prayer, like nothing else, is revelation of a person. It shows what’s inside the heart.
10. The principle of SATISFACTION.
In Luke 22:46, “Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ‘Father, into Thy hands I commit My Spirit.’ When He said this, He breathed His last.” Jesus satisfied God the Father because He did what He was supposed to do. But more than just that, Jesus was satisfied Himself with what He had done. Because of that—that He had satisfied the Father and He was satisfied with Himself—He can satisfy every need that you will ever have. He said, “I’ve finished it all. It’s all complete.”
11. The principle of GRATIFICATION.
Jesus expressed His gratitude for what God had done in His life. It says that when He was at the table with the 12, He broke bread, He gave thanks and He broke it and began to give it to them. He gave thanks. This is probably the one sin that is the root of so many other sins—ingratitude. I believe our prayers should be filled with thanksgiving. In Philippians it says, “Make your requests with thanksgiving.” When we ask, we should also be grateful at the same time.
12. The principle of BENEDICTION.
Luke 24:50 says, “When He had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, He lifted up His hands and He blessed them.” It’s interesting to me that the very last thing Jesus did was hold His hands out and He blessed them. He holds His hands out so they would see the scars that are in His palms. It is no wonder that when He went to bless them and held out His scarred hands, they went from there immediately and left to spend 10 days in powerful prayer.
