**The Shocking Revelation About Prayer Every Christian Misses | Paul Washer — Transcript & Summary | SozAI** Source: https://sozai.app/transcript/shocking-revelation-prayer-christian-paul-washer/ Paul Washer reveals the overlooked power of prayer in Jesus' life and teaches its vital role for every Christian. ## Key Takeaways - Prayer was Jesus’ greatest demonstration of divine power and the foundation of His ministry. - Christians should prioritize prayer as Jesus did, making it a source of rest and strength. - Persistent, heartfelt prayer is essential to overcome life's challenges and spiritual battles. - Prayer is a personal encounter with God, not just religious formality or intellectual exercise. - Following Jesus’ example means slipping away regularly to pray and seek God’s guidance. ## What the video covers - Disciples never asked Jesus to teach them miracles but to teach them to pray, highlighting prayer as His greatest demonstration of divine power. - Jesus was a man of prayer who often slipped away to solitary places like the wilderness or mountains to pray. - Prayer was not a labor or obligation for Jesus but a source of rest and intimacy with God. - Jesus spent entire nights in prayer before making important decisions, showing the seriousness and dependence on God. - The battle in Gethsemane illustrates the power of prayer in overcoming spiritual warfare and personal struggles. - Prayer is essential for Christians and should be persistent, as taught in Jesus’ parable in Luke 18 about praying without losing heart. - Prayer is not just form or intellect but a genuine encounter with God, reflecting a life spent in His presence. - Jesus taught that constant prayer is necessary, and believers should emulate His example of dependence on God. - Many obstacles and spiritual battles require persistent prayer and fasting, not just human effort or counseling. - The video challenges believers to evaluate their prayer life and encourages slipping away to God regularly for strength and guidance. ## Chapters 1. 00:00 Introduction: The Importance of Prayer Over Miracles 2. 03:10 Jesus’ Example of Prayer and Solitude 3. 06:33 The Rest and Refuge Found in Prayer 4. 09:15 Jesus’ Night of Prayer and Decision Making 5. 10:33 The Battle in Gethsemane: Prayer as Spiritual Warfare 6. 11:27 Encouragement to Young Men and All Believers to Pray Answers ## Questions about this video Why did Jesus spend so much time praying if He was the Son of God? Jesus prayed frequently not because He needed to learn from God, but because He loved God and depended on intimate fellowship with the Father. Prayer was His source of strength and guidance. What is the significance of Jesus praying in Gethsemane? Gethsemane was the place where Jesus wrestled in prayer before His crucifixion, showing that prayer is essential in spiritual battles and overcoming overwhelming trials. How should Christians approach prayer according to Paul Washer? Christians should view prayer as a vital, persistent, and heartfelt practice, slipping away regularly to seek God’s presence and power, not as a burdensome duty or mere religious form. ## Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown 00:00 Speaker A If you'll notice something very, very important. A disciple never came to Jesus and said, "Teach us to preach." A disciple never came to Jesus and said, "Teach us to walk on water." A disciple never came to Jesus and said, "Teach us to raise the dead." A disciple never came to Jesus and said, "Teach us to cast out demons." Now, if you were to want to know how to play basketball, you probably wouldn't come to me because I know so little about basketball. You would try to find out what my expertise truly was and then you would ask me about that. You ask a man about his expertise. You ask a man about the thing which most impresses you about that man. 00:13 Speaker A I believe that without a doubt the greatest demonstration of divine power was seen not when Jesus Christ raised the dead and not when he walked on water but when he prayed. And I believe that when the disciples saw Jesus pray, they could not believe their eyes. They could not believe even what their ears were telling them. Jesus was a man of prayer, a man of prayer. Now, let me ask you a question. When people hear you pray, do they hear someone who knows God? Do they hear the rhythm of a religion? Do they hear words that have been taught to you by other men? Do they hear form? Do they hear intellect? Or do they hear a man or a woman or a child who spends much time in the presence of God? Has anyone ever come to you and said, "Teach me to preach like you preach." Well, that may be something to boast about, but not before God. Has anyone ever come to you and said, "Teach me to administrate like you administrate." Has anyone ever come to you and said, "Teach me to pray." I am not much of a man, but I have had the privilege in my life to be in the presence of many men used by God. And the one thing that I noticed, they had very little in common except one thing. 00:30 Speaker A When they bowed their knee, something unusual happened. There's a saying, when someone achieves a certain thing, he may look over and with a twinkle in his eye say, "You can't learn that. You've got to be born with that. You can't fake prayer. Jesus was a man of prayer. And when he prayed, people saw the difference. Now, I want to look for a moment at the idea that Jesus was a man of prayer. And I've just scribbled down here a bunch of verses. And I'm going to kind of read a hodgepodge of verses that you might come to understand the importance of prayer in the life of Jesus Christ. and then come to understand that if prayer was so important to the incarnate son of the living God, then how much more important should prayer be to us? How much more should we depend upon prayer? Jesus lived a life of prayer. That's the first thing I want you to see. In Luke 5:16, it says, "But Jesus himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray." You know, often times when we find something that we greatly enjoy as opposed to what we grudgingly must do, we try to slip away to it. A man might want to uh avoid his yard duty by slipping away to watch a ball game. A man may come in to work early so he can slip away to go hunting. A wife may want to slip away to go to the mall. They slip away to the things that they most enjoy. Isn't it a crime that Jesus Christ and the labor of the kingdom seems almost to be work that we want to slip away from? I heard tell of a story evangelist. He he came he got off the plane and was received by the pastors and immediately they took him out to play golf. I don't have much of a problem with that. Never played golf myself. But they took him took him out to the golf course and that's a fine thing. I guess they saw that he needed to rest. And as as they were going out there across whatever you cross to do whatever you do when you play golf, the evangelist just happened to mention he said, "Well, you know, the Lord is so good." The other day he was just and the preacher stopped him and says, "Let's not talk shop out here. This is the place where we're going to rest. The only place you'll ever rest is in Jesus Christ." And you know, when you're walking with God, when when you slip away to him, when you say, "There's so much there's so much I have to do, so much grudging work, so much labor. I just wish that I could slip away to him for a moment because he's the one to whom I escape. He's the place I rest." When prayer becomes a labor, we're not like the Christ. We're not like Jesus. 00:44 Speaker A But it says he would slip away into the wilderness and pray. Notice he would go into the wilderness. My friend, the world, even the church is just so filled up with noise. So filled up with noise that every once in a while, especially those of you who are pastors, you have got to slip away and you've got to go to a wilderness where no one can find you and seek your God. And be very careful that sometimes you don't take around take along all those books with you because to many Jesus Christ can just become proper ex Jesus proper hermeneutic a thing to be studied instead of a person to be loved. Jesus would slip away. In Matthew 14:23 it says after he had sent the crowds away he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. And when it was evening he was there alone. Someone said why did Jesus need to pray so much? He was the incarnate son of God. We're going to talk about that. But let me show you just the foolishness of that question. 01:02 Speaker A Could it just be possible that he always wanted to slip away and be alone with God simply because he loved him? Because he loved him. It says in Luke 6:12-13, "It was at this time that he went off to a mountain to pray and he spent the whole night in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples to him and chose 12 of them whom he also named apostles." Let me ask you a question. 01:19 Speaker A Have you ever made a Have you ever had to make a really tough decision? Did you ever pass the entire night in prayer to do so? If you say no, I say to you, "Behold, we found a man stronger than Jesus." Isn't it amazing that the Christ would slip away and spend the entire night in prayer to discern the Father's voice, to pick the men that had to be picked? But we've got the upper hand on that. That's not so much needed anymore. 01:33 Speaker A He goes on Matthew 26:36, "When Jesus then Jesus came with him to a place called Gethsemane and said to his disciples," sit here while I go over there and pray. Sit here while I go over there and pray. Who could forget Gethsemane? Who could forget the war that was fought in that place? My friend, when he got up off his knees, the battle was over. The war was fought there. How many things do we have to fight with? How many Philistines do we have to put up with that stay in the land and they're like thorns to us? Why? 01:45 Speaker A Because we do not take the matter by the horns. We do not go to the Lord and wrestle until the victory is won. Jesus Christ overcame in that garden. And he overcame by struggling through it in prayer and gaining the victory. That passage, this kind only comes out through prayer and fasting. That just doesn't have to do with demons, my dear friend. There are so many mountains in your life, so many obstacles in your life, so many things in your life that seek to derail you, to stop you, and they're going to stay there because some of those things just don't go away by counseling. They go away by falling on your face before God until he delivers you. Jesus was a man of prayer. He showed it in every aspect of his life. And he goes on, Jesus taught on prayer. 01:58 Speaker A He taught prayer. The scriptures are so filled with the teachings of Jesus Christ on prayer that there's just nothing we can do with that tonight. 02:03 Speaker A There's two passages that I want to point out and they're both found in Luke 18. In verse one, he says, "Now he was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not lose heart." That's the teaching of Jesus Christ right there. If you want to sum up everything he taught about prayer, we ought to pray at all times. 02:19 Speaker A Now, for you young men here, let me just teach you something that'll help y 02:33 Speaker A kind of read a hodgepodge of verses that you might come to understand the importance of prayer in the life of Jesus Christ. and then come to understand that if prayer was so important to the incarnate son of the 02:45 Speaker A living God, then how much more important should prayer be to us? How much more should we depend upon prayer? Jesus lived a life of prayer. That's the first thing I want you to see. In Luke 5:16, it says, "But Jesus himself would often 03:01 Speaker A slip away to the wilderness and pray." You know, often times when we find something that we greatly enjoy as opposed to what we grudgingly must do, we try to slip away to it. A man might want to uh avoid his yard duty by 03:17 Speaker A slipping away to watch a ball game. A man may come in to work early so he can slip away to go hunting. A wife may want to slip away to go to the mall. They slip away to the things that they most 03:30 Speaker A enjoy. Isn't it a crime that Jesus Christ and the labor of the kingdom seems almost to be work that we want to slip away from? I heard tell of a story evangelist. He he came he got off the plane and was received by the 03:46 Speaker A pastors and immediately they took him out to play golf. I don't have much of a problem with that. Never played golf myself. But they took him took him out to the golf course and that's a fine thing. I guess they saw that he needed 03:56 Speaker A to rest. And as as they were going out there across whatever you cross to do whatever you do when you play golf, the evangelist just happened to mention he said, "Well, you know, the Lord is so good." The other day he was just and the 04:08 Speaker A preacher stopped him and says, "Let's not talk shop out here. This is the place where we're going to rest. The only place you'll ever rest is in Jesus Christ." And you know, when you're walking with God, when when you slip 04:20 Speaker A away to him, when you say, "There's so much there's so much I have to do, so much grudging work, so much labor. I just wish that I could slip away to him for a moment because he's the one to 04:35 Speaker A whom I escape. He's the place I rest." When prayer becomes a labor, we're not like the Christ. We're not like Jesus. 04:43 Speaker A But it says he would slip away into the wilderness and pray. Notice he would go into the wilderness. My friend, the world, even the church is just so filled up with noise. So filled up with noise that every once in a while, especially 04:57 Speaker A those of you who are pastors, you have got to slip away and you've got to go to a wilderness where no one can find you and seek your God. And be very careful that sometimes you don't take around 05:09 Speaker A take along all those books with you because to many Jesus Christ can just become proper ex Jesus proper hermeneutic a thing to be studied instead of a person to be loved. Jesus would slip away. In Matthew 14:23 it 05:24 Speaker A says after he had sent the crowds away he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. And when it was evening he was there alone. Someone said why did Jesus need to pray so much? He was the 05:35 Speaker A incarnate son of God. We're going to talk about that. But let me show you just the foolishness of that question. 05:41 Speaker A Could it just be possible that he always wanted to slip away and be alone with God simply because he loved him? Because he loved him. It says in Luke 6:12-13, "It was at this time that he went off to 05:54 Speaker A a mountain to pray and he spent the whole night in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples to him and chose 12 of them whom he also named apostles." Let me ask you a question. 06:05 Speaker A Have you ever made a Have you ever had to make a really tough decision? Did you ever pass the entire night in prayer to do so? If you say no, I say to you, "Behold, we found a man stronger than 06:17 Speaker A Jesus." Isn't it amazing that the Christ would slip away and spend the entire night in prayer to discern the Father's voice, to pick the men that had to be picked? But we've got the upper hand on that. That's not so much needed anymore. 06:33 Speaker A He goes on Matthew 26:36, "When Jesus then Jesus came with him to a place called Gethsemane and said to his disciples," sit here while I go over there and pray. Sit here while I go over there and pray. Who could forget 06:48 Speaker A Gethsemane? Who could forget the war that was fought in that place? My friend, when he got up off his knees, the battle was over. The war was fought there. How many things do we have to fight with? How many Philistines do we 07:04 Speaker A have to put up with that stay in the land and they're like thorns to us? Why? 07:09 Speaker A Because we do not take the matter by the horns. We do not go to the Lord and wrestle until the victory is won. Jesus Christ overcame in that garden. And he overcame by struggling through it in prayer and gaining the victory. That 07:29 Speaker A passage, this kind only comes out through prayer and fasting. That just doesn't have to do with demons, my dear friend. There are so many mountains in your life, so many obstacles in your life, so many things in your life that 07:42 Speaker A seek to derail you, to stop you, and they're going to stay there because some of those things just don't go away by counseling. They go away by falling on your face before God until he delivers you. Jesus was a man of prayer. He 07:58 Speaker A showed it in every aspect of his life. And he goes on, Jesus taught on prayer. 08:05 Speaker A He taught prayer. The scriptures are so filled with the teachings of Jesus Christ on prayer that there's just nothing we can do with that tonight. 08:12 Speaker A There's two passages that I want to point out and they're both found in Luke 18. In verse one, he says, "Now he was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not 08:25 Speaker A lose heart." That's the teaching of Jesus Christ right there. If you want to sum up everything he taught about prayer, we ought to pray at all times. 08:34 Speaker A Now, for you young men here, let me just teach you something that'll help you. I hear so many young men today saying, "Well, I don't have a really a specific time in which I pray. I'm I more, you 08:45 Speaker A know, throughout my day, I just kind of practice the presence of God, but I don't really have that secret place I go to." Let me tell you something, young man. There is no way you can learn to practice the presence of God if you do 08:57 Speaker A not spend much time in secret prayer. The power to practice the presence of God. The power to live a life of prayer to always be speaking with the father that is born out of [clears throat] secret time with the Lord. Segments of 09:15 Speaker A time with the Lord in prayer. And he said, 'We ought to be praying always and not to lose heart. The initiating of prayer is never a problem. Do you realize that you have initiated so many petitions before the throne? The 09:30 Speaker A question is, have you wrestled them through? Have you pressed on in to lay hold? Have you kept going? Are there petitions in your heart, in your mind, down on pieces of paper that possibly have been there for 15 years, but you 09:47 Speaker A say to the Lord, I will not let you go. It is so easy to initiate prayer, but to persevere in that praying. So he said we ought to we ought to pray and we shouldn't lose heart because losing heart is the very 10:03 Speaker A end of all praying. In John 5:30, one of my favorite texts in the Bible, it says this,"I can do nothing on my own initiative." I can do nothing on my own initiative. How much do we do on our own 10:22 Speaker A initiative? Is it not the great sin to take the matter into our own hands? And we've been taught that even in our own culture. man needs a car, doesn't have money for it. What does he do? Well, he 10:36 Speaker A goes to the bank, takes the matter into his own hands by his own initiative, and he gets the job done, and he's in bondage to it. Instead of a man saying, "I I I need a car. I have no money. 10:50 Speaker A Father, I need a house. I have no money. Father, I want to do this thing in the name of Jesus Christ and in the ministry, but Father, I will initiate nothing. Show me, lead me, guide me. 11:05 Speaker A Absolute surrender to him. Absolute surrender. It's not something I'm giving testimony about with regards to myself, but it is something I'm telling you about with regard to Jesus Christ. I want you to see him, yes, as God in the 11:20 Speaker A flesh, but I want you to see him as a man totally submitted to the will of God. And I want you to see that that is what you are called to. Prayer is a little thing unless this giant is first 11:34 Speaker A slain. It is the end of self-will and submitting ourselves to Jesus Christ. There ought to be a way in which we could answer every question like this. 11:44 Speaker A Someone says, "Well, why did you go there or why did you do this?" The answer, "Because I I believed it to be God's will." Well, that's an absolutely great opportunity that's open to you. 11:54 Speaker A No, I have no opportunity except the doing of God's will. If all the doors in all of creation fly open and God says, "Stop." Then you'll bring glory to God by stopping and you'll save yourself from a whole lot of peril. If there ever 12:09 Speaker A was a man who had a reason to say, "Lord, I can't pray now. There's just too many hurting people that I still haven't touched. There's too much ministry to do. I don't have time to pray. If anyone ever had the right to 12:25 Speaker A say that at that moment, it was Jesus Christ. I love what Martin Luther said one time. He said, "I have so much work activity to do today. I must pray at least three hours or I will never get 12:38 Speaker A done." That's the direct opposite of us, isn't it? I have so much to do today. I have no time to pray. Look what we're saying. We are saying with that declaration, I'm going to go out and accomplish things in the power 12:52 Speaker A of my own. The greatest need. I don't know about you, but I see the greatest need. Seeking the Lord as Jesus sought him and being in his presence and being empowered by him. What cannot be overcome in prayer? Answer me. What 13:11 Speaker A cannot be done by the hand of the Almighty? Answer me. What can be done by your feeble arms? Answer me. He can take down the iron curtain in a day. He can convert a nation in an hour. Call upon 13:27 Speaker A him. Believe him. Topics: Paul Washer prayer Jesus Christ Christian life spiritual warfare Gethsemane disciples faith persistence in prayer biblical teaching Study this video - [Flashcards from this video](https://sozai.app/tools/ai-flashcard-generator/?from=transcript&id=74269) - [Quiz on this video](https://sozai.app/tools/quiz-generator/?from=transcript&id=74269) Free, made by AI from this transcript. No signup. --- This is the markdown twin of https://sozai.app/transcript/shocking-revelation-prayer-christian-paul-washer/ — the same content, without the markup. Published by SozAI (https://sozai.app). Reuse and quotation are allowed with attribution and a link back. Machine-readable index: https://sozai.app/llms.txt · data API: https://sozai.app/api/