Why did Jesus Christ pray to the Father when He was the God Himself?

      We can see Jesus praying to the Father, why does He have to pray if He is God Himself?

 

Matt 14.23

Standing in the position of man (Mat 4.4), the heavenly King, as the beloved Son of the Father (3.17) needed to pray privately to His Father who was in the heavens, that He might be one with the Father and have the Father with Him in whatever He did on the earth for establishing of the kingdom of the heavens.  He did this not in the deserted place but on the mountain, leaving all the people, even His disciples, that He might be alone to contact the Father. 

 

Mark 1.35

To fellowship with God, seeking God’s will and pleasure for His gospel service.  The Slave-Savior performed the evangelistic service not by Himself, independent of God and according to His own will, but according to God’s will and pleasure by being one with God to fulfill His purpose

 

Again in Matt 4, we see Jesus was led up into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil.  As the Son of God, Satan cannot stand against Him to challenge, but as the Son of man, The Lord Jesus intended to follow every human limitations to make His life, death and resurrection a successful mission.  In Matt 4.3, we read that the newly anointed King fasted in His humanity, standing on the ground of man.  On the other hand, He was also the Son of God as God the Father had declared at Christ’s baptism (3.17).  Thus under this criteria, He had to accomplish His ministry for the kingdom of the heavens.  He had to defeat God’s enemy, the devil, Satan as a man as He was the sacrificial Lamb of God for the redemption of Mankind.  Hence, He stood as the Son of man to confront the enemy of God.  The devil knowing this clearly tempted the Lord time and again to leave the standing of man and assume His position as the Son of God.  At the start of the forty days wilderness period, the subtle tempter took the declaration of God the Father that Jesus was His beloved Son to be the ground to tempt Him.  If Christ had assumed His position as the Son of God before the enemy, He would have lost the criteria to defeat Him and save His creation. 

 

Later we read that on many occasions, the evil spirits tried to expose the Lord as the Son of God.  However, Christ’s mission was to accomplish where the first Adam failed by becoming the Second Adam.  As the Second Adam, He submitted to every human limitation, endured trials, and prayed as a man on earth.  This also set a pattern for us today in our walk with God to be like Him. 

 

Summary

Jesus praying doesn’t diminish His glory, but as the incarnation of God on earth, His mission was to accomplish what we couldn’t due to the Law.  He stood on the grounds of human limitation and thus prayed within that limited premise to know the will of God the Father and go on with His mission.

Grace - meaning & its application in life

>> What is Grace?  Is it a license to Sin?

Rom 6:1-10, Gal 2:20, Col 2:12

There is quite a lot of buzz about this word, ‘Grace’ in the Christian world.  The word ‘Grace’ means experiencing God in Jesus Christ in our lives.  Grace is Jesus Christ dying in our stead, thus we are at peace with the Almighty.  It is something that we received freely.  It is not a license to sin, but rather a provision to lead a holy life.  When I was explaining the meaning of grace years ago to a brother, he was offended thinking that I am proposing some kind of restrictions akin to law.  That was a shallow understanding.  Law has been fulfilled by the Lord Jesus and now we are not in the Law which is the oldness of letter (Rom 7:6), but rather we have been discharged from Law and now we need to serve the Lord in newness of spirit (Rom 7:6). 

We are born in the old man which is the realm of the first Adam.  Then one day we believed in the Lord and proceeded to receive baptism.  This baptism into Christ is, in reality, a baptism into Christ’s death.  We have been buried with Him through the baptism because in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we might walk in the newness of life.  If somebody says to you, ‘brother, you took baptism in the Lord, so you ought to walk in the newness of life’, then do not be offended because it is not law.  When we have grown with Him in the likeness of His death, indeed we will also be in the likeness of His resurrection.  So walking in the newness of life is grace.  I request all the brothers and sisters to understand this deeply, - 'Grace is experiencing God in Christ and this is possible when we walk in the newness of life.’  Gal 2:20 says, ‘I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.’  Is it Law?  Absolutely not, this is the newness.  Grace does not mean that you can keep sinning because Christ has paid the price for your sins that have been committed and will be committed in the future.  Yes, it is paid in full and then some.  It is the perfect sacrifice to the satisfaction of God.  Therefore, Grace is our reaction to this perfect sacrifice on our behalf by the Lord Jesus Christ. 

How can we walk in the newness of life?

Knowing that our old man has been crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be annulled, that we should no longer serve sin as slaves (Rom 6:6).  Have you come across anywhere written in the Bible that you are free to go around and sin without inhibitions, as the Lord Jesus Christ had died in your stead?  No!  We need to believe that in our baptism, our old man has been crucified with the Lord and we are no longer slaves of sin.  We are free in the Lord and we have newness in life and a responsibility to walk in it.  Further, since we believe that we have been crucified with the Lord, we also believe that we will live with Him.  For the death that the Lord died to sin was once and for all; but the life which He lives, He lives to God.  Hence, we who are in the resurrection of the Lord, live our lives to God.  This is Grace.  Amen.