Since the early days of our marriage, we have used a prayer journal as a means of ordering our prayers. When our first son was a toddler, we prayed with him and did our best to teach him how to pray. As is often the case, our example as parents is the best teacher, for one day, we discovered him on his knees with the prayer journal opened before him as he whispered nonsensical words. Or were they? It did our hearts good to see our son picking up a spiritual discipline before he could even understand its full significance.

Praying as Jesus prayed can be daunting (for many reasons) because we are often tempted to use the “well, I’m not Jesus” excuse.

We rightly think of Jesus in His exalted state: He is high and holy and lifted up above the heavens and earth. He is beyond our ability to understand fully; He is coming back as God and King to judge the world. We think of Him as the Great “I AM,” eternally self-existent, transcendent beyond and above all things.

These things all speak of His deity. This is why and how we worship Him. This is the Jesus we proclaim to the world.

But we often do so to the exclusion of His humanity. He had to become like his brethren in all things (Hebrews 2:17). Jesus was also human, which is precisely why we can pray like Jesus.

A complete treatment of praying like Jesus is well beyond the scope of this article. But if we limit ourselves to our passage in Hebrews for now, we can learn a great deal from Him to improve our prayer life.

In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. - Hebrews 5:7

1. Pray as Jesus prayed, as a human.

When we, as human beings, pray, we are praying like Jesus in the most fundamental sense. Like you and me, Jesus prayed to God the Father as a human. “In the days of His flesh” refers to His time on earth, from His birth to ascension. In His incarnation, taking on humanity, He understood then and still understands our human weaknesses in our prayers.

2. Pray in times of great difficulty. 

If He needed to pray, then you need to pray. The greatest argument for prayer is that Jesus prayed. If he could not live without constant dependence on His Father, then neither can we. Jesus prayed with great intensity, and this demonstrated His humanity. As our representative, Jesus knew what it meant to pray to God in the greatest of anguish. When you are distressed and cry out to God, be encouraged that He has been there, in the depths of intense prayer.

3. Pray in the understanding that God is all-powerful. 

God can do anything. There are many other qualifications for prayer from many other passages, but we must always pray with the understanding that God is more than able to do anything we ask (“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think,” Ephesians 3:20).

If we don’t really believe that God can do whatever we ask, then our view of God needs to be adjusted upward!

4. Pray in submission to His sovereign will. 

Even though God can do anything, it doesn’t mean He will do anything we ask. When Jesus prayed to the “One who able to save Him from death,” He recognized, “Yet not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42). When we pray, we can and should pray for God to deliver us from times of distress. But often, He delivers us through the trial rather than from the trial. We can always rest in His will.

God may not answer the way you want. But He will answer the way that is best. “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

5. Pray with the assurance that He hears the prayers of the faithful.

Jesus was heard “because of His piety.” This rare and unusual word is variously translated as piety, reverence, fear of God, and devotion. It encompasses more than a single idea; it reflects the entire life of Christ. Jesus was in constant fellowship with His Father. He always submitted to Him and sought His glory. He was faithfully obedient in all things at all times. He did so “in the days of His flesh” as a human Son.

When Jesus prayed in such anguish and was heard for his piety or reverence, His trust in the Father was not just in the moment of that prayer; it flowed from a lifestyle of faith. So it is with us; prayer is not so much God changing circumstances as it is Him changing us. When we walk with God, as Jesus did, seek His righteousness, fear Him, and are entirely devoted to Him, then our prayers align with His will. We want what God wants, and we pray for what God wants, because what God wants and will are always for His ultimate glory

When it comes to praying as Jesus prayed, it’s very simple: just follow His example. Like a young boy following the example of his father and mother, we are to follow the example of our Savior. When we do, our Heavenly Father is pleased.