Ask anyone to compare the gospels and two facts will almost always be mentioned: (1) that John is the Gospel of Love, and (2) that Luke is the Historical Gospel. While it is true that John gives us a look into Jesus’ personal struggles and relates stories not contained in any other gospel account, it is not true that Luke is purely a historical account.

This is not to say that Luke is not historically accurate, he is. Nor is it to say that it was not Luke’s intention to put down in writing an orderly account of Jesus’ life, it was. It is to say that Luke did not provide us with a history only. Rather, Luke gives us the historical narrative alongside a personal and intimate look at the Savior. No other point makes this clearer than the fact that Luke records more of Jesus’ personal prayers than any other gospel author — in all an astounding 33 references! Therefore, one must read Luke both as the historical account it is, but also as the cherished record of Jesus’ communion with His Father.

If you are looking for material for your next Bible study, you could do a lot worse than to study the prayers of Jesus, and his teachings on prayer. Take Luke 6.12-.13 for example, and discern what we learn of Jesus’ prayer life:

Now it was during this time that Jesus went out to the mountain to pray, and he spent all night in prayer to God. When morning came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles…

Or perhaps what we can learn about what Jesus prays about from Luke 6.27-28:

But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

Is it acceptable to nag God about our requests? Luke 18.1-5 has the answer:

Then Jesus told them a parable to show them they should always pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected people. There was also a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but later on he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor have regard for people, yet because this widow keeps on bothering me, I will give her justice, or in the end she will wear me out by her unending pleas.’”

This isn’t about needing to remind God of our concerns or to keep after God to do the right thing, but rather a lesson for us to never lose heart. We began this survey of Jesus’ Prayer life with him spending all night in prayer before choosing his apostles, we’ll end it with the last night he spent in prayer found in Luke 22.41-46:

He went away from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Yet not my will but yours be done.” [Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And in his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.] When he got up from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping, exhausted from grief. So he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you will not fall into temptation!”

How closely did you follow these verses? Let’s see if you can answer a few more questions: Who did Jesus pray for most of the time? Who did Jesus say we were to pray for? Did Jesus ever pray for Himself? It is only appropriate that we follow the example of Jesus and pray for each other.