Luke gives us the most detailed picture anywhere of the prayer life of Jesus. Clearly it mattered a great deal to him to present just how the Lord did it, and therefore how Christians should. Max Turner's detailed essay `Prayer in the Gospels and Acts' - in Teach Us To Pray, edited by D.A. Carson (Baker/Paternoster, 1990) - points out these main features:

• When Jesus cleansed the temple (19:45f), he quoted Isaiah: `My house shall be a house of prayer.' Prayer was central in worship to Jesus.

• Jesus gave thanks to God at the beginning of meals. This prayer habit is mentioned three times by Luke.

• Jesus withdrew from public for long periods in order to devote himself to prayer. On one occasion (Luke 6:12) we're told that his prayer time went on all night.

• Luke underlines the intensity of Jesus' prayer - especially in the Garden of Gethsemane. Prayer was a costly exercise for Jesus.

• Jesus prayed constantly; he was praying when the Spirit came upon him at the start of his ministry, and praying for his killers when he was crucified at the end of it. His last act before his ascension was a blessing.

• Sometimes he didn't pray. There is no case of healing or exorcism where Jesus prays first. It isn't that Luke believed prayer was irrelevant; it's rather that Jesus had already won the victory by his extended and disciplined times of prayer beforehand.
  
  There's a legend (quite unfounded) that Luke was a painter. Here he paints the Virgin Mary... who may have been the source of some of his information on the prayer habits of Jesus.
  
  
  Jesus' teaching on prayer, says Turner, comes in six main places:
  • The Lord's Prayer (11:2-4) - highlighting the things we need to pray about

  • The story of the friend at midnight (11:5-8) - highlighting the fact that God's honour is at stake when we pray, and so we can confidently expect him to respond

  • Ask, seek, knock (11:9-13) - highlighting God's delight in giving

  • The importance of faith (17:5-6) - highlighting the need to believe God's promises

  • The parables of the unjust judge and the Pharisee and Publican (18:1-14) - highlighting the need to keep praying, and the need to pray with humility

  • Other isolated sayings about
    • thanksgiving and praise as part of prayer
    • our responsibility to pray for God's Word to spread and his salvation to break into human situations