If Jesus Is God, Why Does Jesus Pray to God?

I love working with teenagers. I love being there in those moments when “the light comes on” and they suddenly begin to understand the gospel and the implications for their life. I also love that they are bold in the questions they ask. As adults we can become a bit too concerned with how we appear. This makes us not ask the questions we’re thinking.

Yes, teenagers can ask silly questions. They can also ask profound questions that make you stop in your tracks. Here is an example of the latter, “If Jesus is God, why does He pray to God”? When I was first asked that question, it took me aback for a moment. It wasn’t meant as a challenge to the faith, it was a simple question. What’s the point of Jesus praying if He’s God? Is He just talking to Himself?

How should I answer this? First, we have to consider the nature of prayer. Then we’ll be in a better position to provide a quality answer to this great question.

What Is Prayer? 

Before we dive into the question of why Jesus, as God incarnate, prayed to God the Father, it is crucial to establish a foundation of what prayer is. Prayer is more than just making requests; it is a conversation with the divine. It’s not merely asking God for things. Dan Allender, in a blurb for Paul Miller’s A Praying Life, give us a good definition when he refers to the promise of prayer as “a gift that connects us to the heart of the Father and as a path for transforming the world.”

If we think of prayer as the action where we ask God for stuff, then it might seem a bit unnecessary for Jesus to be praying. After all, He’s God, shouldn’t He be able to do it Himself? Yet, if we consider prayer as simply “talking to God,” then it changes the nature of our question.

Prayer is also about dependence. Perhaps this is another area where we are uncomfortable with Jesus’ praying. Is He dependent? Is it okay to speak of Jesus as having a need? Can we say that He needed to pray and commune with the Father? As we begin to answer these, we stumble upon the first answer to our central question.

Jesus Prayed Because He Was Dependent on the Father

We understand, rightly, that the God of the Universe is not dependent upon any outside source for sustenance. One of the core doctrines of the faith is that God is self-sufficient. When God revealed Himself to Moses, He referred to Himself as the I Am. God is self-sustaining.

We might be uncomfortable to confess Jesus to be both God and to be dependent. Yet, this is precisely what we find in Scripture. In John 5:19 and 5:30 Jesus spoke of “doing nothing of his own accord” and said “I can do nothing on my own.” In John 8:38 he said, “I do nothing on my own authority” and again in John 14:31 speaks of obeying what “the Father has commanded me.” How is this possible?

This is the mystery of what is known as the hypostatic union. In what is a profound mystery, Jesus Christ is both fully human and fully God. This means that at times we are speaking of His humanity. Yes, we cannot say that God is dependent. When we are referring to Jesus’ divinity, then, we are not claiming that He is dependent. Yet, the Son of God fully took upon human flesh and all this entails. In this regard, we can say that the Son of God is entirely dependent upon the Father. Paul Miller says it well,

“When Jesus tells us to become like little children, he isn’t telling us to do anything he isn’t already doing. Jesus is, without question, the most dependent human being who ever lived. Because he can’t do life on his own, he prays. And he prays. And he prays. Luke tells us that Jesus “would withdraw to desolate places to pray” (5:16) … When you know that you (like Jesus) can’t do life on your own, then prayer makes complete sense.” (Paul Miller, A Praying Life, 45)

Jesus prayed because it was the fuel for His ministry. Jesus prayed because in His humanity prayer was a vital necessity. But He also prayed because this is what it means to be in a relationship with God.

Jesus Prayed Because He Enjoyed the Father

Scroll back in your mind to a time before anything has been created. According to Scripture, in this moment the Godhead (Father, Son, Spirit) existed in perfect communion. Do you think they communicated with one another? Did the Father love the Son before the incarnation — and vice versa? Of course. Why, then, would we think it strange that the incarnate Son of God would suddenly take upon silence?

While Jesus was indeed God incarnate, His relationship with God the Father goes beyond the earthly incarnation. The Bible reveals that Jesus, as God the Son, had an eternal and intimate relationship with God the Father.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, "And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began" (John 17:5). This verse emphasizes that the Son enjoyed the glory and communion with the Father before His earthly existence. Therefore, when Jesus prayed, it was an extension of this eternal fellowship with the Father. His prayers were an expression of His unity with God, demonstrating the beauty of their eternal relationship.

Jesus “talked to God” because He had been doing this before time even began. Part of being God, though, is about self-giving. This means that for all of eternity the Godhead was engaged in a self-giving love. (I know, it’s hard to wrap our minds around this.) Yet, we know this is part of why humanity was created. We were created to be drawn into this eternal love. This leads us to another reason Jesus prayed.

Jesus Prayed to Teach Us How to Pray

The self-giving love of God meant that when Jesus was incarnate, His mission was to draw others into this eternal love. Part of this means learning to pray. This is why one of the primary reasons Jesus prayed was to teach His disciples – and by extension, all believers – how to pray. In the Gospels, we find various instances where the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. There was something unique about the communion which Jesus had with the Father. The disciples wanted to know how to be drawn into this.

The Lord’s Prayer, a model prayer for Christians, is part of this answer. In the Gospel of Luke, the disciples asked Jesus, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples" (Luke 11:1). In response, Jesus provided them with the Lord's Prayer, which begins with, "Our Father in heaven..." (Matthew 6:9). This simple yet profound prayer instructs believers to address God as their Father, seek His kingdom, ask for daily provisions, and seek forgiveness.

He prayed before the disciples to model for them what a life of prayer would look like. Jesus’ incarnate dependence upon the Father was an invitation for the disciples to join Him. His prayer life serves as an example, encouraging believers to engage in meaningful and heartfelt conversations with their heavenly Father.

A Behavior for Us to Follow

The question of why Jesus, as God, prayed to God the Father is a profound one. It can be answered by understanding the nature of Jesus' two-fold existence, His eternal relationship with the Father, and His role as a teacher. In His humanity, Jesus demonstrated dependence on the Father. Yet this dependence is grounded in the eternal relationship within the Godhead. Thus, prayer is an extension of this. Moreover, Jesus' prayers serve as a model for believers, teaching us how to pray and fostering a deeper connection with God.

That’s why Jesus prayed.

Shouldn’t we follow?

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