JESUS PRAYED ALONE IN THE SECRET PLACE
All religious gatherings involve public prayer. Jesus gave many verbal instructions that inform us about public displays of religion. See this link for his teachings about public prayer.

Jesus also taught through his own practices regarding prayer as shown in the following scriptures:

Matthew 14:23: After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone.

COMMENTARY: Here we see that Jesus practices what he preaches: He removes himself from public view when he prays. Christians who pray in public, therefore, practice fake faith. Jesus taught in public, but he prayed in private.

It is important to understand here that the mountain is a symbolic reference to the place where New Covenant disciples meet with God: the heart. This is the place where God writes his laws on the hearts of New Covenant disciples when he speaks to them.

Since the heart is the place where God meets with his people to speak to them, Jesus essentially retreats from the distractions of the physical world to speak to and listen to God. He can do this anytime and in any physical location. He does not need to be in a special building or place dedicated to pray.

Going to the mountain of God to pray is the essence of praying in the spirit at all times without ceasing because it happens in the heart which is always active. Elsewhere this place is referred to as the most holy place, the holy of holies and tent of meeting where  priests ministered to God and offered sacrifices. The mountain of God is also the place where God teaches his ways and his laws to New Covenant disciples.

STUDY TIP: See THE HEART IS THE PLACE  for an in depth review of what happens in the heart of man.

It is critical to understand that the act of praying in the heart does not require use of the flesh (e.g. physical voice, mental mind, hands folded, hands lifted, body swaying, eyes closed, kneeling, etc.). If God wanted or expected that people use their flesh when praying, he would violate the principle of faith being the substance of things not seen. It is not necessary for the flesh (i.e. physical body) to be employed when praying in the spirit/heart because God already knows the heart of man.

Because Jesus understood all of these spiritual principles, he applied them in his own prayer practices. Because New Covenant disciples understand these spiritual principles, they also apply them by avoiding public prayer. Old/First Covenant religionists who do not understand these things, however, continue to demonstrate fake faith while praying in public.

Mark 6:46:  After bidding them farewell, He left for the mountain to pray.

COMMENTARY: A literal interpretation of this scripture suggests that Jesus physically left the people with whom he was meeting and physically walked to a physical mountain where he physically prayed. The problem with this interpretation is that it is literal — not symbolic.

To understand the symbolic meaning of this verse we must recognize that this episode directly follows the feeding of the five thousand. It is only after he told his disciples to get in a boat and only after he sent the crowd away that he left for the mountain to pray. The appropriate symbolic interpretation of this story is that Jesus was in a constant state of prayer — even while he was with other people. It is possible, therefore, to be physically present with people while spiritually engaged with God. This is how the spirit of God spoke through Jesus and Paul, and it is how the spirit of God speaks through all New Covenant disciples. Speaking for God is not just a matter of studying privately before giving a verbal or written message (e.g speech, sermon, etc.). It is a seamless, ongoing, spiritual transaction of God speaking to the heart and disciples hearing God’s voice — even while engaging with others. It is a matter of true faith when we report what we hear while we hear it.

To understand scripture, we must be careful that we consider the context of Jesus’ prayer and ask why prayer was important at that particular time and ask what Jesus prayed about.

The context, of course, is the feeding of the five thousand for which we must understand the symbolism of the event which distinguishes between common manna and hidden manna.

Because Jesus was a true prophet, he spoke for God and all of his words were hidden manna. He spoke with the authority of God and all of his words were able to impart spiritual life to New Covenant disciples who have ears to hear the spiritual words in the hidden manna.

In the story of the feeding of the five thousand, however, the people who ate the loaves and fishes were Old/First Covenant religionists. Thus, all they heard were the literal words which they ate (i.e. heard with their physical ears). Not being spiritual, they were unable to hear with spiritual eyes and ears. So all they had was common manna. Nevertheless, they were satisfied with what they were able to hear.

This situation describes the condition of Jews and Christians who are satisfied with the literal words of the Bible. The literal words do have meaning and value, of course, but the spiritual words of the voice of God has much greater value.

In this story, God’s spoken voice is symbolized as the food that is left over (i.e. twelve baskets of broken pieces of bread and fish) after eating the literal words. The spiritual food is greater than the original five loaves of bread and two fish. This is God’s way of saying that the spiritual meanings of parables, symbolism and mystery hidden in the Bible are much more satisfying than the literal, written words of the Bible. The literal words feed and satisfy the flesh (i.e. mind and emotions) and may motivate the will. We see this principle in the story of the Israelites daily picking up manna in the desert. The mysteries and truths hidden in the spoken words of God are revealed to New Covenant disciples who know how to hear God’s spoken voice. They live in the seventh day (i.e. sabbath) when they rest from the work of finding common manna. They have constant access to the hidden manna that God deposits in their hearts.

STUDY TIP: See  Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 1, Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 2, and Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 3.

What we have in this story, therefore, is not a report of a physical miracle in which God multiplies the physical loaves and fishes. What we have, however, is a parable in which the life-giving power of the spoken word of God is shown to greatly exceed the limited effectiveness of the literal words of the Bible. It is yet another parable that demonstrates how the New Covenant is better than the Old/First Covenant.

Next we must ask what it was that Jesus prayed about. The answer to this question is relatively simple: His prayer was consistent with the terms of what is commonly called the Lord’s Prayer.

Since Jesus’ heart was in a constant state of prayer, even while he was moving about, meeting others, his heart attitude was fully consistent with the sentiments of the Lord’s prayer. Like David, he had a heart after God’s own heart, which means that he had God’s character written on his heart.

If Jesus prayed any differently, his teaching about how to pray would have been a lie. Thus everything Jesus said, did and prayed was in perfect agreement with the sentiments of the Lord’s prayer.

The lesson here for anyone who prays to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is that they should also pray in agreement with the sentiments of the Lord’s Prayer. Those who do pray in agreement with these sentiments are New Covenant disciples because they follow Jesus. Those who do not pray in agreement with these sentiments are Old/First Covenant religionists.

***Luke 6:12-13: It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God. And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles:

COMMENTARY: Again it is necessary to consider this occasion for prayer in context. In this case, Jesus just finished an unpleasant encounter with angry Pharisees who wanted to harm Jesus because he had broken their religious laws about healing on the Sabbath. According to the sequence of the story it was immediately after this that he prayed and then choose his disciples.

From the commentary above, we can assume that Jesus’ prayer was consistent with the terms of the Lord’s prayer. From the fact that he then went to choose disciples we can logically assume that choosing disciples as also consistent with the terms of the Lord’s prayer. From the encounter with the Pharisees he knew that he needed disciples to help him with the work that needed to be done when dealing with the Pharisees. The lesson here for those who pray is that prayer according to the terms of the Lord’s prayer should be followed with action that results in making disciples. See Model Warriors for more about disciples.

John 6:15: So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone.

COMMENTARY: This verse is important on two accounts. First, we see that Jesus resisted attempts to make him king. This is hard to understand unless we first understand that Jesus always deferred to the Father and never desired any glory for himself. He never desired to be a religious leader.

This attitude is very different from the attitude of most religious people who often seek positions of religious leadership and will proudly accept a position of leadership if it is offered to them. In Biblical language, they desire to be kings. See Kings, Queens and Princes for understanding of the symbolism of kings.

The second thing we learn is that the mountain of God was Jesus place of refuge. 

Matthew 26:36: Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”

COMMENTARY:

Luke 5:15-16: But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16 But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.

COMMENTARY: Because Jesus’ reputation was spreading, people sought him out so they could  hear the teaching (i.e. words) that would heal them from religion. But Jesus did not always welcome the attention he received. In fact, he sometimes separated himself from people by going to the secret place to pray.