How do you know their was an intimacy of prayer between the Father and Jesus?

Answer 1

Prayer is not simply talking to God. This is a common mosconception. Prayer is a 2-way interchange, and simply being in the presence of God in a meditative, quiet way, can be termed prayer.

Jesus, as God in human form needed as much prayer to the Father as the Father needed interchange with Jesus. Christians believe that Jesus is the incarnation of God on earth. Yet, as well as being fully divine, he is also fully human with all the traits, and needs of a human. And this involved prayer. But let's not forget that just because Jesus prayed there was any 'lack' of intimacy between them. Jesus taught us to call God 'Father' (a term never used in the Old Testament) or, more specifically, he used the Aramaic phrase 'ABBA' ("daddy").

Regarding the two incidences cited above these again are often misinterpreted. Long before the time of Jesus' baptism he knew exactly his mission on Earth. We know from Luke's gospel that at the age of 12 Jesus already knew that he was God's Son. We also know that he was heralded long before his baptism by John the Baptist, the magi and many others as being divine. many critics of Jesus will somehow cite his baptism as a revelation point but nothing is farther from the truth. Yes, a voice came from heaven (or was imparted into the minds of those around somehow) but this voice was not just for Jesus but for all gathered there to herald just who Jesus was. If this was a private voice heard within Jesus's mind alone, of course, then it would never have been recorded.

Moreover, the quotation from the Cross "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me" is again misconstrued. One has to remember that throughout his life Jesus had an intimacy with God like no other before or since. Yet as he took the sins of all of us on his shoulders that day, for the first and only time in his life, God the Father had to turn away from him, at that instant, because of that sin. That was the moment when the barrier came down and the relationship between Jesus and God the Father necessarily, but temporarily, broken. The cry "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me" was not Jesus' own words. Like a true and devout jew, he quoted from psalm 22. we do not know whether or not he spoke the rest of the psalm, but, if he did, then it is a very poignant passage, especially the latter part where Jesus, as God incarnate, foretells his ultimate victory in the face of suffering and death.

Because of John chapter 17 read please.

Answer:

The answer to this question is not a "technical" one... it's an "intimate" one. It's personal.

Answered prayer is one of the "proofs" of God that only the one praying may truly KNOW the intimacy of it. Prayer is the deepest of intimacy between the Father and His Child... be he Christ, His firstborn... or John Average Doe, whom the Father may be calling to become His Son. The relationship between the Father and someone else is no one else's business but theirs. And no outsider may KNOW it.

Only by your own personal prayers with Him may you truly KNOW its intimacy.

Answer 2

In view of the Nicene Creed, which actually states that God the Father and Jesus were of one substance, it is hard to even imagine why Jesus needed to pray. But the gospels in some places do indicate some lack of intimacy, inconsistent with the Nicene Creed. When Jesus, after his baptism, heard the voice from heaven saying (Mark 1:11), "Thou art my belovered son, in whom I am well pleased," it seems to have been new information for Jesus. When Jesus, at his crucifixion, said (Mark 15:34), "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me," there is a decided lack of intimacy. We can not know whether there was greater intimacy in the prayers of Jesus.