'Lord, teach us to pray' (part 1)
“Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” (Luke 11:1 NIV)
One day after Jesus had been praying, his disciples said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” They saw something in the praying of John the Baptist and Jesus very different than they had been taught and had seen throughout their life.
Prayer is still mysterious to us as followers of Jesus. We still pray, “Lord, teach us to pray.” We seek the Holy Spirit to lead us into the whole counsel of God regarding prayer. There is much we don’t understand but there are principles that we can learn taken from Scripture.
The first principle we must keep in mind is to pray into the will of God. This is the only way the extravagant promises of Jesus mentioned regarding prayer in the Farewell Discourse of John 14-17 can be fully realized. Jesus was never outside the will of the Father. He would never ask his followers to pray for anything that was not the will of the Father. So how do we discern the will of God the Father?
The Bible is the revealed will of God to mankind. The audience Jesus was speaking to in Luke 11 and John 14-17 were extremely well acquainted with the Old Testament which is what they had for Scripture at the time of the request, "Teach us to pray." We too must know the Word of God well so that we understand the revealed will of the Father well.
The next principle is the importance of walking in humble obedience to the Lord. Jesus mentions in the Farewell Discourse multiple times if we love Him, we will obey Him. If love of God is our motive then humble obedience is much easier and desirable than the written rules of, "Thou shalt not." This is not hard to understand. What parent is there that doesn’t desire obedience of their children in love rather than enforcement of the rules? In both cases, obedience is intended to protect and is for the good of those who willingly comply.
The third principle is to understand is that God does not withhold any good thing from those who seek Him. This is mentioned in Psalm 34, Matthew 7, and Luke 11. If we do not receive something we ask in prayer, will we trust God in His far greater wisdom that what ask for is not the best? I know we can muster all kinds of reasons why we should get what we ask. I reminds me of my teenagers asking for the car keys at midnight on a Friday. They had all the good reasons why we should give them what we ask while our greater experience and wisdom will not accede to their request. A ‘no’ to their request brings their ire. Will we treat God like petulant teenagers?
There’s much, much more that could be written about prayer but I will mention one more principle to understand. Prayer in and of itself has no power. I hear people mention the power of prayer often. Nothing could be farther from the truth. It is WHO answers prayer that give them power. If prayer had power then the western world would be in great trouble. Other religions who hate Christ are often more fervent and faithful in prayer against Jesus and his followers. Prayer is a dialogue with our loving Father which involves much more than merely asking for things. Practice a life of prayer.
Bud McConnaughey serves on the staff of North Summit Church, 201 N. Division, Sandpoint