“Teach us How To Pray”

It has always amazed me that as far as we know the disciples, who walked and talked with Jesus for three years, never once asked Jesus how to preach, or how to gain a congregation.  I mean, they were around the most powerful sermons this world has ever heard, walking with God Himself in human form, and hearing Him teach His own word, yet not one of them asked Him to teach them how to give a great sermon.  They also witnessed Jesus draw some of the largest crowds that had ever assembled at that time, and yet they didn’t ask Jesus for tips on how to gain followers.  After carefully watching Jesus and His ministry they were wise enough to know exactly what to ask Jesus to teach them.  “Teach Us How To Pray,” they asked.  What they must have experienced in watching Jesus pray must have been more extraordinary then any praying they had encountered up to that point in their lives.  Jesus prioritized prayer Always!  Before He began ministry He went out into the wilderness for 40 days and nights with the Holy Spirit and we know He was praying!  Before He called 12 to be His disciples the Bible tells us He had spent a day and a night in intense prayer!  He prayed all throughout His ministry, and Before He would go to the cross to give His life for the redemption of humanity, He Spent the night in such intense prayer that He was sweating drops of blood.  What they witnessed in the prayer life of Jesus was vastly different then what they had previously seen.  What they witnessed happening Through the Prayer Life of Jesus was vastly different then anything they had ever experienced.  They must have realized what we often fail to realize, Prayer was of the utmost importance to Jesus, and it better be of the utmost importance to us!  If Jesus, who IS Himself God, prioritized prayer in such a way as to do nothing without it, how can we, mere human beings, do anything less!  Why do we often think of prayer as a last resort?  I will often hear people say, and have said at times myself... “Well, I guess All I can do is pray.”  As if prayer is a last resort, a desperate attempt!  Praying, however, IS Everything!!  Prayer should be our First resort, last resort, and every resort in the middle.  This is why the disciples asked Jesus for this one request.  “Teach us how to pray.”

Let’s take a brief look at the response of Jesus from Matthew 6.

9 “This, then, is how you should pray:

PRAISE!  ADORATION!

“‘Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

Jesus instructs us to come into the presence of the Lord with worship, respect, awe, and adoration.  He first calls Him “Father,” and when we do this, we are coming before Him declaring our dependence on God and God alone!  We declare that He is our Father.  He is in control!  He is in charge and we trust Him with all that we have and all that we are.  He then leads us to remember His Holiness!  Holy is the name of the Lord, and with the angels who surround His throne for eternity we come before and say, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God almighty.  Who was and is and who is to come!”

SURRENDER TO HIS REIGN AND RULE!

10 

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

    on earth as it is in heaven.

At this point Jesus leads us to align our Will with the Will of God!  That we would come under His Reign and His Rule.  That His kingdom would come to Earth, that His Will be done here, on this Earth, in our Lives, as it is in Heaven!  In the time in which we are currently living this idea of living under the reign and rule of another is something we do not want to hear, much less do!  Yet the life of a Christian is a life transferred out from under the rule and reign of the kingdom of darkness, and into a life under the reign and rule of The Kingdom of God!  Our mission is to partner with the agenda of the King and help Expand His Kingdom on this Earth, and so in all we do, we come before Him desiring for His Kingdom to reign and rule in our life and on this Earth just like it is in Heaven!

SUPPLICATION

11 

Give us today our daily bread.

We are then led to bring our supplications before our Father.  Notice what Jesus describes should be our supplications, “Our daily Bread.”  Jesus tells us to ask of God what we are in Need of today!  Not what we need for tomorrow, or the next day, but what we are in need of today.  What do we need to sustain us today, to give us strength for this day?  Bring those things before the Lord!

CONFESSION

12 

And forgive us our debts,

    as we also have forgiven our debtors.

This is of course so important.  That we ask God for His forgiveness.  Oh that we would humble ourselves to the work of the Holy Spirit as He brings about conviction in our lives.  As we approach God, Jesus tells us to remember to make things right, first between us and each other, and also between us and God.  He reminds us that we must be reconciled with each other.  We are to offer forgiveness as readily as we would seek it for ourselves!  If we forgive, we will be forgiven.  Jesus elaborates on this in verse 14.  We need to be careful to not let any unrepentant sin create distance between us and God or us and each other.  

PROTECTION

13 

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.

Finally, we are to ask God for His divine protection!  That He would help us to avoid temptation and that if confronted with it that God may deliver us from it.  That He would ultimately deliver us from the evil one!  Exactly what He came to do!

This is an incredible example of a powerful life of prayer!  The disciples took this to heart, and became Mighty Men of prayer themselves.  God moved through them in ways that changed the world!  Would that we might take this to heart as well, and learn from Jesus how we are to pray!  I know that as we follow in the footsteps of Christ and give ourselves to become mighty prayer warriors,  God will move through us in such a way that will change the world too!