"Lord, Teach Us to Pray"
Text: Luke 11:1-13
3 December 2000
CORRECTING FALSE NOTIONS ABOUT PRAYER
It is important that we understand how the Lord Jesus practised prayer, and how He sought to teach His disciples to pray. As we study “The Lord’s Prayer” as our model of prayer, we begin to realize a number of things:-
1. Prayer is not a “power thing.”
Some people tout this slogan, “More prayer, more power”. However the Lord Jesus did not teach His disciples how to obtain power through prayer. There is not the slightest hint that prayer is a means to obtain power from God!
2. The Main Focus In Prayer Is Our Relationship With God As Father
This is an important truth to ponder over. If we are not “more powerful” because we prayed, would we still pray? If we were not wiser or better after having prayed, would we still want to learn how to pray?
Many have been driven to seek God in prayer in the hope that they would then become spiritually powerful. Yet, the plain truth is that this is not what the Lord Jesus taught at all.
“Our Father in Heaven…” What simpler words could the Lord Jesus use? He Himself almost always addressed God as “Father”. Throughout the Gospels, the Lord Jesus called upon God using His favourite term, “Father”.
There was one occasion when the Father was addressed formally, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?” (Matt.27:46). However, we understand why those words slipped through His lips. He was on the Cross, bearing the weight and burden of the entire world. He bore the judgment for the sins of the world, and that hour was dark indeed.
It was both natural and correct that the Lord Jesus should teach His disciples that the main focus in prayer is not about obtaining so-called power from God, but about learning how to relate to God in a deep, personal and precious relationship as Father.
THE APOSTLE PAUL BACKS UP THIS UNDERSTANDING
The Apostle certainly backed up this teaching. In Romans 8:15, he explained to his readers how the Holy Spirit Himself teaches us how to pray. His first lesson was to teach believers how to pray, crying, “Abba, Father”.
If the Lord Jesus Christ taught His Disciples how to address God as “Father” and if the Holy Spirit Himself teaches us how to cry out to God as “Father”, then obviously, we must do a lot of work checking up on our theology of prayer.
A PERSONAL CHECK-UP
Why do you pray? What drives you or motivates you to pray? What is the correct answer? Surely, we pray because it is the most natural thing for a child of God to do so. We pray simply because God is our Heavenly Father. We pray because we are glad that God is our Heavenly Father. And as we grow in love for our Father in Heaven, we will yearn to spend even more time with Him in prayer. Reason enough?