Teach Us to Pray...

Teach us to pray…

During one of the many times that I truly examine my relationship with the Lord, I often find that I am not measuring up to what I preach.  What I preach is, the necessity of a consistent maintenance of that relationship, what I find is my life and actions are not hitting the mark, the prize that is laid before me seems unattainable.  Too often the sin of omission overtakes us while we journey through this world.  It is too easy to get away from being Christ centered and slip to the world, and our human nature.  Point is without the intimacy in our relationship with God it will become an estranged relationship.  It is in times like these that when we ask, and don’t receive, it is because we ask amiss; ask over a broken connection.  Sin, can be either in action, or in apathy; that does not change the fact that sin is sin and alienates us from the intimate love relationship with Jesus.

Now that I moved pass the big obstacle of effective prayers, lets tackle prayer itself.  Pastor’s libraries are filled with books on how to pray, and from authors who seem to have a problem with effectual prayer.  If anyone should be able to pray effectually it would stand to reason that a Pastor would, right? – in most cases that is right, most pastors spend their time surrounded by spiritual influences, not surrounded by the ways of the world, and the covert ungodly agents of the adversary, hanging all over most people that the regular Christian has about him or her, on a daily basis, as they attempt to make it through day. 

Think about it; if you work outside the home, who and what are you surrounded by?  Unless you work for a local church or Christian ministry, chances are you will be exposed to the “diabolical depravation of the human nature” most of the time you are away from your harbor, which protects you spiritually; hopefully it is your home, however, we have compromised our homes from being our harbor of peace.  We have invited the world to come in, through TV, computers, game stations, iphones, and radios, none of which are bad in and of themselves, what makes them bad is our use of them.

“Lord, teach us to pray” - as John also taught his disciples.”  So He said to them, “when you pray, say: … Our father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.  Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us day by day our daily bread.  And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.  And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.”  (Lk. 11: 1b – 4,) in this account we have a disciple coming to Jesus and asking him, to teach them to pray.  In the Matthew account, (And it does not take a ThD to see that they are the same “model prayer”, erroneously called “The Lord’s Prayer”).  Way back in the day, we recited “the Lord’s Prayer” every morning in our home room along with the Pledge of Allegiance, which I believe was a good thing, and it really offended no one, or their families, and was never an issue until liberal Atheists decided to make it an issue.  It was a time when children were educated properly and effectively.  The so-called “offensive to someone”, brings to mind the name of a great song, “Jesus, Jesus, just the mention of Your name….” it is the mention of the name of God, and Jesus, God the Son, that people don’t like; because in considering it, it reveals their sin.

 When I preach a sermon on this topic, I generally use both Matthew and Luke as the scripture foundation, then write as the Spirit leads, in this article I will focus on the Mathew account from the Sermon on the Mount. Some theologians like H.A. Ironside, (A great theologian from the 40—60s era), a great preacher of the Gospel and a keen Bible scholar, but even though I like him does not mean I have to agree with him all the time.  Ironside wrote concerning the Sermon on the Mount, that it was not a sermon at all, but a setting forth the Kingdom principals, which is a true statement, I do however, disagree that it is not a sermon, just that Jesus was not preaching on the Gospel, but on principals, and when you read the whole of the sermon, it is very long, which many preacher’s sermons of today are; many of mine included.

Nonetheless, the “model prayer”, is sandwiched in the middle of the whole sermon.  And there is no indication that a disciple asked for the instruction.  My thought on this, is the account in Matthew did not mention the bold and impertinent interruption, which would have brought immediate rebuke from most of the preachers of our day.  Nonetheless, Jesus explains not only to his disciples but to the crowd gathered there on the slope.

“And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites, For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men.  Assuredly, I say to you they have their reward.”  “But you, when you ray go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”  “And when you pray do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do, For they think that they will be heard for their many words.  Therefore, do not be like them For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.”   “In this manner, therefore pray:  Our Father in heaven Hallowed be Your name Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread, And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.  And do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.” 

 

Okay, first off, Jesus does not instruct us not to pray in public.  That is a myth, unnecessarily held by those who are afraid to pray in public, afraid they don’t sound good, or will not know what to say, or their style may not sound like deacon Jones who likes the sound of his voice, and his style of flowery Queen Ann’s English from the King James era, (Not that they are bad, there are times I wish I sounded like they do), I have been asked by church going Christians: “You mean you pray and bless your Big Mac in the restaurant?” Yes and grab a hand of people who ask me to pray for them, on the sidewalk, or a parking lot, or a public gathering as well.  Nor does Jesus exhort us to kneel or we must physically position our body a certain way; that is instigated by our preferences in showing our sincere humility before the Throne of God.  Some people use candles, the opened Bible on a holder attached to a kneel pad; Jesus is telling us not pray to be seen and heard of men, or people; we are praying to God, in the name of the Lord Jesus. 

While serving in the Pastorate, I would go into the sanctuary sit in one of the chairs, face the cross over the baptistery and there in dim light read scripture, generally from the Psalms, and tell God what I had just read, it was changed by the Holy Spirit as He applied it to my heart and circumstance, my petition would be from a prayer stand, which one of the men had made me for my study; there were times when I would lay face down in the dark of the sanctuary, before the alter, (the Lords Supper table, which stands in front of the pulpit in most Baptist sanctuaries), depending on how much the enemy was trying to distract me in my prayer.; all this is simply a physical stimulation to aid you in your prayers when the enemy is trying to interrupt your intimacy with God.

Nonetheless, the first part of the Model Prayer, is to recognize and humbly confess the sovereign Lordship of God in my life, seeking His will, and that His will be done, not mine, after all, I was there in His presence to communicate, to talk with Him; not try to argue my will with Him.  Jesus prayed: “If this cup pass from me least I drink of it, but not my will, Your will be done,” His complete surrender of His human will, of His human nature.

Next, we should pay attention to the petition of God’s graceful sufficiency in meeting our daily needs, “Give us this day our daily bread,” then the next words of instruction, are “And forgive our debts, (sins), and here it gets a bit hard; God desires us to confess our sins as debts against Him, and not in an ambiguous “if” or “where”, in thought, deed, and apathetically not doing what we know we are supposed to, are sin, and He wants us to hear our brokenness vocalized so that our ears will hear the ugliness of our particular sin, the Holy Spirit has brought it to mind for you to confess with your lips to God who is able and has the power and authority to forgive and give you the absolution of the debt, this must be done with the brokenness of a repentful heart, simply meaning you will do your level best not to do it again.  All this confession and forgiveness is conditional however, with the next words of the instruction: “As we (I) forgive our (my) debtors”; those who have sinned against us, (me). 

God is not willing to forgive you of your sin, if you are not willing to forgive sin perpetrated against you, why should He, if you will not?  I have heard people sited in my study telling me of something someone did to them, and in the same breath say “I won’t forgive them”, perhaps expecting me to affirm their conviction of their need to forgive, nonetheless, I always answer, you must forgive, if they ask for it or not you must forgive willingly, or God will shut out your confession and plea for forgiveness. 

Therefore, and I believe this, God will not entertain your prayers, he will not hear any prayer except a repentful confession, and your forgiveness of sin perpetrated against you.  Your prayers bounce off the ceiling of your closet, without first repentful confession, and your forgiveness, which includes forgiving yourself!  Jesus taught us to forgive others and to love others as we love ourselves, the prerequisite to forgiveness of others is forgiving ourselves, just as the prerequisite for loving others is to love ourselves.

“And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”  Now make that personal, Lord do not lead me into temptation, Lord don’t let me fall to the temptations of evil, and sin, I don’t have the strength of myself, but with your help I will not sin when tempted.  And deliver me from Satan and his demons and devils, Lord you know they are hanging around all about me, deliver me from their control in my life, let me be free to live my life for you, and pleasing to you.

Recognize and confess God’s ownership over all things and his sovereignty of rule in His kingdom, His mighty awesome sovereign power over all that exists, now and forever.  He is the uncaused cause of all in existence, for nothing exists apart from Him.  And don’t forget to include thanksgiving and appreciation for all that He has provided for you, especially salvation and eternal life.

My prayer life includes the fusion of the model prayer into the general body of my prayer; I have additions, if you will, depending on the present circumstance or situation for which I am petitioning God’s grace or required action.  Needless to say, each will develop your own as you enhance your prayer life; however, this is the application of Jesus’ instruction to us on how to pray.

Thank you for allowing me to share with you, and join me in prayer that my little commentary may help someone pray aright, and not amiss, that the Holy Spirit may use it to encourage just one to pray, and increase their love relationship with the Lord… Thank You.

R.S. Helms