Warmest greetings to you, friend! I’m Mack Lyon. The program’s “In Search of the Lord’s Way.” Once when Christ’s disciples saw Him praying, they said to him, “Teach us to pray.” That’s our study today. We’ll let Jesus teach us to pray, too.
Oh say, friend! It’s so good to have you join our Bible study today. Several people have requested recently help in “how to pray.” I don’t know why these requests all came about the same time. It’s possible that some radio or TV preacher or, well, maybe some local minister said something that sort of whetted some people’s desire for more help. They could be the result of a discussion in some Bible class somewhere, in some church. I don’t know where it all came from; but well, on second thought these are too widespread over an area of that kind to have a local discussion. It could be the interest that sprang from something that Phil Sanders or I said.
Anyway, some of the most frequently asked questions about praying are: When should I pray? To whom do I pray-- to God, to Christ, to the Holy Spirit? Is there a prayer language? What may I pray about? Must I pray in the name of Christ? Should I kneel to pray? Well, that reminds me of a story, some men, so the story goes, were working on a roadway. They were discussing the proper position of the body for prayer. One thought that kneeling is the only acceptable way. Another thought that standing with bowed-head was even better. Others had their other ideas; and an electrician on the power line above them overheard their conversation and he chimed in. He said, “The best prayer I ever prayed was when I was hanging by one foot, head downward from one of these power lines.” Well, I don’t know a better teacher about praying than Jesus, do you? Ok, we’ll just go to Him for our help today. You might have thought as I did, that the twelve men that He had chosen to be the ambassadors for His new kingdom would have known how to pray. Well, apparently they felt some need of help, just as you and I do. We’re going to profit by studying what He told them in Luke 11, verses 1 to 8. We’ll read part of that passage together in a moment.
If you think you might want a free CD, or a printed copy, or an audio cassette tape of the program today, you may have it simply by mailing your request to In Search of the Lord's Way; P.O. Box 371; Edmond, OK 73083 or by e-mail to searchtv@searchtv.org. Or you may access it on our website along with Phil’s Daily Devotional and much, much more at searchtv.org. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you our telephone number; and that’s 1-800-321-8633. After the congregational singing, directed by Ken Helterbrand, I’ll be back and we’ll read Luke chapter 11, verses 1 to 4.
We are reading the first four verses of the 11th chapter of the book of Luke. “Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, ‘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 kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this 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.’” And that reads through verse 4. Now let’s go to Him in prayer. Holy Father in heaven, we are so thankful unto You for the privilege of prayer, and the teaching that we have on it in Your word so that we can know that You are listening and that You are attentive to our needs. We pray Your blessings upon our study of this subject today for we all feel the need of more teaching about how to communicate our needs and our thoughts to You. In the lovely name of Jesus, we pray. Amen!
Prayer! My! What a powerful word that is! You may have seen the little quote or maybe heard it somewhere that says, “More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.” Well, it’s true! One of the choicest blessings of being a Christian is having a heavenly Father to whom we can take our cares and our problems. Does God really answer prayers? Oh yes, He does friend! You can be absolutely sure He’s listening, and He will answer. Jesus promised, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” That is Matthew chapter 7, verses 7 to 11. And God has said in His word, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16). Then He followed that promise with an example. He said, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.” You can read the whole story about that in 1 Kings chapter 17.
Well, Jesus was a praying man, too. A person has only to read the book of Luke, from which we took our text today, to be impressed with the truth that Jesus prayed often and He prayed a lot about many things. When the news of His ministry became widespread and multitudes of people came to hear Him preach and to be healed by Him, He often retired to some secluded place and prayed. Luke says that in chapter 5, verses 15 and 16. Sometimes He spent the whole night in prayer (Luke chapter 16, verse 12). One of the greatest movements, moments I should say of His life and His earthly ministry here on this earth was praying. It was the occasion of His transfiguration and Luke says, “As He prayed, the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening.” You can read the whole story about that in Luke chapter 9, verses 27 to 36. He prayed before making important decisions, such as choosing His apostles in Luke chapter 6, and verses 12 to 16. He prayed in the time of great trial and suffering (Luke 22:41).
Undoubtedly the apostles had been impressed with the frequency, the urgency and the earnestness with which the Savior prayed and they asked Him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” If you would like to know about the power of prayer, you would probably ask a believer and a practitioner in prayer, rather than an unbeliever and a skeptic, wouldn’t you now? The apostles could find no one better suited or prepared than the Lord Himself, for help in their prayer-life. It’s been said of their request that it wasn’t, “Lord, teach us how to pray, but teach us just to do it.” Oh say, friend! That thought is, well, it has merit alright; and that hymn, number 251 in our book, “How Long Has It Been” is very probing. It asks, “How long has it been since you talked with the Lord, And told Him your heart’s hidden secrets? How long since you prayed? How long since you stayed on your knees ‘till the light shone through? How long has it been since your mind felt at ease? How long since your heart had no burden? Can you call Him your friend? How long has it been Since you knew that He cared for you?”
Well, because the apostles asked the, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples” and because of the response Jesus gave them, it seems more probable that they were asking for some kind of an outline or maybe a formula for praying a prevailing prayer, don’t you think? Well, the Lord must have thought so, and He gave them a matchless model: “Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. 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.”
Well, this has become one of the masterpieces in world literature to be sure. But that it was the form that Jesus gave was never intended to be committed to memory and prayed verbatim, as is the common practice among us. It’s obvious for a number of reasons. First, because if it were so, the words would be the same in Luke’s account as in Matthew’s in the sixth chapter of his gospel. But the phraseology is different; some phrases found in Matthew are totally absent in Luke, and Luke’s record of it contains fewer than half the number of words used in Matthew’s account of it.
Then too, when He taught them to pray in this manner, they were living in daily expectation of the coming kingdom. Their prophecies had pointed to it for centuries; and John the Baptist had said that it was at hand (Matthew 3 and 2); and Jesus had gone about all of Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom saying, “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark chapter 1, verses 14 and 15). And they, themselves, were preaching to the people that “the kingdom of God is at hand” (Matthew 10 and 7). So, He encouraged them to pray for its coming. But, when the kingdom came on the day of Pentecost (Acts chapter 2) their prayer was answered. They would stop praying for that. And so should we.
But even more important than all of that is the fact that Jesus Christ has since that time become our only Mediator between man and God (1Timothy 2:5). Our only access to God is in or by His name. At the end of His earthly ministry, when He was preparing for His departure, He said to them, “In that day (meaning the day that He’s seated at God’s right hand), you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for He Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God” (John 16:26 and 27). Yet, He made no mention of that in our text.
Therefore, in spite of the fact that what’s commonly called “the Lord’s Prayer” has no equal as a lesson in praying, it can’t be the Christian’s prayer, verbatim, because the Christian is to approach the Father’s throne in the name of the Son. Now, we are not taught to end our prayers that way; and lest my praying in the name of Christ should become a mere meaningless recitation of words, I often begin my prayers that way.
To whom should we pray? Jesus’ model teaches us to pray as a child of God to “our Father in heaven.” He follows the model immediately with the story of the friend at midnight, showing that we’re not talking about an unwilling neighbor, but about a loving, willing Father. And the father-child relationship is to assure a hearing of our petitions.
So what should I pray about? Should I ask God for a passing grade on the final exam tomorrow? Should I ask Him to give our team the win in the Friday night championship game? Should I ask for a better job with less work and more pay? Should I ask Him for a new car or a new sofa? Is anything too trivial for the Lord? And the answer is “no;” nothing that’s important to a child of God is unimportant to the Father. But the motivation may be such as to draw a negative response. The Scriptures tell us that we sometimes “ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your own pleasures” (James 4 and 3).
In the form Jesus gave, there are six petitions which answer our questions about what we should pray for. The first three have to do with God. We pray that His name might be held in reverence. And remember now that a person’s name is sometime used with reference to his person. See Acts chapter 9, verse 16. And secondly the kingdom; and thirdly that His will might prevail upon the earth as it is in heaven. The idea that prayer consists solely of “asking God” for something is an error, friend. Much of mature praying is adoration of God, communion with God, praise and thanksgiving and surrender and commitment to God and intercession.
After those three petitions, follow three more that have to do with personal needs: physical necessities; personal forgiveness; and victory over evil, and that evil would be temptation and trial. He said to pray “Give us this day our daily bread.” The lesson is that we can and we should trust God to supply our necessities, so as not to worry about such things. But, did you notice? It’s bread not cake; necessities, not luxuries. And it’s our daily needs. He doesn’t encourage hoarding or laying up a treasure in this world where moth and rust doth corrupt and thieves break through and steal (Matthew 6 and 20). And forgiveness is as essential to life as bread and the Lord teaches us to seek the Father’s forgiveness. That, my friend, necessitates self-examination and humble admission. As it is with suffering, so it is with evil. The Lord doesn’t say to pray for or to even to expect a life free from it, free from all evil. But pray for the grace to bear up and be faithful under the pressures of all the evil that surround us.
The important thing about prayer is not posture. The Bible says nothing; I mean absolutely nothing about a “prayer language.” Jesus discouraged-- well, He even soundly denounced certain words and phrases often repeated in prayer with no meaning whatsoever (Matthew chapter 6, verse 7). He taught a sincere, contrite, submission and obedient heart. Oh yes, it’s good to kneel to pray as Luke says Jesus did that in the garden (Luke 22:41). It shows humility and submissiveness. It’s good to stand when you pray as Solomon did at the dedication of the temple in 2 Chronicles chapter 6, verse 12. It commands respect. Matthew also says that Jesus fell on His face and prayed (Matthew 26:39).
Like nothing else, it’s good; well, I should say like anything else, it’s good to have set times for prayer. Pray always. Pray when you are stressed. Pray when you are tempted to do or to say or to think some evil. Pray before making important decisions. Pray when you’re troubled. Pray before meals. Do as Romans 12:12 says and “Continue steadfastly in prayer.” It’s as our friend and brother in the Lord, L.O. Sanderson, wrote in his hymn, “Pray All The Time.” He says, “There is no trial, grief or pain, No moment of the day, But that we may in Jesus’ name Incline our souls and pray.” And the chorus says, “Pray in the morning. Pray at the noontime, Pray in the evening. Pray all the time.” Let’s do it now, what do you say? Our Father in heaven, we are thankful to You for this avenue that we can come to You with all of the needs of our lives, and we can express those things to You. You understand our hearts, understand our needs, and You will listen to our prayers; and reply, respond in a way that will glorify You. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen!
We have had to be brief, but I think we covered most of the questions, if not all, that we were asked; well, except one maybe: “How can I know God is listening? The answer is one word: “faith.” “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence (or the proof) of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Several years ago Ethel Fuller wrote this little poem; she said, “If radio’s slim fingers can pluck a melody From night and toss it over a continent or sea; If the petalled white notes of a violin Are blown across the mountains or the city’s dins; If songs like crimson roses, Are culled from the thin blue air, Why should mortals wonder if God hears prayer?” Prayer is effectual, friend. Prayer works. When a righteous person prays, God listens. “The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers; but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil” (1 Peter chapter 3, verse 12).
But God doesn’t promise answer to prayer as a substitute for obedience to His will. For example: When Jesus said in our text that we should pray for our daily bread, He didn’t repeal the age-old work ethic which He stated in Ephesians 4:28. Neither do we obtain His forgiveness in prayer when we refuse to glorify the death, the burial, the resurrection of His only begotten Son by neglecting or refusing to be baptized. For, it’s in baptism that a person dies to sin, is buried like He was, and is raised as He was to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:3 and 4).
Well, if you would like a copy, a free copy, a printed copy, or a CD or an audio cassette tape of this message titled, Teach Us To Pray, simply mail your request to “In Search of the Lord’s Way; P.O Box 371; Edmond, OK 73083 or by e-mail to searchtv@searchtv.org. If you prefer you may use our toll-free telephone number: 1-800-321-8633. Furthermore, you may access the entire program at our website-- and see it, hear it, read it at searchtv.org.
Say, it’s been good to be with you today. We would be just as excited to have you attend Bible class and worship with us in a church of Christ near you. God bless you; we love you!
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