The Lord's Teaching On Prayer

by J.M. Gault, Portslade | Category: Prayer | Jan 1979

The disciples one day observed their Lord while He was praying, and what they saw and heard brought home to them their own inadequacy in prayer. They saw the earnestness and sincerity with which He prayed, and perhaps heard something of what He said, and it brought from them the request, "Lord, teach us to pray" (Luke 11:1). He willingly granted their request and taught them some things about prayer that they would never forget. Many of us would echo their request today, and it is timely that we should together examine the teaching of our Lord on this important matter.

He taught them not only how to pray, but also about the meaning and

value of prayer. He did not teach by word only, He also instructed them by the personal example of His own prayer life, and in two of His parables gave illustrations of prayer. Several incidents in His life when the disciples were present were also used by Him to teach them about the proper attitude to prayer; and the great body of teaching about prayer contained in the writings of the apostles assuredly owed much to the Lord's teaching ministry during the forty days prior to His ascension.

Matthew 6

Any study of the Lord's teaching about prayer must begin at Matthew 6. What He had to say on that occasion must have appeared revolutionary to His hearers. He talked of a new relationship with God; God is our heavenly Father and we are His children. That being so it should be a most natural thing for the children of God to speak to their heavenly Father as "our Father", just as earthly children would speak to their own father. It is interesting to note that the word He used for "Father" is the word abba, the nearest equivalent of which in our language would be "daddy". A relationship so intimate and personal as this makes formal language and ritual inappropriate to the concept of prayer. There is no need for formal repetitions or hackneyed phrases, nor is it necessary to dress up our requests in high-sounding language: there should be no public display of prayer. Our personal prayers are to be private and secret, behind closed doors and shut away from the world.

The so-called "Lord's prayer" of Matthew 6, loses much of its beauty and meaning by its formal repetitive use in Christian services of all kinds. Nevertheless it contains important lessons. It teaches that reverence and love should characterize our approach to our Father in heaven. It sets our priorities in that first thoughts should be of His kingdom, and that there should be a spirit of love and forgiveness towards others. Of its seven requests only one is for our earthly needs and even that is for the basic necessity of daily bread. It teaches by its brevity and simplicity that long prayers and sonorous expressions are no more effective than simple words, and that there should be no meaningless repetitions. Prayer need not be burdensome or boring, nor its practice the preserve of the educated and articulate.

The object of prayer is not that we should try to change the will of our heavenly Father; rather it is to bring our own will into correspondence with His will; "Thy will be done". We pray to secure, for ourselves and for others, blessings which God is already willing to grant, but for which He expects us to make request. While many of our earthly and bodily needs call for us to make some effort of our own in meeting them, they are undoubtedly some of the blessings which God wants to bestow upon us. Prayer is also the God-given way for us to ask for, and obtain, the higher and spiritual blessings which He is also willing to give to His children.

The Lord told His disciples to "ask in My name" (John 14:13, 15:7 and 16, 16:23-24) and they would be heard and have their prayers answered. These words have been often misunderstood and taken to mean that "in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" was a form of words that would guarantee the direct answer to any prayer, but it was not meant in that way. Rather He was speaking about prayer in accord with His mind. We pray in His name when our mind is in accord with His mind, when our desires are also the desires of Christ, when we ask for right and proper things which it is possible for God to grant us, when we pray in the spirit of prayer which He exemplified; dependent and submissive to His God and Father, with the attitude of mind, "nevertheless not My will, but Thine, be done" (Luke 22:42). This is the essential spirit of prayer.

The Lord made one pre-condition to effective prayer; "If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you" (John 15:7). This is one of the fundamentals of prayer that requires from the suppliant a deep devotion and obedience to the word of God.

The Lord's example

The Gospel by Luke, on at least ten occasions, draws our attention to the Lord at prayer, as if to portray to us His dependence upon His God and Father. The most poignant and instructive occasion so recorded is the scene in the garden of Gethsemane: it is a beautiful example of prayer. The setting was so full of drama; the tension so high; the scene so human. He was parted from His disciples about a stone's throw; He kneeled down; He spoke aloud; He made request with deep emotion and physical tension three times; but His submission to and dependence upon His God was beautifully portrayed by His words, "nevertheless not My will, but Thine, be done" (Luke 22:42).

Sometimes we seem to think that our faith is only evidenced by the exerting of our will power into prayer, as if by much prayer we can force things to happen. It is not always true that the harder we pray the more likely the request will be granted, nor is it always true that if it is not granted, we have not really prayed hard enough. Rather it is the use of the "nevertheless" that matters; the acceptance of what Paul describes as "the good and acceptable and perfect will of God" (Rom. 12:2).

The prayer of Gethsemane was a glorious example of submissive prayer and of complete obedience to and acceptance of the divine will by our Lord Jesus Christ. To follow His example is to touch the high water mark of Christian experience.

Two Parables

The Lord taught His disciples in two of His parables that they were not to be too easily discouraged in prayer. In the beautifully human and realistic parable of Luke 11:5-13, where He portrays the man arriving late at his friend's house and asking for bread, He was teaching them that if persistence can overcome the selfishness of a friend and neighbour, how much more will earnest prayer move the God of heaven, who is ever ready to listen to our prayers. Similarly in the parable of the unjust judge He showed that the suppliant was rewarded eventually because of her perseverance in her requests (Luke 18:1-8).

While perseverance in prayer is commendable we must also remember how that Moses, having been told by God that he was not to be allowed to enter the promised land, made repeated and earnest requests to be allowed to do so. Eventually he was told by God to "Speak no more unto Me of this matter. Get thee up..." (Deut. 3:23-27). There is a time to pray, but there also comes a time when, like Moses, we must cease to pray for what we want, and rather go and do the will of the Lord.

Two events

Furthermore the Lord taught His disciples by events which happened when He was with them. Perhaps they did not understand at the time, but later they would remember the practical issues of prayer that were involved. Two of these incidents we will now consider.

When Lazarus became ill (John 11:3-6) his sisters sent word to Jesus. They did not say, "come and heal our brother", they simply said, "He whom Thou lovest is sick". Jesus did not leave for Bethany immediately but waited two days, by which time Lazarus was dead. No doubt the sisters wondered why the Lord had delayed coming but they asked no questions, nor when He did come did they ask Him to raise their brother from the dead. Perhaps their faith was insufficient for that; they only knew, and said, that if the Lord had been present their brother would not have died. However, Martha had a simple faith and trust which enabled her to say "even now I know that, whatsoever Thou shalt ask of God, God will give Thee" (John 11:22). There was no need to voice the desire of their heart, the Lord knew the situation perfectly and needed no prompting. The simple expression of their faith and trust in Him had its reward, for not only did they receive their brother back from the dead, but there was declared to them, and to us, as a result of the incident, the wonderful revelation: "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth on Me, though he die, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth on Me shall never die" (John 11:25).

Mary Magdalene, on that unforgettable first day of the week, wanted something desperately. "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we know not where they have laid Him", she cried firstly to Peter and to John, and later with almost identical words to the two angels (John 20:2 and 13). Then of the man she supposed to be the gardener she asked, "Sir, if thou hast borne Him hence, tell me where thou hast laid Him, and I will take Him away". She was looking and asking for a corpse, but her request was not granted. Christ gave her much more; instead of a dead body to bury again she found her living Saviour and Lord.

From these moving incidents we can learn much. From Bethany we learn that we do not always need to tell our heavenly Father precisely what we need. He knows what we need better than we do, but our prayers should show that we have the faith to accept that God can do all things, if it is His will. His will often exceeds our expectations. All that we need do is speak to Him about the situation which exists, and then trust Him. Job said "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him" (Job 13:15 A.V.). From Mary Magdalene and her experience' we can learn that what may seem to be our pressing need is not always what is best for us. We must try to look beyond the here and now to comprehend the wider issue involved. "I will stand upon my watch (tower)" (Hab. 2:1). Prayer provides for us a vantage point from which we can view the world and its affairs. In close communion with God we can see things as He sees them, and we can know that all is well. Then like Habakkuk we shall be able to say "I... will look forth to see what He will speak with me, and what I shall answer

Prayer in the Church gatherings

Christ also taught His disciples about praying together (Matt. 18:20) and promised them the blessing of His own presence when they were so gathered. His words had in view prayer in the context of churches of God and their collective witness and work. The house of God was to be a house of prayer for all peoples (Isa. 56:7, Matt. 21:13). Each church of God should continue in that work; continuing steadfastly ... in the prayers (Acts 2:41 42). The church at Jerusalem was seen in united prayer for Peter when he was in prison, and with startling results. Similarly in Philemon 22, Paul expected that the prayers of the saints would be instrumental in his release from prison. The people of God in the churches of God were to have the widest possible scope in their united prayers: "I exhort therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers,

intercessions, thanksgivings, be made for all men; for kings and all that are in high place" (1 Tim. 2:1-2).

This aspect of prayer in the churches will be considered more fully in a later article, but sufficient to say at present that much of what the apostles had to teach about prayer would have had its origin in the Lord's discourses during the forty days. The later lives and letters of the apostles contain ample evidence that the Lord's teaching had made a deep impression upon them. Their own practice of prayer and their exhortations to the churches echoed this teaching, and from the rich inheritance of their ministry we learn to value prayer more highly, and practise it more diligently, and in so doing enrich our Christian experience.

John 17

Perhaps the most lasting memory of all the Lord's teaching on prayer would be that of His own prayer on the night of His betrayal. The apostles were privileged that night to listen to God the Son speaking to God the Father in what has been called the "High Priestly Prayer". It was a moment of great tension and yet He was calm and serene. His eyes were on the glory of which He was assured, seeing beyond the travail of the next few hours. His prayer was one of intercession; first for His disciples and their great need after His departure from them; then for their outreach to others, and lastly for the final consummation when they would be glorified with Him. It was a great teaching prayer, recorded for us in what appears to be its entirety: teaching the wonderful fact of the intercession of the Son of God for all believers; teaching that in the crises of life, prayer can provide the means whereby the mind and heart can find peace by seeing beyond the present distress to the glory that will yet be; teaching that when perhaps our own need is at its greatest our main concern should still be for others.

J.M. Gault, Portslade | Jan 1979
Prayer