Tag Archives: prayer

Lord, Teach Us to Pray

As the disciples saw Him pray  and they remembered that none can pray like him,  we can understand the disciples in Matthew 6, saying  “Lord, teach us to pray”. There is something about the Lord’s prayer that touched them.  I wish we had the words that were said, but all we have is what is mentioned in Matthew 6 at this point.  When we think about all he is, and has done, and think about Him being our life, we feel confident that if we just ask that He would take us into a closer fellowship with Himself.  In that close fellowship we expect Him to teach us to pray as He only can pray.

This is based on some portion from the book With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray.

Prayer is an Always Thing

“Men ought always to pray, and “-although faintness of spirit attends on prayer like a shadow-“not faint.” The soil in which the prayer of faith takes root is a life of unbroken communion with God, a life in which the windows of the soul are always open towards the City of Rest. We do not know the true potency of prayer until our hearts are so steadfastly inclined to God that our thoughts turn to Him, as by a Divine instinct, whenever they are set free from the consideration of earthly things. It has been said of Origen (in his own words) that his life was “one unceasing supplication.” By this means above all others the perfect idea of the Christian life is realized. Intercourse between the believer and his Lord ought never to be interrupted.

“The vision of God,” says Bishop Westcott, “makes life a continuous prayer.” And in that vision all fleeting things resolve themselves, and appear in relation to things unseen. In a broad use of the term, prayer is the sum of all the service that we render to God,8 so that all fulfillment of duty is, in one sense, the performance of Divine service, and the familiar saying, “Work is worship,” is justified. “I am prayer,” said a Psalmist (Psa. cix. 4). “In everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,” said an Apostle.

This is a quote from Hidden Life of Prayer by David MacIntyre

Moses the Man of Prayer

These are quotes from The Inner Chamber by Andrew Murray on Moses the man of prayer.

Moses’ Prayers—In Egypt, from his first call, Moses prayed.  He asked God what he was to say to the people, Exodus 3:11-13.   He told Him all his weakness, and besought Him to be relieved of his mission, 4:1-13.   When the people reproached him that their burdens were increased, he went and told God, 5:22, and he made known to Him all his fears, 6:12.  This was his first training.  Out of this was born his power in prayer when, time after time, Pharaoh asked him to entreat the Lord for him, and deliverance came at Moses’ request (8:8-9, 12,etc)

Think of the place God had in Moses’ life, as the God who had sent him, the God to whom he was totally devoted, the God who had promised to be with him, and who would and did always help him when he prayed.

Now for the practical application:  How to learn to pray like Moses?  We cannot secure this grace by an act of the will.  Out first lesson must be the sense of impotence.  Then grace will work it in us, slowly and surely, if we give ourselves into its training.  But though the training will be gradual, there is one thing that can be done at once. We can at once decide to give ourselves to this life and take up the right position.  Do this now.  Take the decision, to LIVE ENTIRELY TO BE A CHANNEL FOR GOD’S BLESSING TO FLOW THROUGH YOU TO THE WORLD.  TAKE THE STEP.  If need be, take ten minutes for deliberate thought.  Accept the Divine appointment, and take up some object of intercession.

Prayer is the best way to start the day

The following is a quote from Robert Murray M’Cheyne:

“I ought to pray before seeing any one. Often when I sleep long, or meet with others early, it is eleven or twelve o’clock before I begin secret prayer. This is a wretched system. It is unscriptural. Christ arose before day and went into a solitary place. David says: ‘Early will I seek thee’; ‘Thou shalt early hear my voice.’ Family prayer loses much of its power and sweetness, and I can do no good to those who come to seek from me. The conscience feels guilty, the soul unfed, the lamp not trimmed. Then when in secret prayer the soul is often out of tune, I feel it is far better to begin with God—to see his face first, to get my soul near him before it is near another.”

Prayer sets the direction for the day and lines up the day with God’s interests, God’s will and God’s purposes. Also consider the verse in
Psalms 88:13 But to You I have cried out, O LORD, And in the morning my prayer comes before You.  The morning time is the best time to get started with God.

Here’s another quote from Robert M’Cheyne “Rose early to seek God and found Him whom my soul loveth. Who would not rise early to meet such company?”

The Spirit is our Wonderful Prayer Helper

Sometimes we start to pray but cannot get a direction, or we have the prayer direction, but we don’t have the words. Also sometime we may not know the best balance between prayer and action. The Holy Spirit is our wonderful prayer helper. In Romans chapter 8, a great chapter on living the christian life in spirit Paul says  “26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit because He makes intercession for the saints according to God. ”  So count on the Sprit to always be ready to help you in your prayer time.

Encouragement when we do not see God

Isaiah 41:10 Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’    This means we should be encouraged even when we do not see God in our daily environment.  God is there, He will strengthen and hold us up.

We sometimes rely upon our feelings to indicate God’s presence, but our feeling are many times not accurate.  The one sure way is to trust by faith in what God says in His Word.   All that counts is what God says, not what our feeling feel.  We may feel up or feel down, but regardless God is there and we know by faith that He answers prayer.

 

Elijah prayed in 1 Kings 18:36

Elijah prayed in 1 Kings 18:36 And it came to pass … that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, … I have done all these things at thy word.   37 Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou [art] the LORD God, …

Every pray is heard by God. Long prayers and short prayers are all listed to by the God of the universe.  Never worry of the prayer is not correct, maybe the wrong words or too short.  Just pray and let God take it from there.

God even loves our short prayers.

 

 

The Lord’s Prayer (1) – Our Father who is in heaven…

I want to read a passage out of the book of Matthew. It says, “Pray, then, in this way. Our Father who is in heaven, may Your name be sanctified. May Your Kingdom come. May Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And supply us today what we need and forgive us our wrongs as we forgive the wrongs of others. Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” This is a prayer, or I would say a model prayer, given by the Lord Jesus. Well, today on this program, In the Beginning, we want to cover this prayer and we want to cover some principles regarding prayer in the Bible.

The context for this prayer if after Jesus’ disciples asked Him, “How do you pray?” What do you do when you pray?” Jesus covers several points. He says, first of all, “Don’t pray like the hypocrites.” In other words, don’t pray like people who are praying because they want attention or they want to look spiritual or religious, and so on like that. Secondly, He says when you pray don’t use vain repetitions. In other words, don’t just repeat something over and over again; thinking that by repeating it you are going to get some kind of favor from God. No, repetition doesn’t gain favor from God. Now that doesn’t mean you can’t take a portion of the Bible or a certain prayer that is your favorite and say it over and over again. No, it is talking about vain repetition. In other words, if what you are saying and what you are praying is not coming from your heart, and how you feel, and your desires, then that is not real prayer. Jesus then gives what people call the model prayer or the Lord’s Prayer. It has different names. Just before that prayer, Jesus told them that your Father already knows what you need before you pray. You might ask the question, “Then why do we pray?” Well, we get into that in just a minute. Let’s read again from the book of Matthew. “Our Father, Who is in heaven, may Your name be sanctified. May Your Kingdom come. May Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” Then He says, “Give us today, Father, what we need for today. Forgive us our wrongs as we forgive the wrongs of others.” Then He says, “Don’t lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil.”

Now when you get into this prayer you have to ask a couple questions. When Jesus talks about prayer in the book of John, especially in chapters 14, 15, 16, and 17, He mentions the phrase, “Ask in My name” six times. In the book of Matthew He doesn’t say it that way. He uses this model prayer, what we call the Lord’s Prayer. In the book of John you don’t have that prayer. In the book of John (and John is a book of life), He says, “Ask in My name”. In fact, in John 14-17, He says it six times, but He does not say this in the book of Matthew. If you study the whole book of Matthew, you will see that Matthew is a book on the Kingdom. The Kingdom relates to a king, and the King is Jesus Christ. And the Kingdom that He is reigning over, or should be reigning over is us, God’s people. Now in the book of Matthew He doesn’t say, “Ask in My name”. Instead He gives this kind of prayer. Now why does He give this kind of prayer? This prayer, the Lord’s prayer I would call it, is really a prayer for spiritual warfare. You see there is a fight or battle going on here. You could say there is a fight between good and evil. You could say there is a fight between things that are positive and negative.

As an eBook on Olive Tree see The Lord’s Prayer by Drew Haninger