Lk.11:1 – It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, when He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray…”
No one ever prayed like Jesus did. He often said He only said the things He heard His Father say and He only did the things He saw His Father do. This is a description of an absolute open line of communication between the Father and the Son. He had walked in this union from eternity, He continued to practice this intimacy while among us on earth, and He now continues His life of intercession at the Father’s right hand. The disciples recognized that the prayer life of Jesus was the source of His power in ministry as well as the favor He walked in. Jesus walked in the power of God because of His life of communion with His Father. Here is how Murray describes this.
“It is on prayer that the promises wait for their fulfillment, the kingdom for its coming, and the glory of God for its full revelation. But how slothful and unfit we are for this blessed work. Only the Spirit of God can enable us to do it right. How speedily we are deceived into resting in the form, while the power is lacking. Our early training, the teaching of the church, the influence of habit, and the stirring of the emotions – how easily these lead to prayer that has no spiritual power and avails little. True prayer takes hold of God’s strength and avails much – to which the gates of heaven are opened wide. Who would not cry, “Oh, for someone to teach me to pray like that!” Jesus has opened a school in which He trains His redeemed ones who desire especially to have power in prayer. Shall we not enter it with the petition, “Lord, we need to be taught this. Oh, teach us to pray.”
Prayer gives us access to the supernatural power of God. Without His power working in our lives we have no chance to help the broken people in our world. When you come to that conclusion you will realize your need to ramp up your prayer life. Spending time alone with Him will effect every part of your life. Lord teach us to pray! As we draw near to the Lord the obvious result will be being clothed with God’s power.
1 thought on “LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY”
We must ask ourselves “have we settled for the watered down or worse imitation” when it comes to our spiritual health. Do we even read the labels, get to know anything about what we are taking into ourselves. Makes me think about “my people perish from their lack of knowledge.” Do we really choose to continue on in weakness when supernatural awaits our putting it to use?