| |
Christians are so called because
of their allegiance to Christ. Put simply they follow Him; put
more profoundly, they are His disciples. To be a disciple,
then, means to follow Christ; His teachings and His example.
These two principles are brought together in Luke 11 v 1 where
Christ’s disciples observe Christ’s example and are moved to
ask “Lord, teach us to pray”.
On reading this, one has to wonder why the disciples didn’t
ask this most vital of questions earlier and behind this is a
fundamental principle of prayer that people cannot be forced
to pray. They can be forced to recite words, but that is not
real prayer, which can only stem from an inward desire to be
like our Lord, to be a true disciple by following His supreme
example.
A glance through the preceding chapters of Luke reveal some of
the works the disciples had been involved in until this point,
curing diseases and casting out demons for example. Yet
despite such responsibility they ask to be taught how to pray,
showing that from the most prominent apostles to lowly
fishermen, we need to pray and furthermore need to be taught
how to pray. ‘Us’ is an inclusive term, but not as inclusive
as ‘all’. Asking Christ to teach “all” to pray would have been
a request bathed in folly, as true prayer is reserved for
Christ and His disciples.
We can learn a lot about prayer from the way that they came to
Christ, “Lord”. To call someone Lord, and to mean it, requires
humility, which is the foundation stone of prayer. A sinner
who is convicted of his sin and the awfulness of it comes to
Christ and in repentance prays for forgiveness, having humbled
himself to do so. A true disciple coming to the Lord in prayer
does so in utter humility knowing he is nothing, coming before
the One who is everything. A grim characteristic of our modern
culture is the disrespect for authority and this must not
spill into the prayers of disciples else, like the dead flies
in costly fragrance, it pollutes the church.
When we pray to the Lord we pray to the only One who is worthy
of all of our praise and our adoration. His glory, holiness,
majesty and splendour should lead us to pray with Christ
“hallowed be Your Name” and to emulate the Psalmist with
heartfelt expressions of praise. The Lord, by definition, is
sovereign and when we pray we must let His Lordship,
sovereignty, be evident. The One who controls events in this
world must not be subject to treatment which can only be
likened to that of a small child writing a wishful list to
Father Christmas. Nor must the sovereign King be presented
with clever man-made plans and informed that He must ‘bless’
them!
Rather, when true disciples pray they do so with a desire to
know what God has purposed and what He deems best for us. True
disciples are so consumed in the will of God that they have
truly learned the true nature of prayer, namely that prayer
should strengthen our appreciation of God and further convince
us of our utter dependence upon Him. A W Pink wisely said of
prayer “the chief aim is to exalt the Creator and abase the
creature”, and as Christ modelled; “Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven…for Yours is the kingdom, the
power and the glory”.
In my experience as a school teacher I have observed that
people do not ask to be taught something until and unless they
feel their need for it. Disciples today need to be taught how
to pray but first they need to feel their need of prayer. They
need to experience a heartfelt yearning for the Lord to be
glorified in their lives and be taught the expression of such
in prayer. As a school teacher my job is to move students on
in their knowledge and skills; on a far greater scale
disciples need to ‘moved on’ in their living knowledge of the
Lord and this requires teaching; teaching that is best
administered by the most excellent teacher of all, the Lord.
In coming to so great a teacher with so deep a request we need
to carefully examine the detail of such a request. It is not a
desire to be taught the mechanics of prayer, but rather be
taught prayer itself. In giving us a model prayer our Lord did
not give a divine formula or a secret password to unlock
instant ‘results’. Rather, He shows us the best way to be
taught prayer… prayer.
The request “Lord, teach us to pray” is in itself a prayer and
true disciples learn prayer by prayer. They learn how best to
praise God and submit to His sovereign will when in prayer.
May we all aspire to be true disciples and experience the
spiritual longing within us that cries out: “Lord… teach us to
pray.”
Amen.
Interested in this article? Comment to make? Click here to
send your feedback
|
|