LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY

Luke 11:1-13

By Brenda Mayfield

 

Prayer Support for Women receives e-mails from many who are hurting. And their prayer needs are great. Some are quite ill, others in financial crisis, and many in a broken marriage. God hears their cries.

 

Perhaps you are crying out to God. He is holding your need and—most importantly—your heart. Prayer is essential because it connects you with the Teacher.

 

Jesus knew the necessity of prayer and prayed often. His prayers were powerful and effective. One of the disciples asked, “Lord, teach us to pray.”

 

Let us, too, ask, “Lord, teach us to pray.”

 

In Luke 11:2-4, Jesus instructs us to

• honor our Father’s sacred name
• invite the work of His kingdom & His will
• ask for our daily bread
• seek His forgiveness, as we forgive others
• request He lead us away from temptation
• receive deliverance from evil.

And His instructions continue. In verse eight, He said to be persistent in prayer. Does this mean we demand or beg like a whining toddler? What if we promise to be good? Or can we nag—with polite words of course—until we finally get what we want?

 

To be persistent is to wait while inviting God to respond to our needs. It takes time to ask according to His will, to seek His promises and provisions, and to find the appropriate doors on which to knock. To be persistent is to remain before God, showing Him our confidence in His faithfulness to help.

 

Jesus further directs us to keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. “For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door shall be opened” (verse 10).

 

Jesus concluded that sinful man can give good gifts to their children, so how much more does our heavenly Father know how to give good gifts to us? Perhaps we are not waiting on God—as if He needs more time—but on our own learning. Jesus did not say, “Ask and you shall receive immediately.” Instant gratification does not provide us time for learning. Some things are worth waiting for, especially God’s good gifts.

 

If you find yourself having to persist in prayer and wait with patience, consider it an honor. Your faith is worthy to be tested. Through perseverance, it will come forth as gold. God’s answers for you are in process.

 

In his book, Teach Me to Pray, Andrew Murray prefaced, “The place and power of prayer in the Christian life is too little understood.” He stated, “It is on prayer that the promises wait for their fulfillment, the kingdom waits for its coming, and the glory of God waits for its full revelation.”

 

Again we ask, “Lord, teach us to pray.”

 

“Father in Heaven, Your Holy Name is consecrated in my mind and heart. I honor You with my life. Let your kingdom come and will be done here on earth and in me. Provide my body daily bread and my soul, nutrition from Your Word. Forgive my wrongs, as I forgive those who wrong me. Lord, lead me not into temptation to give up, walk away, or assume You cannot hear me. Deliver me from evil distractions and my sinful nature.

 

I will persist in prayer, willing to learn from You as I wait. Remind me to seek Your kingdom & Your righteousness above all else. Lead me to the doors on which to knock. I trust You hear my prayers and will help me, my gracious Father. Thank You, in Jesus Name, amen.”