Lord, Teach Us to Pray

Lord, Teach Us to Pray

“And it came to pass when He was alone, one of His disciples said unto Him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray.’” Luke 11:2.

Jesus alone can teach us to pray. There was something in the quality, or the expression of this prayer which fascinated His disciples, carnal though they were. When He had ceased, one spoke to Him the desire of all, that He should teach them to pray as He prayed.

The man who prays in the spirit will always grip the attention of the hearer, even though the hearer be carnal. When one man finds gold, others follow him, that they may share with him the benefit of his discovery. So here in this prayer of our Lord, the disciples had found a mine of spiritual wealth. It would be well for all men if this aspect of our Lord’s ministry was more carefully studied, that they might discover not only the secret of His power but the source of it.

Jesus not only lived a life of prayer during the three and a half years of His earthly ministry, but He now carries on that same ministry on behalf of His saints; for “He ever lives to make intercession for us.” Heb. 7:25. He is not only the Master and the exponent of prayer; but He is the very breath of prayer itself. We pray not only through Him, but in Him, and by Him.

Whatever man may teach of prayer, he can only give out that which he has received from the divine Teacher. A man may teach much about practical mining engineering, but all the theories of the world on metallurgy will avail little, unless the gold itself is there. Even so in our relation to this great wealth of prayer; our theories may be good and right, but for the gold itself we must sit at the feet of Him whose life was prayer, that we might be taught the order of prayer as he prayed it.

How shall we pray? In Matt. 6:6, Jesus gives us a prayer lesson: “Enter into your inner chamber, and having shut your door, pray to your Father which is in secret, and your Father which sees in secret will reward you openly.”

There are six acts in this lesson: First, “Enter into your inner chamber.” That inner chamber in which there dwells the Spirit of God, that spirit-chamber which alone has access to God, that Holy of Holies in the new man, born of the Spirit, in which alone man has communion without his Father; that secret, solitary life in which every man lives unknown to his nearest and dearest friends; a place cut off from all other places, a chamber secret indeed, in which all his spirit-born life finds expression of prayers to the Unseen. Therefore, says Jesus, “enter into your inner chamber.” Paul emphasises the same teaching when he writes: “With all prayer, and with all supplication in the Spirit.” This is a deliberate act, and is no less than entering a room, locking the door and barring entry to all and sundry. ‘‘Our spiritual progress is from the outward, through the inward; to the inmost. Upward is inward, outward it is downward. That is, God is in the centre, being the most inward; matter in the circumferences being the most outward. God is in the outward, as His footstool; but in the most inward, as His throne.”

Second, there must be a “shut door.” This is not so much a shutting in as a shutting out. Is it not remarkable that at the moment a soul prays, the mind, which previous to that moment had been passive, becomes suddenly alert and active, the brain becoming the centre of many seething thoughts with no tangible purpose, except to hinder the progress of that act of prayer. Hence the necessity of the “shut door.” But this is not merely an endeavour to close the mind by an act of will, but rather it is a prayer in itself for divine power to shut off those Satanic attacks. God alone can accomplish this feat, and we have need to learn, as a fundamental lesson, that there is much “prayer preparatory to prayer.” There must be prayer in order that the body and mind may be quieted by the Spirit of God’

Third: “Pray to the Father.” “You have received the spirit of adoption, whereby you cry ‘Abba, Father.’” The work of the Holy Spirit in His most essential office is to enable the child to cry. This cry indicates life. A dead child cannot cry: the first proof of its natural life is the cry of the babe. This appeal to the Father is an acknowledgement of sonship; hence, our Lord instructs that all prayer should be directed to the Father, while in other scriptures we are told that prayer is to be in the Name of the Son and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Prayer, therefore, becomes an expression embracing Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Fourth: God is Spirit; hence, it comes that prayer must be made to the Father who is “in secret,” so that the secrecy in Him, and the secrecy in the spirit of man may correspond in the communion of God and man. There are two hidden forces in prayer: the human spirit first gives expression under the tuition of the Holy Spirit; and second, the Spirit of God, whom no man has seen. Though these are unseen elements to the “natural” man, yet the Father penetrates the spirit of man, and He sees that which is behind and beyond language. “He sees in secret,” and the Holy Spirit helps us in our limitations of language, of expression, of communion; and He intercedes for us with “unutterable groanings.”

Fifth: Whilst prayer is a secret ministry, the reward of prayer is invariably an open witness to the glory of God. “Your Father which sees in secret shall reward you openly.” Hence, we are told to “watch and pray.” How many of the children of God watch the course of their prayers? How many watch with understanding? Though the effects of prayer are manifest, they begin in the secret place.

Sixth: Whilst the one is a secret ministry with God, the other can be seen in its effects upon one’s own life, upon the lives of others, or even upon a circle of men, upon towns, cities, and continents. To trace the action of prayer, as portrayed in the providences of God, is at once one of the most quickening exercises of faith that can be engaged in by the child of God. “I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also.” (1 Cor. 14:15).