"Lord teach us to pray"

My notes from a sermon on 20 March 2011

Luke 11 verses 1 – 13

“Lord teach us to pray”

Can you see this man, now he is a follower of the Lord Jesus, he can look back to the day when he left everything to follow Christ, calling him to be a fisher of men, to follow in Jesus’ footsteps. He had left his home, his family and his work to follow after Christ. On this day he sees the Lord praying and waits until he is finished then asks “Lord teach us to pray”. As we look at this phrase surely it is the most wonderful phrase ever uttered from a man or woman. The request is as relevant today as when first it was first uttered. As followers of Christ we need to be praying followers. As look at this man who steps out from the crowd we see the character of these disciples.

The first characteristic is this – the great honour bestowed from this man’s lips. He is not thinking of himself but rather the furtherance of the kingdom of God. Although he might be saved he wants to pray but pray effectively. He comes to the master and says “Lord teach us to pray.” The very honour that comes from his lips is this great request. This disciple had a tremendous example before him. He sees the Lord himself. He doesn’t ask “Lord teach us to pray that we might be able to pray more effectively. Isn’t it a great thing to be an example to others? Maybe in our prayer life or our witnessing life? Here’s this man and he comes saying “Lord”. He is owning him as Lord. He was king of his life, owned him as his closest friend. It is never too late to pray. There is no situation too far on not to pray. When we begin to pray we bring the greatest honour and glory to the Lord. God does nothing but in answer to prayer. That is where we need to be today. We need to be pleading and begging with the Lord. Remember when the Children of Israel were down in Egypt in bondage under Pharoah. God looked down on them time and again. He saw their afflictions, how badly they were treated, how many obstacles were before them. It wasn’t until he heard their cries, their pleading and prayers that he did something about it. He sent Moses to deliver them out of Egypt. Peter lay in that dark prison cell hours before his death. Little did he know there was a prayer meeting going on for his rescue. The angel brought Peter out of the prison cell that night. It wasn’t until that group began to pray, when they got together to pray, when Peter was in their thoughts and hearts and minds that God answered. The group sent one little girl to the door because of the knocking. They wouldn’t believe the girl when she came back and told them it was Peter at the door. That night they prayed and prayed through until the God of heaven moved in a mighty way. When Hannah had no child, when she was the brunt of all jokes, it wasn’t until she went into the temple and began to pour out her heart to God that her prayer was answered. God gave her a son. It is not too late to pray to the God of heaven. The gospels tell us of a woman with an issue of blood. For years she had been in this condition. It affected her social life. She couldn’t find a cure. It wasn’t until she set all of this aside and gave the Lord the glory and honour that she was cured. It was only when she touched the hem of Jesus’ garment. She pushed right through and honoured God. This man was honouring God. If only he could learn how to pray. There was one thing he realised he need to do – pray. Ephesians 6 lists the armour of God that we need to put on and at the very end it says “with much prayer”. When our nation raises their voice to the God of heaven he will turn in mercy, he will hear our prayers and answer them.

There is a great honesty shown here. This request revealed there was something lacking in his life. He is a follower of Christ. He is walking and intimate with the Lord day by day. He speaks to him. He listens to him. He is trained by him. Down in his heart there is something he cannot get for himself and so he says “teach us to pray”. He is honestly saying Lord I am not where I should be. He has been nominated to speak on behalf of the disciples. He asks the Lord to address this problem in their lives. C H Spurgeon was given a brand new gleaming bicycle. He parked it outside his church. There was another member who had what could be classed as a boneshaker of a bicycle. Spurgeon used to jab at the man about his bike. He asked the man “wouldn’t it be difficult to ride?” The man replied no and got on the bike and rode off into the distance. Spurgeon tried to catch up with him on his brand new bike and he couldn’t. C H Spurgeon realised then he had the machine but the other man had the power. That is what we need. We can have the machinery but not the power. Here was an honest character, he admitted to God he didn’t have the power spiritually speaking.

We see the hunger this man had. He wasn’t content going through the motions. He wanted to have this great ability that he might pray. He aspired to it. There was never a lesson from the Lord about how to preach or how to move a congregation but rather on how to pray. That is the one thing we need. Maybe when Jesus prayed the atmosphere changed for the disciples. Remember the night in Gethsemane when Jesus started to pray and he wept? He was in anguish. That is more than just a few nice words. Is there a hunger for the Lord today? Spiritually speaking? Are we here to go through the motions? Have we that anguish today? The disciples needed power to equip them to face every situation that came their way. There was a young man who brought his son to the Lord. The son was possessed with the devil. The Lord had gone up into the Mount of Transfiguration so only his disciples were present. They couldn’t do anything for the son. Jesus told them “this kind cometh not out but by prayer and fasting.” There will be situations in our lives when nothing will help but getting on our knees in prayer. Getting away from everything and everyone else and getting down before the Lord of heaven in prayer.

There is the humility that comes to the fore. What these disciples were saying is so much what we need today but are we humble enough to receive it? The church in Revelation 3 Laodicea – they didn’t see their blindness, what they were like before God but he knew about it. Have we got that humility? Will you say “Lord I need that in my heart and I want to wait before you until I find that.” Are you prepared to be humble? To wait for the Lord of heaven? A woman came to Jesus one day and asked if her 2 sons could sit on either side of him when he came into his kingdom. Jesus replied “you don’t know what you are asking for.” The thief on the cross asked Jesus to remember him when he came into his kingdom. Will we be humble enough to ask the Lord to meet that need that is in our heart? To let the Lord guide us in the days that lie ahead?