“Lord, Teach Us to Pray”

“And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray.”* (Luke 11:1)

The disciples had been with Christ, and had seen Him pray. They had learned to understand something of the connection between His wondrous life in public, and His secret life of prayer. They had learned to believe in Him as a Master in the art of prayer—none could pray like Him. And so they came to Him with the request, “Lord, teach us to pray.” In later years, no doubt they would have told us that there were few things more wonderful or blessed that He taught them than His lessons on prayer.

And today still it comes to pass, as He is praying in a certain place, that disciples who see Him thus engaged feel the need of repeating the same request, “Lord, teach us to pray.” As we grow in the Christian life, the thought and the faith of the Beloved Master in His never-failing intercession becomes ever more precious, and the hope of being like Christ in His intercession gains an attractiveness before unknown. And as we see Him pray, and remember that there is none who can pray like Him, and none who can teach like Him, we feel that the petition of the disciples, “Lord, teach us to pray,” is just what we need as well. And then, as we think how all He is and has—He Himself—is our very own, our very life, we feel assured that we have but to ask, and He will be delighted to take us up into closer fellowship with Himself, and teach us to pray even as He prays.

Come, my brothers and sisters! Shall we not go to the Blessed Master and ask Him anew to enroll our names too in that school which He always keeps open for those who long to continue their studies in the Divine art of prayer and intercession? Yes, let us this very day say to the Master, as they did of old, “Lord, teach us to pray.” As we meditate, we shall find each word of the petition we bring to be full of meaning.

“Lord, teach us to pray.” Yes, to pray. This is what we need to be taught. Though prayer is so simple that the most unpracticed child can pray, yet it is at the same time the highest and holiest work to which man can rise. It is fellowship with the Unseen and Most Holy One. The powers of the eternal world have been placed within its reach. It is the very essence of true religion, the channel of all blessings, the secret of power and life. For you and for me, for the church and for the world, prayer is the means by which God has given us the right to take hold of Him and His strength. It is on prayer that the promises wait for their fulfillment, the kingdom for its coming, the glory of God for its full revelation. And for this blessed work, how slothful and unfit we are. Only the Spirit of God can enable us to pray aright. How speedily we are deceived into a resting in the form, while the power is wanting. Our early training, the influence of habit, the stirring of the emotions—how easily these lead to prayer which has little effect for lack of spiritual power. But prayer that takes hold of God’s strength, that “availeth much,”* (James 5:16) to which the gates of heaven are really opened wide—who would not cry, “Oh, for someone to teach me thus to pray?”

Jesus has opened a school, in which He trains His redeemed ones—those who specially desire it—to have power in prayer. Shall we not enter it with the petition, “Lord, this is just what we need to be taught! Oh, teach us to pray.”

“Lord, teach us to pray.” Yes, us, Lord. In Your Word we have read with what power Your believing people of old used to pray, and what mighty wonders were done in answer to their prayers. And if this took place under the Old Covenant, in the time of preparation, how much more will You not now, in these days of fulfillment, give Your people this sure sign of Your presence among us. We have heard the promises given to Your apostles of the power of prayer in Your name, and have seen how gloriously they experienced the truth of those promises; and we are certain they can become true to us too. Even in these days we hear continually what glorious tokens of Your power You still give to those who trust You fully. Lord, these all are men of like passions with ourselves; teach us also to pray like that. The promises are for us, the powers and gifts of the heavenly world are for us. Oh, teach us to pray so that we may receive abundantly. To us too You have entrusted Your work, on our prayer too the coming of Your kingdom depends, in our prayer too Your can glorify Your name; “Lord, teach us to pray.” Yes, us, Lord; we offer ourselves as learners; we would indeed be taught by You. “Lord, teach us to pray.”

“Lord, teach us to pray.” Yes, we feel the need now of being taught to pray. At first, no other service appears so simple; later on, none that is more difficult. We are forced to confess, and the confession is forced from us: “We know not what we should pray for as we ought.”* (Romans 8:26) It is true we have God’s Word, with its clear and sure promises; but our natural human mind is so limited that we know not always how to apply the word. In spiritual things we do not always seek what is most needful, or fail in praying according to the law of the sanctuary (Exodus 25; Hebrews 8-10). In temporal things we are even less able to take advantage of the wonderful liberty our Father has given us to ask what we need. And even when we know what to ask, how much there is still needed to make prayer acceptable. It must be to the glory of God, in full surrender to His will, in full assurance of faith, in the name of Jesus, and with a perseverance that, if need be, refuses to be denied. All this must be learned. It can only be learned in the school of much prayer, for practice makes perfect. Amid the painful consciousness of ignorance and unworthiness, in the struggle between believing and doubting, the heavenly art of effectual prayer is learned. Because, even when we do not remember it, there is One, the Beginner and Finisher of faith and prayer, who watches over our praying, and sees to it that in all who trust Him for it, their education in the school of prayer shall be carried on to perfection. Let but the deep undertone of all our prayer be the teachableness that comes from an awareness of our ignorance, and from faith in Him as a perfect teacher, and we may be sure we shall be taught, we shall learn to pray in power. Yes, we may depend upon it, He teaches to pray.

“Lord, teach us to pray.” None can teach like Jesus, none but Jesus; therefore we call on Him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” A pupil needs a teacher who knows his work, who has the gift of teaching, who in patience and love will descend to the pupil’s needs. Blessed be God, Jesus is all this and much more! It is Jesus, praying Himself, who teaches to pray. He knows what prayer is. He learned it amid the trials and tears of His earthly life. In heaven it is still His beloved work: His life there is prayer (Hebrews 7:25). Nothing delights Him more than to find those whom He can take with Him into the Father’s presence, whom He can clothe with power to pray down God’s blessing on those around them, whom He can train to be His fellow workers in the intercession by which the kingdom is to be revealed on earth. He knows how to teach. Now by the urgency of felt need, then by the confidence with which joy inspires. Here by the teaching of the Word, there by the testimony of another believer who knows what it is to have prayer heard. By His Holy Spirit, He has access to our heart, and teaches us to pray by showing us the sin that hinders the prayer, or giving us the assurance that we please God. He teaches, not only by giving thoughts of what to ask or how to ask, but by breathing within us the very spirit of prayer, by living within us as the Great Intercessor. We may indeed and most joyfully say, “Who teaches like Him?” Jesus never taught His disciples how to preach, only how to pray. He did not speak much of what was needed to preach well, but much of praying well. To know how to speak to God is more than knowing how to speak to man. Not power with men, but power with God is the first thing. Jesus loves to teach us how to pray.

What do you think, my beloved fellow disciples? Would it not be just what we need, to ask the Master to give us a course of special lessons on the art of prayer? As we meditate on the words He spake on earth, let us yield ourselves to His teaching in the fullest confidence that, with such a teacher, we shall make progress. Let us take time not only to meditate, but to pray, to tarry at the foot of the throne, and be trained to the work of intercession. Let us do so in the assurance that amidst our stammerings and fears He is carrying on His work most beautifully. He will breathe His own life, which is all prayer, into us. As He makes us partakers of His righteousness and His life, He will of His intercession too. As the members of His body, as a holy priesthood, we shall take part in His priestly work of pleading and prevailing with God for men. Yes, let us most joyfully say, ignorant and feeble though we be, “Lord, teach us to pray.”

Blessed Lord, who ever lives to pray, You can teach me too to pray, me too to live ever to pray. In this You love to make me share Your glory in heaven, that I should pray without ceasing, and ever stand as a priest in the presence of my God.

Lord Jesus, I ask You this day to enroll my name among those who confess that they know not how to pray as they ought, and specially ask You for a course of teaching in prayer. Lord, teach me to stay with You in the school, and give You time to train me. May a deep sense of my ignorance, of the wonderful privilege and power of prayer, of the need of the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of prayer, lead me to cast away my thoughts of what I think I know, and make me kneel before You in true teachableness and poverty of spirit.

And fill me, Lord, with the confidence that with such a teacher as You are I shall learn to pray. In the assurance that I have as my teacher Jesus Himself, who is ever praying to the Father, and by His prayer rules the destinies of His church and the world, I will not be afraid. As much as I need to know of the mysteries of the prayer-world, You will unfold for me. And when I may not know, You will teach me to be strong in faith, giving glory to God.

Blessed Lord, You will not put to shame Your scholar who trusts You; nor, by Your grace, will I put You to shame either. Amen.