Prayer can be Learnt

 

Luke 11:1, “Lord, teach us to pray.”

Many people do not know how to pray. The disciples confessed they did not know how to pray. The Scriptures tells us that “We do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us… (Rom. 8:26). The good news is that we have Christ, and we have the Spirit. We have His Word. From the Word we can learn how to pray. We know that through Christ we have access in one Spirit to the Father (Eph. 2:18). The Spirit helps to pray by interceding for us, and the Son too intercedes for us at the right hand of the Father. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Heb. 4:16).

For prayer is learned and yes, you should learn to pray. This should give you a new hope and resolve to pray. Anyone can learn how to pray. Anyone can begin the Christian life without any knowledge or experience of prayer and yet along the way learn how to pray. No matter how weak or strong your prayer life is right now, you can learn to pray and grow even stronger in your prayer life to become a prayer warrior!

How or even where do we learn how to pray?

1.     By Praying

Just like you learn a foreign language by speaking it, so you learn prayer by praying! “Reading a book about prayer, listening to lectures, and talking about it is very good, but it won’t teach you to pray. You get nothing without exercise, without practice. I might listen for a year to a professor of music playing the most beautiful music, but that won’t teach me to play an instrument.” Andrew Murray. In the same way, learn how to pray by praying, “Lord, teach me how to pray!”

2.     By Meditating on Scripture

This is one of the most compelling concepts on prayer. Meditation is the missing link between Bible intake and prayer. The two are often disjointed when they should be united. We read the Bible, close it, and then try to shift gears into prayer. But many times it seems as if the gears between the two won’t mesh. In fact, after some forward progress in our time in the Word, shifting to prayer sometimes is like suddenly moving back into a neutral or even reverse gear. Instead, there should be a smooth, almost unnoticeable transition between Scripture input and prayer output so that we move even closer to God in those moments. This happens when there is the link of meditation in between.

So what is meditation?

Psalm 19:14: “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” Notice that both verses are prayers and both refer to other “words” spoken in prayer. Yet in each case meditation was a catalyst that catapulted David from the truth of God into talking with God. In 5:1 he has been meditating and now he asks the Lord to give ear to it and to consider it.

Meditation allows us to take what God has said to us and think deeply on it, digest it, and then speak to God about it in meaningful prayer. As a result, we pray about what we’ve encountered in the Bible, now personalized through meditation. And not only do we have something substantial to say in prayer, and the confidence that we are praying God’s thoughts to Him, but we transition smoothly into prayer with a passion for what we’re praying about. Then as we move on with our prayer, we don’t jerk and lurch along because we already have some spiritual momentum.

Anyone who has heard the story of George Muller ponders the secret of his effectiveness in prayer. Although some argue for one thing as Muller’s “secret” and others argue for another, I believe we must ultimately attribute his unusually successful prayer life to the sovereignty of God. But if we look for something transferable from his life to ours, my vote goes for something I’ve never heard credited as his “secret.”

How do we learn to pray? How do we learn to pray like David, the Puritans, and George Muller? We learn to pray by meditating on Scripture, for meditation is the missing link between Bible intake and prayer.

3.     By Praying with Others

The disciples learned to pray not only by hearing Jesus teach about prayer, but also by being with Him when He prayed. Let’s not forget that the words “Lord, teach us to pray” didn’t just come as a random idea. This request followed a time when the disciples accompanied Jesus in prayer (Luke 11:1). In a similar way, we can learn to pray by praying with other people who can model true prayer for us.

There are always other believers who can teach us much by praying with them. But we pray with them to learn principles of prayer, not phrases for prayer. One fellow Christian may give biblical reasons to the Lord why a prayer should be answered. Another might show us how to pray through passages of Scripture. By praying with a faithful intercessor we might learn how to pray for missions. Praying regularly with others can be one of the most enriching adventures of your Christian life. Most of the great movements of God can be traced to a small group of people He called together to begin praying.

4.     By Reading About Prayer

Reading about prayer instead of praying simply will not do. But reading about prayer in addition to praying can be a valuable way to learn. “As iron sharpens iron,” says Proverbs 27:17, “so one man sharpens another.”

Read the lessons learned by veterans of the trenches of prayer and let them sharpen your weapons of the warfare of prayer. “He who walks with the wise grows wise” is the teaching of Proverbs 13:20. Reading the books of wise men and women of prayer gives us the privilege of “walking” with them and learning the insights God gave them on how to pray.

We’ve learned from experience how others can see things in a passage of Scripture we cannot, or how they are able to explain a familiar doctrine in a fresh way that deepens our understanding of it. In the same way reading what others have learned about prayer from their study of Scripture and their pilgrimage in grace can be God’s instrument of teaching us what we’d never learn otherwise. Who hasn’t learned about praying in faith after reading of George Muller’s prayer life, or who hasn’t been motivated to pray after reading David Brainerd’s biography? When we read about prayer, we are sparked into praying.

There are many good books to encourage us to pray. Here is my top ten list of books on prayer:

1)    The Valley of Vision – A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions by Arthur Bennet

2)    Praying the Bible – Donald Whitney

3)    A Call to Prayer – J.C. Ryle

4)    The Complete Works of E.M. Bounds on Prayer – E.M. Bounds

5)    Praying with Paul: A Call to Spiritual Reformation – D.A. Carson

6)    The Power of Prayer & Fasting – Ronnie Floyd & Bill Bright

7)    Praying: Finding our Way through Duty to Delight – J.I. Packer & C. Nystrom

8)    Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy – Tim Keller

9)    The Hidden Life of Prayer – David McIntyre

10) A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World – Paul Miller

Hopefully this convinces you that you can learn to pray by reading about prayer! No matter how difficult prayer is for you now. If you will persevere in learning how to pray you will always have the hope of an even stronger and more fruitful prayer life ahead of you.

In conclusion this is how you should pray:

Fervently: I draw your attention to an Old Testament prayer, a prayer of David. Yet we know that David did not know as much Scriptures or revelation as we have now. He did not know of the immense privileges we have in Christ at this time. He greeted most of our blessings from afar (Hebrews 11:13,39-40, 1 Peter 1:12). Yet the way he led the national prayer meeting cannot be compared with our church prayers today!

Unceasingly: The Bible tells us to pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17). We must never be tired of bringing our needs to the Lord. We should always remember what a Friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer! Have you no words to pray? Ah! Think again! But words flow apace when you complain and fill your fellow creature’s ears with sad tales of all your cares! It should be more than half of your breath is spent sending prayers, supplications and thanksgivings and praise to the throne of grace in heaven.

According to God’s will: We must pray according to God’s will is the best for us. We must be those who pray like the Lord, “…Not my will but yours be done, O LORD.”  James warns us against the sin of presumptuousness in James 4:13-17. One of the instructions he gives is this, “Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” (v.15).

In Faith. James says that Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit (James 5:17-18) He says that the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick (v.15). We need to fully trust in God’s power to do what we are requesting and depend on his grace to do us good. We must also trust him to give what is best, better than what we can think or imagine.

How May we Pray? (1)

 

Matthew 6:9-15

Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

We must not forget that prayer is an offering up of our desires to God, for things agreeable to His will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of His mercies.

God has given us directions on how to pray in the Bible alone. Therefore, the whole Word of God is of use to direct us in prayer. The Lord’s Prayer is the special rule of direction which Christ taught His disciples.

The Lord’s prayer has the essential elements which must not be lacking in any prayer. After all when the disciples asked the Lord to teach them how to pray, the Lord gave them a model prayer. It is not that the Lord’s prayer should be repeated thoughtlessly, but it is a kind of mould upon which we must base our prayers. It has the following essential elements of prayer:

The preface of the Lord’s Prayer

The preface of the Lord’s Prayer is, “Our Father in heaven,”  This teaches us to draw near to God with all holy reverence and confidence, as children to a father, who is able and ready to help us. That He is ‘our Father’ shows that we should pray with and for others. Yet, we must also acknowledge that the phrase “Our Father” presupposes adoption into God’s family. Not every person on earth is a child of God. Only those who are in Christ, washed by his blood, regenerated by the Life-giving Spirit are truly children of God. But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13).

If you have not been saved by the grace of God, then you cannot pray, “Our Father” because God is not your Father. God is only the Father of those who believe in His Son and are indwelt by His Spirit. If you call on the name of the Lord today, you will be saved. When you are saved, you become a child of God and you receive all the privileges of being children of God. God being your Father is willing to listen to and answer your prayers, exceedingly and abundantly beyond what we ask or imagine.

What a great privilege it is to belong to God as his own child! What a blessing to have the heavenly Father as our Father? Behold, what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we are should be called children of God; and so we are! … Beloved, we are God’s children…! (1 John 3;1, 2).

What do we pray for in the first petition?

In the first petition, which is, “Hallowed be your name,” we pray, for two things;

a)     That God would enable us and others to glorify Him in all that He makes Himself known. The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. We were created by God to be instruments of his praise. We are to glorify God whether we eat or drink or whatever we do (1 Cor. 10:31). We are also to call and invite others to come and glorify God. Those who are redeemed, are also called to live in such a manner that God would be glorified. Therefore it is our prayer that God would be glorified in us, and so we petition the Lord to give us the ability to glorify him.

b)    That He would dispose all things to His own glory. We are also to pray that God would act in such a manner, for us, that all things around us will bring glory to Him. May the Lord God in his grace cause and dispose all things to bring glory to Him.

What do we pray for in the second petition?

In the second petition, which is, “Your kingdom come,” we pray for:

a)     That Satan’s kingdom may be destroyed. The gospel is the primary weapon which has power to demolish the kingdom of Satan. The Lord is building His church as the primary instrument for pulling down all the strongholds of the evil one. The church destroys the kingdom of Satan by building Christ’s kingdom on earth, as the gospel is proclaimed, the saints are gathered to worship God, to live upright and godly lives in the present evil world, hastening the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. The church will ultimately be the only kingdom.

b)    That the kingdom of grace may be advanced, ourselves and others brought into it, and kept in it. The advance of the kingdom of Christ as more sinners hear the gospel, believe in Christ, added to the church, conveyed into the kingdom of Christ, and so the kingdom of Christ is established in different parts of the world. When we pray that Christ’s kingdom may come on earth, we are also commiting to be instruments of building the kingdom by our witness. Our testimony must showcase the glories of Christ.

c)     That the kingdom of glory may be hastened. We pray that the Lord Jesus Christ may soon return. Waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God is our business. We are waiting for new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells.

This is a big petition for we have the interest of the progress and prosperity of the kingdom of Christ. We are not just thinking of ourselves, but we are thinking of Christ, and his kingdom.

What do we pray for in the third petition?

In the third petition, which is, “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” we pray that God, by His grace, would make us able and willing to know, obey, and submit to His will in all things, as the angels do in heaven. There is no better will than the will of God. God being holy and omniscient, disposes only good things to his people. His will is the best and we wiser to trust his will more.

What do we pray for in the fourth petition?

In the fourth petition, which is, “Give us this day our daily bread,” we pray that of God’s free gift we may receive a competent, that sufficiently satisfying portion of the good things of this life, and enjoy His blessing with them. We have material needs. We need food and clothing. We need good health. We need work to meet our needs and those of others. We need God’s provision every day and so we are to look to Him to provide for us. He is willing to provide for us, just any father provides for the needs of his children. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! (Matt. 7:9-11)

What do we pray for in the fifth petition?

In the fifth petition, which is, “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors,” we pray that God, for Christ’s sake, would freely pardon all our sins; which we are the rather encouraged to ask, because by His grace we are enabled from the heart to forgive others. We are to be willing to forgive others more liberally, seeing how much the Lord has been merciful to forgive us such a great debt of sin. Forgiveness should flow in every vein of every child of God.

The Lord speaks about this some more in verse 14, where the Lord says, “For if we forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

What do we pray for in the sixth petition?

In the sixth petition, which is, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,” we pray that God would either keep us from being tempted to sin, or support and deliver us when we are tempted. This aknowledges that we are in a fallen world with many enemies of our souls. The devil, the world and the flesh are an evil trinity which seeks to destroy our souls. But thanks be to God who delivers us from all of them!

What does the conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer teach us?

The conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer, which is, “For Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen,” teaches us to take our encouragement in prayer from God only, and in our prayers to praise Him, ascribing kingdom, power, and glory to Him.

In testimony of our desire and assurance to be heard, we say, Amen.

Pray!

James 5:13-18

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

What is Prayer?

Prayer is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the heart or soul to God, through Christ, in the strength and assistance of the Holy Spirit, for such things as God has promised, or according to His Word, for the good of the church, with submission in faith to the will of God. John Bunyan

Isn’t it remarkable that God, the Almighty God, the King of kings, the Eternal Creator of all things, the infinitely holy God, the sovereign God has provided access for us into His throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace in times to help in time of need?

In this passage, pastor James tells some incredible things about prayer. In every verse of this passage, there is something about prayer! And he says very clearly that in any and every situation, prayer is always useful. The Lord commands prayer. Therefore the Lord hears and answers prayers. Consider the situations that James brings up:

1.      Suffering

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray.

James is speaking here of a Christian who has problems, he is under trial. This trial may take any dimension, trials of various kinds (1:2)…blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial (1:12). Suffering here may be because of sickness, opposition, bereavement, domestic problems, poverty, distress, danger, famine among other troubles come upon us.

In case you may have imbibed too much Charismatic teaching, remember,

ü  Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. (Job 5:7)

ü  Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble. (Job_14:1)

Thank God that we have a place of sweet relief at the throne of grace. Thank God that He hears… that He will answer us. All these difficulties and challenges find their place before the Great I AM, the Lord Almighty, who has called us to pray.

But how can one remain steadfast under trial? By praying. Personal prayer cannot be undervalued. This is why the Lord taught us to pray in Matthew 6:5-15. We constantly urged to pray.

-      Devote yourselves to prayer (Col. 4:2)

-      Pray without ceasing (1Thess. 5:17)

2.      Cheerfulness

Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.

The word translated cheerful means, ‘to be in good heart.’ It does not mean without any kind of trouble. Here is the second experience of life of being in a state of happiness, or joy and gladness. Our Christianity covers not only life in times of sorrow, but also life in times of joy and gladness. How are we to respond to times of happiness? We are told to go to the Lord with praise. That is with thanksgiving and gladness. There is no time when we are not welcome in God’s presence.

Psalm 100 is a psalm of thanksgiving:

Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!

Serve the LORD with gladness!

Come into his presence with singing!

Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!

For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

3.      Sickness

Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. The first two circumstances of life are private. But there are troubles of life that you cannot handle alone and you should not try to handle alone. That is why the Lord, having saved you, has placed you in a local church. In the local church, the Lord has given spiritual leaders, the elders. Make use of them especially when you are sick.

Here we have a glimpse of the private ministry of the elders in caring for the sick members. James expressly associates the healing ministry of prayer and anointing with the local church leaders. There is nothing to say that they have any healing powers as a spiritual gift (1 Cor. 12:30). Therefore, this ministry to the sick does not belong to any specially gifted person. This caring ministry has also not gone with the apostles. It is the work of the shepherd to heal the sick as Ezekiel said in 34:4 and here we are told how. But this has nothing to do laying on of hands or with the heretical sacrament of the Roman Catholic of Extreme Unction (the last of the seven Roman sacraments).

So the sick person calls for his elders from the church. It does look like a severe sickness, going by the phrase, the one who is sick (v.15) and that the elders are to pray over him. It is not the sick who go to the elders. It is also a plurality of elders not just one man. It is the elders who pray for the sick person. The sick person is not required or even expected to exercise faith to be healed, more than the summoning of the pastors to pray for him. The faith mentioned here is the faith of the elders!  Clearly, this is not a public healing service.

The ministry is two-fold:

1)      Pray over him

2)      Anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord

In NT times, oil was used as medicine like the Good Samaritan used it in Luke 10:34 to sooth the wounds of the person who had been injured by robbers. (C.f. Mark 6:13).

What James is saying here is that, prayer is a means as well as medicine. Both spiritual and physical means are divinely appointed for our welfare. We pray, give us this day our daily bread and we still go to the shop to buy food. In the same way the elders used anointing oil in the name of the Lord. The healing comes from the Great Physician who heals the sick. Peter healed the lame man in the name of Jesus (Acts 3:6, 16).

Three promises are closely connected to this two-fold ministry of prayer and anointing:

1)      The prayer of faith will save the one who is sick

2)      The Lord will raise him up

3)      If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven

It is expected that in sickness one will consider his ways and come to repentance, even if the sickness has nothing to do with one’s sins. The Bible does not teach that sickness is a direct consequence of some foregoing sin, but that sickness could be a consequence of punishment to warning.

4.      Sinfulness

Christians still sin. Until we die and enter into eternal glory, we battle with the remaining sin. How do we go about the business of killing sin in our mortal bodies?

When we sin against one another, James tells us to confess such sins and to pray for one another (v. 16). Confession goes as far as the sin as gone. Secret sins are to be repented to God privately. If a brother sins against another he should go to him privately and hope to settle the matter between them (Matt. 18:15). And if one has sinned publicly, he should confess it to God and in public.

At the same time, if a person who has sinned against you confesses their sins you must always be willing to forgive. This is the way “you may be healed’ or reconciled.

The power of prayer

James says, The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. (v.16)

Do we doubt the power of prayer? Is this why we do not pray? James encourages us to consider the example of the prophet Elijah and his prayer. First of all, James emphasis that Elijah was like us in every way – he was a man with nature like ours! There was nothing extraordinary about Elijah except His God, and who is our God and Father.

Elijah prayed fervently, that it might not rain and there was no rain for three and half years. Then Elijah prayed again, and there was rain enough to make crops produce sufficient crop. The key thing is that Elijah prayed and again! Are we praying?

And James’s point is as plain as noonday. Whatever life brings our way – whether suffering or joy, ours is to pray and praise. And even when we are too weak to pray, we should invite others to come and pray with us. Whether we are sick or sinful, the solution is in confidently approaching the throne of grace. After all, by the efficacy of the work of Christ, we are assured of mercy and grace in times of need. Therefore, let’s make sure we do not forget to pray. And let’s make sure that our praying is not merely mouthing words, saying prayers, but a fervently seeking after the heart of God. Only then do we truly pray, and only then do we experience our own great things. As John Bunyan told us here,

Prayer is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the heart or soul to God, through Christ, in the strength and assistance of the Holy Spirit, for such things as God has promised, or according to His Word, for the good of the church, with submission in faith to the will of God.

Applications

1.      Pray at all times. Whatever you do or do not do, make sure that you are constant and fervent in prayer. You are to pray and praise in different life circumstances without fail for the Bible says, “…Let him pray… Let him sing praise.” The Elders of the church are told, “…let them pray. And the church is expected to pray, for we read, “…pray for one another.” Finally, we read of the prayer of Elijah, “… he prayed.”

2.   Be open with your needs, especially with your pastors. The Bible says here, Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church. That is, be open about your physical needs to the pastors. And later on, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another.

3.      Do not hide your sins but confess them. Confess your sins to one another. He who conceals his sins will not prosper, but he who confess and forsakes will obtain mercy (Pro. 28:13). We should be constantly confessing and constantly forgiving.

4.      We should learn how to pray from the Scriptures. James takes us to the Biblical example of Elijah. Indeed we can learn how to pray from others.  How do you learn to pray?

-      By praying

-      By meditating on Scripture

-      By praying with others

-      By reading about prayer

-      By praying other people’s prayers