Lord Teach Us To Pray
And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us.
Worship, Thanksgiving and Petition – As we pray, we must keep in mind the One to Whom we are praying. Moses’ prayer in Psa 90:1-2 sums it up so simply, yet so profoundly: “Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God”. As our Creator and Sustainer, God is first and foremost worthy of our adoration and thanksgiving: “Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness” (Psa 29:2); we can also bring our petitions and concerns before our Heavenly Father. In both the Old and New Testaments we are admonished to render our heartfelt thanks for all God has done and continues to do for us and through us. We can also see the kind mercy of God in allowing us to approach His throne of grace as typified and recorded in the example of Nehemiah’s request and subsequent answer to prayer in Neh 1 and 2. May God so work in our hearts that we would be motivated as the early Christians in Acts 6:4, who by God’s grace devoted themselves “to prayer and to the ministry of the Word”: “But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4).
Deu 33:27a “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms…”
Psa 116:17 “I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD.”
Neh 1:11, 2:4-6 “O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king’s cupbearer… Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchres, that I may build it. And the king said unto me, (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.”
Be Anxious for Nothing – The Greek word for “careful” is translated a number of times as “take no thought” – in other words, Christians are not to be anxious or worried about anything. For example, we see this demonstrated in the account of Martha and Mary in Luke 10. Martha was very worried about being a good hostess, and was “careful” (worried) and “troubled” (a word signifying uproar or tumult): “But Martha was cumbered about much serving …”, but Jesus explained to her that her sister, Mary, had chosen that which was of supreme importance– to sit at Jesus’ feet and learn His Word: “And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her”. Oh, may God so compel us to recognize this comfort in the midst of our moments of anxiety and frustration – that we too, would rest at Jesus feet and learn from His blessed Word. That is the “one thing that is needful” for our lives.
Php 4:6-7 “Be careful [anxious or take no thought] for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Luke 10:38-42 “Now it came to pass, as they went, that he [the Lord Jesus] entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
Prayer and Supplication with Thanksgiving – Not only are we not to be worried, we also learn from Php 4, let our requests be made known unto God with supplication and thanksgiving. What is prayer and supplication? Prayer is merely talking to God and pouring everything out to Him. The believer’s life is to be a constant overflowing of thanksgiving for all of God’s daily benefits to him, even as we follow the example set by the Master Himself. No greater example of prayer can be found than in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son, the second Person of the Trinity, and the Living Word, Who “… was made flesh, and dwelt among us”. As the Author of the Bible He has much to say about talking to God in prayer. After all, prayer is a gift and privilege which He created and bestows upon every Christian. However, today, let us consider what He Himself did: “And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed” (Mark 1:35), “And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God” (Luke 6:12). We read of Jesus’ greatest prayer to the Father, “not my will but thine be done,” that He spoke three times in the Garden of Gethsemane (which means the “winepress of God”) where He started to endure the wrath of God. It truly is amazing that infinite God – the Creator of this universe and our Maker – would stoop to hear His children’s pleas, and yet we know that He does.
Php 4:6-7 “Be careful [anxious or take no thought] for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Heb 5:7 “Who [Lord Jesus Christ in garden of Gethsemane enduring the wrath of God] in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him [God – the Father] that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared…”
Luke 22:42 “Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. 43And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. 44And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. 45And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow,”
Col 4:2 “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving”.
Col 2:7 “Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.”
Shall Keep Your Hearts and Minds – God has shown His eternal salvation to His people. And because of that assurance, Christians are to bring their concerns and petitions before the throne of Grace constantly. Even though God knows our requests even before they enter our mind, we are to express them to our Heavenly Father. In doing so we realize afresh our absolute dependency on Him for every physical and spiritual need of ours, remembering, the Lord’s faithfulness and goodness. No matter how great our need, His inexhaustible grace is ever sufficient, plenteous, and overflowing as a mighty river. It will never run out and will always be there. As the Christian learns to depend and rely more and more on God and to rest in Him alone, he finds the peace that Isa 26:3 speaks about: “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee”. May God give us His peace if we do not know Him today; and if we do, may He give us a greater and abiding trust to rest in His grace, in His strength, and in His power as He graciously works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure.
Php 4:6-7 “Be careful [anxious or take no thought] for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Acts 2:28 “Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.”
Jam 1:17 “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
