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Lord, Teach Us To Pray

           On a scale of one to ten how would you rate your prayer life?  I recall visiting with a person who, in a very humble way, mentioned that she prayed three to four hours a day.  I’ve met others who pray only at meal time and then rattle off “Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest” so fast they sometimes have to ask half way through the meal, “Did we pray?”  If we would take an honest look at our prayer life and rate our prayers on a scale of one to ten, I would imagine that the majority of us could stand some improvement.

             The disciples of Jesus felt the same way.  They had often heard Jesus pray, and they knew that as the Son of God and Savior he would be the best source for instruction.  So one day, as recorded in Luke chapter eleven, they said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray.”  Jesus could have discussed any number of important points about prayer: To whom do we pray?  When do we pray?  Where do we pray?  Why do we pray?  But on this occasion the Savior chose to give his disciples a general overview of the subject.  He taught them something about what to pray for and how to pray.  So today we join those disciples and go to Jesus with the request, “Lord, Teach Us To Pray.”

 For the right things

             The disciples wanted to know what to pray for.  They wanted to pray for the right things.  In response to their request Jesus taught them the famous prayer which we now know as the Lord’s Prayer.  He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.  Give us each day our daily bread.  Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.  And lead us not into temptation.”  If you were listening carefully, you might be thinking, “Hey!  That’s not exactly how it goes!  You messed up the words, and a few phrases are missing!”  You know what?  That’s OK.  Jesus taught this prayer on more than one occasion and didn’t always use exactly the same wording.  There’s something for us to think about here.  Jesus was not trying to teach his disciples a strict memorized formula of sixty-two words but a general pattern for prayer.  In public worship we may find it handy to agree on the wording of certain prayers like this one, so we can say them together.  But that doesn’t mean that the wording we’ve memorized is the only way to pray this prayer, nor does it mean that this prayer is the only one we speak.  Very often we make up our own personal prayers, using our own words.  We can even put the phrases of this Lord’s Prayer into our own words.

             But let’s take a look at this famous prayer which Jesus taught to get an idea of the general pattern of thoughts which we want to include in our prayers.  We don’t have time to analyze every phrase in detail as Martin Luther did in his question-and-answer booklet called the Catechism.  However, we do note that of the five requests included here, four have to do with spiritual things and only one is about earthly, material things.

             How does that compare with the general pattern of our prayers?  I’d be willing to guess that most of us talk to God more about earthly things than spiritual.  “Dear Lord, provide for me financially so that I have enough to eat and enough to pay the bills.”  “Lord, keep me healthy and pain-free.”  “Lord, keep the children and grandchildren safe.”  “Lord, protect me from crime, violent weather, and a flooded basement.”  There’s nothing wrong with talking to God about such earthly things.  In fact, God invites us to bring any and every concern to his throne.  But in comparison to earthly things, how often do we pray about spiritual things?  “Lord, let your message of love be proclaimed all over the globe.”  “Lord, help us become better givers so we can support the ministry efforts of our congregation, missionaries who have been sent out in our name, and the schools that prepare called workers.”  “Thank you, dear God, for hurling my sins into the depths of the sea.”  “Lord, help me fight off temptation.”  Certainly there have been times when we have included spiritual things in our prayers, especially when we’re here in church.  But check your prayer life and see what kind of balance you have between spiritual things and earthly things.  Rate your prayers.  Do things like forgiveness, the word of God, your soul, and heaven stand out as more important than your health, your wealth, and the weather?  If not, then don’t be afraid to join the disciples with the request, “Lord, teach us to pray” – for the right things.  Jesus answers, “Check the balance between spiritual and earthly things.  Spiritual things are more important.”

             You will also notice that this Lord’s Prayer which Jesus taught shows little self-interest.  The words “I,” “me,” and “my” don’t show up.  Instead, we find a lot of “you,” “your,” “our,” and “us.”  Check your prayer life and see what kind of balance you have between your own self-interest and concern for others.  Rate your prayers.  Does concern for other people, even those not so likeable, stand out as important as concern for yourself?  If not, then join the disciples with the request, “Lord, teach us to pray” – for the right things.  Jesus answers, “Check the balance between concern for others and concern for yourself.  Just as I taught you to love your neighbor as yourself, so also pray for your neighbor as for yourself.”

 In the right way

             Jesus shared with his disciples some general tips on what to pray for.  He also wanted them to know how to pray.  To do that he told a little story.  A man went to his friend’s house in the middle of the night, banged on the door and called out, “Hey, pal!  I have some unexpected company.  I need some food.”  His friend wasn’t too keen on being disturbed in the middle of the night.  “Shhh!  You’ll wake up my kids.”  The man in the house would not have given the man outside any food for the sake of friendship, but he did finally answer because of the man’s persistent boldness.  The one knocking on the door was unashamedly thinking, “I don’t care if I wake up the whole neighborhood.”  The lesson is clear.  God wants us to be bold and persistent in prayer.  Go ahead and pray to the Lord.  Bring him your petitions and requests.  You will never find him sleeping on the job.  With God it is never midnight.  He will never, ever consider your prayers to be a bother or a nuisance.

             How can we be so sure?  The answer to that question lies at the cross of Jesus.  His death guarantees that God is our loving Father who is so patient with us that he has put our sins out of his sight.  Jesus’ death demonstrates God’s desire to have us live with him and God’s concern about every detail of our existence.  A little child runs into the room and yells, “Daddy!  Daddy!  Look at this!” and then may have to yell three times and pull on Daddy’s leg before Daddy puts down the iPhone and stops text-ing his buddy about their next golfing tee time.  But in God we have a perfect Father with perfect hearing and limitless patience.  So ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

             Check your prayer life for that kind of persistent boldness.  Rate your prayers.  Are you willing to keep talking to God even if his answer seems delayed or not what you expected?  If not, then join the disciples with the request, “Lord, teach us to pray” – in the right way.  Jesus answers, “Be bold!  Be persistent!”  To support his instruction there are some outstanding examples in the Bible.  Think of Abraham’s prayer from the first lesson today.  Think of the woman of Phoenicia who followed hard on Jesus’ heels and wouldn’t give up till he provided healing for her daughter.  Jesus is teaching us, “Don’t give up!”

             Jesus used another illustration to teach another dimension about the right way to pray.  “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?  Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?  If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”  Again the lesson is clear, isn’t it?  If a little child asks his father for food, the father would be insane to give the child poison.  He should be arrested.  Even unbelieving fathers and mothers know how to care for their children.  If sinful parents know how to give good gifts to their children, how much more will our perfect Father in heaven?  So go ahead and pray to the Lord.  Trust his answers.  You will never find his storehouse of gifts empty.  You will never find his resources dried up.  He knows what we need, and he has the love and desire to give us what we need.

            How can we be so sure that God has such resources?  The answer to that question lies in Scripture’s testimony of God’s almighty power.  From the very beginning with the Creation account we can see that our God holds the universe in the palm of his hands.  He has the resources to give us all good things.  He has the know-how and intelligence to give us good things at just the right time.  How can we be sure that God has the desire to give us good things?  The answer to that question lies again at the blood-stained cross of Jesus.  His death guarantees that God is our true Father and we are his true children.  You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.  Very rarely will anyone die for a person who always thinks he’s right, though for a “good” man someone might possibly dare to die.  But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners.  Christ died for us (Romans 5:8-9).

             So check your prayer life for trust that God will do what he says.  Rate your prayers.  Do you talk to God trusting that he will give you what is best, hold you up, and catch you when you fall, trusting that God will give you what is best? – like a child who foolishly climbed out on a tree branch and couldn’t get down, but Dad heard the cries, ran outside and with no finger shaking, “I told you so,” and no, “You’re going to be in trouble for this, just opened his arms, and said, “Jump!” and the child jumped!  If your trust is not at that level, join the disciples with the request, “Lord, teach us to pray” – in the right way.  Jesus answers, “Trust me!”  Elijah stood on Mt. Carmel in a face-off with the prophets of Baal to see which God would answer prayer and burn up a sacrifice.  They prayed and hollered and cried and called out all day to Baal but nothing happened.  Elijah just said, “Lord God, let it be known that you alone are God,” and “Whoosh!” fire came down from heaven and burnt the sacrifice and everything around it.  Jesus is teaching us, “Trust me when you pray!”

             In my morning study time I came across an interesting quotation from a Lutheran scholar: More than anything else, I would like to be good at praying.  That’s what I have been called to do as a disciple of Christ … Yet I must admit that I have been anything but a man of prayer … Our sense of failure in prayer is worsened by … the teaching [in some churches] … that if only we were more disciplined and more methodical and more spiritual we would succeed and become spiritual dynamos.  Again and again we set out to improve and develop a discipline practice of regular daily prayer [and fail] … Others may be good at praying, but we aren’t … Worst of all, we feel guilty about our failure to be people of prayer.  The guiltier we feel, the harder it is to pray … But over the years I have also learned a different story from the Scriptures … a story of reliance of Christ … a story of his success with me in my failures.  Little by little, God the Father has used the school of hard knocks to join me with Jesus in his praying … So I now no longer regard prayer as an obligation, a duty that I must fulfill, but as something that is given to me, something that I receive from the triune God.  The main thing in prayer is a trustful, receptive heart that takes in what God has to offer [J.Kleinig. Grace Upon Grace, p.151ff. 2008].  This connects us with worship last weekend.  If you didn’t happen to be here, it was all about listening to God.  Our lips open for prayer best right after our lips have been shut and our ears are open to hear God speak to us through Scripture.  Martin Luther once wrote, “To have prayed well is to have studied well.”  My friends, listen to Jesus, believe in Jesus, then pray!     Amen.

 Preached at Grace Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, WI (www.gracedowntown.org) on August 1, 2010

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Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church | 1209 North Broadway Milwaukee, WI 53202 | (414) 271-3006

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