“Lord, Teach Us To Pray”

Issues – May 2023 – Grace & Truth Magazine

“Lord, Teach Us To Pray”

There were two men who asked others to pray for them. The first requested his friends pray that he be healed of his illness, helped in finding a new job, encouraged during his loneliness and provided by the Lord with a new vehicle to replace his high-mileage, breaking-down car.

The second man asked that people pray for his wayward son to return to the Lord. For himself, the man desired prayer for boldness to speak to his neighbors about their need of salvation and that the Lord would be exalted in and glorified through his life.

In regularly attending prayer meetings and from a general listening to prayer requests, one can often determine what is of prime importance in the lives of believers. Many appeals for private prayer and the intercessions made during public prayer are centered on the categories of the first man noted above. What does this say about us as Christians today?

The apostle Paul’s example can teach us a bit about prayer. We ask:

• Did Paul pray for Timothy’s healing? No.
• Did Paul pray that he be released from prison? Not to our knowledge.
• Did Paul request that the Jews and Romans would stop persecuting him? No, again.

What we do know is that on three occasions the Lord’s servant asked for healing from the “thorn in his flesh” (2 Cor. 12:7 KJV). The Lord answered by affirming, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in [your] weakness” (v.9). Paul stopped making his request. He accepted the Lord’s answer and declared he would “most gladly” glory in his infirmities, that the power of Christ might rest upon him (v.9).

What did Paul pray for as to the needs of others? He sought God’s working for:

• Israel, “that they might be saved” (Rom. 10:1).
• People to be “reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20).
• Believers to “be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye [they] might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing; being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness” (Col. 1:9-11).

On the other hand, when Paul requested prayer he asked believers to pray that:

• “Utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel” (Eph. 6:19).
• “God would open unto us a door of utterance [give opportunities], to speak the mystery of Christ” (Col. 4:3).
• “The word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified” (2 Th. 3:1).
• He and those with him might “be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men” (v.2).

Our list of what we request in prayer should probably be checked in self-examination. Yes, there is Biblical authority to bring all our needs to the Lord, even as we are taught to be “casting all [our] care upon Him; for He careth for you” (1 Pet. 5:7). However, as we examine ourselves we may discover that there are matters of even greater importance which should have higher priority in our lives. Should we be asking like the disciples in Luke 11:1, “Lord, teach us to pray”?

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Mt. 6:33).

By G. H. B.

The person who centers his life on spiritual values rather than material things is best equipped to endure the adversities of life and profit from them. In fact, he can even rejoice in them. It is not wrong to find pleasure in the good things money can buy, but we should never rely on them for happiness. If our fulfillment depends on material possessions, we are crushed when we lose them. If our joy is found in the Lord, nothing can disrupt it. Those who know and trust the Lord can always rejoice! —Fred Niemeyer (adapted)