Today, we begin a new message series called “Teach Us To Pray.” We believe that prayer is important, yet do we really live as though prayer is important? Do we really believe that what God’s Word teaches about prayer is true? The Bible has many incredible promises concerning prayer. Jesus says in …
Mark 11:24 (NIV) Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
That’s quite a promise, isn’t it. It sounds pretty simple, ask, believe and receive. Yet, many people struggle with prayer because they feel many of their prayers have not been answered. Can anybody identify with that? We need to learn more about prayer and what makes it work.
Today, my message is entitled “In The School of Prayer.” We are God’s children and we need our heavenly Father to teach us how to pray more effectively.
Let’s think about children and their parents for a minute to help us understand the topic better. When a baby is born, they make requests to their parents by crying. They cry when they want to be fed, they cry when they want to be held, they dry when they are uncomfortable. What do we do? We run to help them and meet their needs. This basic behavior continues as a child grows and begins to talk. They ask their parents for this and that and we again meet their needs. However, as a child gets older, we expect them to mature. We expect them to begin thinking about others and not just about themselves. We expect their communication with us to mature as well, so we no longer just jump at their every request or demand.
The Bible teaches us that God, our Father, treats us very similarly in prayer. When we are a new believer, a spiritual infant, God answers our every prayer request for ourselves. However, as we are a believer for a time, God expects us to mature. If we just keep praying and making requests for ourselves, He stops or slows down His answers. We’ll see why in a minute. That is one of the reasons, some people get discouraged with praying. Their prayers are not being answered, but their prayers are only for their own desires.
Jesus’ disciples watched Jesus pray, day in and day out. And you know what, they saw Jesus’ prayers get answered, day in and day out. Guess what they were thinking? They were thinking, I wish that I could pray like Jesus. Don’t you have the same desire, I sure do. I wish that I could pray like Jesus. I wish that everyone in our church could pray like Jesus. So, let’s see what the disciples did.
Luke 11:1 (NIV) One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
Shouldn’t that be our heart’s cry as well, “Lord, teach us to pray.” What is prayer? At it’s essence, prayer is communication with our creator, prayer is an encounter with God. Prayer is two-communication with a supernatural God, with God speaking back to us, as well as us speaking to God. If prayer is an encounter with God, who better to teach us about prayer than Jesus. Today, we’re going to look at how Jesus answered His disciples request to teach them to pray. Jesus gives 5 aspects of prayer in His answer.
Listen to or watch my August 5, 2012 message In The School of Prayer.