12-11-2018

Good Morning All,

              Luke 11:1; “Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”

    How did you do that?  Show me how you did that!  Let me see that again.  We hear these phrases or use these phrases often.  We most often associate it with a sleight of hand or a neat little “hack” that would make our task easier.  When you watch someone, who is very skilled at a craft, it becomes quickly obvious that they have figured out ways to make the task easier, faster and perhaps safer.  It might be a jig that a carpenter makes or the way a baker cracks eggs.  It really only takes practice and soon you too can use these hints to make your tasks go smoothly.

    That might be how we use this idea of “teach me how to do that” but that is not what the disciples meant nor is it what Jesus delivered.  Jesus’ disciples saw that there was something different in the way that Jesus prayed.  Some of the disciples had first followed John the Baptist and he taught his disciples about prayer and now these disciples wanted the next level of prayer.  The fascinating thing is that these men would have known the proper way to pray.  They would have been instructed from a very young age.  They would have known the right words, the right posture, the right inflection of their voice.  They knew how to pray for things and praying for things is not necessarily bad.  We pray for peace, an end to injustice or an end to hunger all the time; this is not a bad thing.  But the disciples were experiencing something new and they didn’t understand.  So, they asked and Jesus responded, again, to them.

    What they were about to learn is that prayer is never about “what” but always about “who”.  Prayer is about strengthening our relationship with God.  Prayer is about placing our confidence in God’s hands and trusting Him to give us what we need.  This is why prayer should always be the first thing you do in any given situation and never the last.  Prayer is saying, “God this is in your hands.”  This should be the first thing we say and do.  When we don’t; we are saying that we, and not God, have the best answer.

    Prayer should always lead us back to the Cross of Jesus.  This is where all the promises of God point to but also emanate from. It is from the love of God being poured upon His redeemed children and the invitation to “fear not” and then to “trust in Jesus” that brings us to prayer.  Prayer is about your connection to God.  It is not, and never should be, like placing an order to Amazon and wanting delivery in 48 hours.  Prayer is about building, strengthening and restoring our relationship with God.  Real prayer does not want something; rather it wants someone (Jesus) to keep our heart, mind, and spirit at peace in Him.

Lord, teach us to pray, so that we may forever seek You.  Teach us to pray that our hearts may rest fully in your loving arms.  Teach us to pray so that we may proclaim your great mercy with all boldness.  Teach us to pray in the full confidence that because You live we will live also.  Lord, teach us to pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret