Pastors Edge

Making the Connection

Perhaps the greatest lesson on prayer comes in the very first words of "The Lord's Prayer," when jesus began to teach how we must pray and what we must pray about.

Interestingly, the reason Jesus taught on prayer was because the disciples asked Him to. Ministers themselves, they wanted to find out how to make their own connection.  This is the only time in the Bible where one person ever teaches another person how to pray, and it all came out of a request from Christianity's first church leaders.

These men were thoroughly Jewish, having grown up in Jewish homes, having attended Jewish synagogues, and having practiced the Jewish religion all of their life.  After hearing and watching Jesus do something repeatedly they were so mesmerized and impressed that they said something to Him about it: "One day Jesus was praying in a certain place.When He finished, one of His disciples said to Him, 'Lord, teach us to pray.'" (Luke 11:1, TNIV)

The disciples were absolutely fascinated with Jesus' prayer life. They could have asked Jesus to teach them anything, but they chose prayer.  Peter could have gone to Jesus and said "I want you to teach me that walking on water trick."  James and John could have come to Jesus and said, "We are having this big family reunion over the weekend.  Could you show us that thing you did the other day with the loaves and fish when you fed the crowd?" Somebody could have said, "Jesus, I am going to a party next week and I want to impress all of my friends.  Can you show me how to turn water into wine?"  They never asked Jesus how to heal the sick or raise the dead.  They asked Him to teach them how to pray.

The encouraging thing is that Jesus did exactly what they asked, and when He did, He acknowledged that prayer is something we can all learn to do effectively.  First, Jesus told them to pray in your own private secret place. Then, He says not to wear God out with the same old meaningless repetitions that all minsters tend to use as if God is impressed by our drawn out prayers. (Matthew 6: 5-8) Finally, He tells them how to pray. "This, then, is how you should pray: ‘our father in heaven hallowed be your name..." (Matthew 6:9, TNIV)

Immediately, Jesus clues us in on how to get into prayer- how to "make the call"- so that we know we have made a successful connection that will stick. The secret us found in one word: focus. When you read how Jesus says prayer should begin you then understand be the great truth Jesus was teaching: The purpose of prayer is to focus on God and what He wants--not us and what we want.

Have you ever realized that the first part of the prayer never asks God to give you anything? In fact, the word "give" (along with "bless" one of the two favorite words we use in talking to God) is not found until verse eleven. Rather we are told specifically to focus exclusively on two things: 1. the Father's worship ("Pray then in this way: Our Father who is in Heaven, Hallowed be Your name" and 2. the Father's will ("Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven").

Let's be honest. Most of the time in prayer we go to the first person pronoun almost immediately. "I want You to give Me this."  "I want You to bless Me."  "We need You to do this for Us."  But Jesus' grammar lesson tells us that Prayer is not about you; it is primarily about Him.

We all have sick people who need healing and money which must be collected to keep the church's lights on and chairs which we desperately want filled on sunday. Oswald Chambers put it this way: "We have to with our eyes on God, not on the difficulties." we must start our prayers in a vertical posture. The more time you spend recognizing who you are talking to (your Father), where He is (in Heaven and in complete control) and what He wants (His will for you not your will for Him), the less concern you will have about you and your needs and the more confident youwill be that you are praying to a God who knows about and can meet those needs.

When you put God into proper perspective, it puts your problems into proper perspective.  That perspective begins with God being, not an impersonal force, but a personal Father who already knows our needs and desires that they be met.