Lord, Teach Us To Pray Part 1

Lord, Teach Us To Pray.

by Andrew Murray.

The disciples had been with Christ, and seen Him pray. They had learnt to understand something of the connection between His wondrous life in public, and His secret life of prayer. They had learnt to believe in Him as a Master in the art of prayer--none could pray like Him. And so they came to Him with the request, 'Lord, teach us to pray.' And in after years they would have told us that there were few things more wonderful or blessed that He taught them than His lessons on prayer.

And now still it comes to pa.s.s, as He is praying in a certain place, that disciples who see Him thus engaged feel the need of repeating the same request, 'Lord, teach us to pray.' As we grow in the Christian life, the thought and the faith of the Beloved Master in His never-failing intercession becomes evermore precious, and the hope of being _Like Christ_ in His intercession gains an attractiveness before unknown. And as we see Him pray, and remember that there is none who can pray like Him, and none who can teach like Him, we feel the pet.i.tion of the disciples, 'Lord, teach us to pray,' is just what we need. And as we think how all He is and has, how He Himself is our very own, how He is Himself our life, we feel a.s.sured that we have but to ask, and He will be delighted to take us up into closer fellows.h.i.+p with Himself, and teach us to pray even as He prays.

Come, my brothers! Shall we not go to the Blessed Master and ask Him to enrol our names too anew in that school which He always keeps open for those who long to continue their studies in the Divine art of prayer and intercession? Yes, let us this very day say to the Master, as they did of old, 'Lord, teach us to pray.'

As we meditate we shall find each word of the pet.i.tion we bring to be full of meaning.

'Lord, teach us _to pray_.' Yes, _to pray_. This is what we need to be taught. Though in its beginnings prayer is so simple that the feeble child can pray, yet it is at the same time the highest and holiest work to which man can rise. It is fellows.h.i.+p with the Unseen and Most Holy One. The powers of the eternal world have been placed at its disposal. It is the very essence of true religion, the channel of all blessings, the secret of power and life. Not only for ourselves, but for others, for the Church, for the world, it is to prayer that G.o.d has given the right to take hold of Him and His strength. It is on prayer that the promises wait for their fulfilment, the kingdom for its coming, the glory of G.o.d for its full revelation. And for this blessed work, how slothful and unfit we are. It is only the Spirit of G.o.d can enable us to do it aright. How speedily we are deceived into a resting in the form, while the power is wanting. Our early training, the teaching of the Church, the influence of habit, the stirring of the emotions--how easily these lead to prayer which has no spiritual power, and avails but little. True prayer, that takes hold of G.o.d's strength, that availeth much, to which the gates of heaven are really opened wide--who would not cry, Oh for some one to teach me thus to pray?

Jesus has opened a school, in which He trains His redeemed ones, who specially desire it, to have power in prayer. Shall we not enter it with the pet.i.tion, Lord! it is just this we need to be taught! O teach us to _pray_.

'Lord, teach _us_ to pray.' Yes, _us_, Lord. We have read in Thy Word with what power Thy believing people of old used to pray, and what mighty wonders were done in answer to their prayers.

And if this took place under the Old Covenant, in the time of preparation, how much more wilt Thou not now, in these days of fulfilment, give Thy people this sure sign of Thy presence in their midst. We have heard the promises given to Thine apostles of the power of prayer in Thy name, and have seen how gloriously they experienced their truth: we know for certain, they can become true to us too. We hear continually even in these days what glorious tokens of Thy power Thou dost still give to those who trust Thee fully. Lord! these all are men of like pa.s.sions with ourselves; teach _us_ to pray so too. The promises are for us, the powers and gifts of the heavenly world are for us. O teach _us_ to pray so that we may receive abundantly. To us too Thou hast entrusted Thy work, on our prayer too the coming of Thy kingdom depends, in our prayer too Thou canst glorify Thy name; 'Lord, teach us to pray.' Yes, us, Lord; we offer ourselves as learners; we would indeed be taught of Thee. 'Lord, teach _us_ to pray.'

'Lord, _teach_ us to pray.' Yes, we feel the need now of being _taught_ to pray. At first there is no work appears so simple; later on, none that is more difficult; and the confession is forced from us: We know not how to pray as we ought. It is true we have G.o.d's Word, with its clear and sure promises; but sin has so darkened our mind, that we know not always how to apply the Word. In spiritual things we do not always seek the most needful things, or fail in praying according to the law of the sanctuary.

In temporal things we are still less able to avail ourselves of the wonderful liberty our Father has given us to ask what we need. And even when we know what to ask, how much there is still needed to make prayer acceptable. It must be to the glory of G.o.d, in full surrender to His will, in full a.s.surance of faith, in the name of Jesus, and with a perseverance that, if need be, refuses to be denied. All this must be learned. It can only be learned in the school of much prayer, for practice makes perfect. Amid the painful consciousness of ignorance and unworthiness, in the struggle between believing and doubting, the heavenly art of effectual prayer is learnt. Because, even when we do not remember it, there is One, the Beginner and Finisher of faith and prayer, who watches over our praying, and sees to it that _in all who trust Him for it_ their education in the school of prayer shall be carried on to perfection. Let but the deep undertone of all our prayer be the teachableness that comes from a sense of ignorance, and from faith in Him as a perfect teacher, and we may be sure we shall be taught, we shall learn to pray in power. Yes, we may depend upon it, HE _teaches_ to pray.

'_Lord_, teach us to pray.' None can teach like Jesus, none but Jesus; therefore we call on Him, 'LORD, teach us to pray.' A pupil needs a teacher, who knows his work, who has the gift of teaching, who in patience and love will descend to the pupil's needs. Blessed be G.o.d! Jesus is all this and much more. He knows what prayer is. It is Jesus, praying Himself, who teaches to pray. He knows what prayer is. He learned it amid the trials and tears of His earthly life. In heaven it is still His beloved work: His life there is prayer. Nothing delights Him more than to find those whom He can take with Him into the Father's presence, whom He can clothe with power to pray down G.o.d's blessing on those around them, whom He can train to be His fellow-workers in the intercession by which the kingdom is to be revealed on earth.

He knows how to teach. Now by the urgency of felt need, then by the confidence with which joy inspires. Here by the teaching of the Word, there by the testimony of another believer who knows what it is to have prayer heard. By His Holy Spirit, He has access to our heart, and teaches us to pray by showing us the sin that hinders the prayer, or giving us the a.s.surance that we please G.o.d. He teaches, by giving not only thoughts of what to ask or how to ask, but by breathing within us the very spirit of prayer, by living within us as the Great Intercessor. We may indeed and most joyfully say, 'Who teacheth like Him?' Jesus never taught His disciples how to preach, only how to pray. He did not speak much of what was needed to preach well, but much of praying well. To know how to speak to G.o.d is more than knowing how to speak to man. Not power with men, but power with G.o.d is the first thing. Jesus loves to teach us how to pray.

What think you, my beloved fellow-disciples! would it not be just what we need, to ask the Master for a month to give us a course of special lessons on the art of prayer? As we meditate on the words He spake on earth, let us yield ourselves to His teaching in the fullest confidence that, with such a teacher, we shall make progress. Let us take time not only to meditate, but to pray, to tarry at the foot of the throne, and be trained to the work of intercession. Let us do so in the a.s.surance that amidst our stammerings and fears He is carrying on His work most beautifully. He will breathe His own life, which is all prayer, into us. As He makes us partakers of His righteousness and His life, He will of His intercession too. As the members of His body, as a holy priesthood, we shall take part in His priestly work of pleading and prevailing with G.o.d for men. Yes, let us most joyfully say, ignorant and feeble though we be, 'Lord, teach us to pray.'

'LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY.'

Blessed Lord! who ever livest to pray, Thou canst teach me too to pray, me to live ever to pray. In this Thou lovest to make me share Thy glory in heaven, that I should pray without ceasing, and ever stand as a priest in the presence of my G.o.d.

Lord Jesus! I ask Thee this day to enrol my name among those who confess that they know not how to pray as they ought, and especially ask Thee for a course of teaching in prayer. Lord!

teach me to tarry with Thee in the school, and give Thee time to train me. May a deep sense of my ignorance, of the wonderful privilege and power of prayer, of the need of the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of prayer, lead me to cast away my thoughts of what I think I know, and make me kneel before Thee in true teachableness and poverty of spirit.

And fill me, Lord, with the confidence that with such a teacher as Thou art I shall learn to pray. In the a.s.surance that I have as my teacher, Jesus, who is ever praying to the Father, and by His prayer rules the destinies of His Church and the world, I will not be afraid. As much as I need to know of the mysteries of the prayer-world, Thou wilt unfold for me. And when I may not know, Thou wilt teach me to be strong in faith, giving glory to G.o.d.

Blessed Lord! Thou wilt not put to shame Thy scholar who trusts Thee, nor, by Thy grace, would he Thee either. Amen.

'IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH;'

OR

THE TRUE WORs.h.i.+PPERS.

'The hour cometh, and now is, when the true wors.h.i.+ppers shall wors.h.i.+p the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be His wors.h.i.+ppers. G.o.d is a Spirit: and they that wors.h.i.+p Him must wors.h.i.+p Him in spirit and truth.'--JOHN iv. 23, 24.

These words of Jesus to the woman of Samaria are His first recorded teaching on the subject of prayer. They give us some wonderful first glimpses into the world of prayer. The Father _seeks_ wors.h.i.+ppers: our wors.h.i.+p satisfies His loving heart and is a joy to Him. He seeks _true wors.h.i.+ppers_, but finds many not such as He would have them. True wors.h.i.+p is that which is _in spirit and truth_. _The Son has come_ to open the way for this wors.h.i.+p in spirit and in truth, and teach it us. And so one of our first lessons in the school of prayer must be to understand what it is to pray in spirit and in truth, and to know how we can attain to it.

To the woman of Samaria our Lord spoke of a threefold wors.h.i.+p.

There is, first, the ignorant wors.h.i.+p of the Samaritans: 'Ye wors.h.i.+p that which ye know not.' The second, the intelligent wors.h.i.+p of the Jew, having the true knowledge of G.o.d: 'We wors.h.i.+p that which we know; for salvation is of the Jews.' And then the new, the spiritual wors.h.i.+p which He Himself has come to introduce: 'The hour is coming, and is now, when the true wors.h.i.+ppers shall wors.h.i.+p the Father in spirit and truth.' From the connection it is evident that the words 'in spirit and truth'

do not mean, as is often thought, earnestly, from the heart, in sincerity. The Samaritans had the five books of Moses and some knowledge of G.o.d; there was doubtless more than one among them who honestly and earnestly sought G.o.d in prayer. The Jews had the true full revelation of G.o.d in His word, as thus far given; there were among them G.o.dly men, who called upon G.o.d with their whole heart. And yet not 'in spirit and truth,' in the full meaning of the words. Jesus says, '_The hour is coming, and now is_:' it is only in and through Him that the wors.h.i.+p of G.o.d will be in spirit and truth.

Among Christians one still finds the three cla.s.ses of wors.h.i.+ppers. Some who in their ignorance hardly know what they ask: they pray earnestly, and yet receive but little. Others there are, who have more correct knowledge, who try to pray with all their mind and heart, and often pray most earnestly, and yet do not attain to the full blessedness of wors.h.i.+p in spirit and truth. It is into this third cla.s.s we must ask our Lord Jesus to take us; we must be taught of Him how to wors.h.i.+p in spirit and truth. This alone is spiritual wors.h.i.+p; this makes us wors.h.i.+ppers such as the Father seeks. In prayer everything will depend on our understanding well and practising the wors.h.i.+p in spirit and truth.

'G.o.d is _a Spirit_ and they that wors.h.i.+p Him must wors.h.i.+p Him _in spirit_ and truth.' The first thought suggested here by the Master is that there must be harmony between G.o.d and His wors.h.i.+ppers; such as G.o.d is, must His wors.h.i.+p be. This is according to a principle which prevails throughout the universe: we look for correspondence between an object and the organ to which it reveals or yields itself. The eye has an inner fitness for the light, the ear for sound. The man who would truly wors.h.i.+p G.o.d, would find and know and possess and enjoy G.o.d, must be in harmony with Him, must have a capacity for receiving Him. Because G.o.d _is Spirit_, we must wors.h.i.+p _in spirit_. As G.o.d is, so His wors.h.i.+pper.

And what does this mean? The woman had asked our Lord whether Samaria or Jerusalem was the true place of wors.h.i.+p. He answers that henceforth wors.h.i.+p is no longer to be limited to a certain place: 'Woman, believe Me, _the hour cometh_ when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall ye wors.h.i.+p the Father.' As G.o.d is Spirit, not bound by s.p.a.ce or time, but in His infinite perfection always and everywhere the same, so His wors.h.i.+p would henceforth no longer be confined by place or form, but spiritual as G.o.d Himself is spiritual. A lesson of deep importance. How much our Christianity suffers from this, that it is confined to certain times and places. A man who seeks to pray earnestly in the church or in the closet, spends the greater part of the week or the day in a spirit entirely at variance with that in which he prayed. His wors.h.i.+p was the work of a fixed place or hour, not of his whole being. G.o.d is a spirit: He is the Everlasting and Unchangeable One; what He is, He is always and in truth. Our wors.h.i.+p must even so be in spirit and truth: His wors.h.i.+p must be the spirit of our life; our life must be wors.h.i.+p in spirit as G.o.d is Spirit.

'G.o.d is a Spirit: and they that wors.h.i.+p Him must wors.h.i.+p Him in spirit and truth.' The second thought that comes to us is that this wors.h.i.+p in the spirit must come from G.o.d Himself. G.o.d is Spirit: He alone has Spirit to give. It was for this He sent His Son, to fit us for such spiritual wors.h.i.+p, by giving us the Holy Spirit. It is of His own work that Jesus speaks when He says twice, 'The hour cometh,' and then adds, 'and is now.' He came to baptize with the Holy Spirit; the Spirit could not stream forth till He was glorified (_John i. 33, vii. 37, 38, xvi. 7_). It was when He had made an end of sin, and entering into the Holiest of all with His blood, had there on our behalf _received_ the Holy Spirit (_Acts ii. 33_), that He could send Him down to us as the Spirit of the Father. It was when Christ had redeemed us, and we in Him had received the position of children, that the Father sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts to cry, 'Abba, Father.' The wors.h.i.+p in spirit is the wors.h.i.+p of the Father in the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Sons.h.i.+p.

This is the reason why Jesus here uses the name of Father. We never find one of the Old Testament saints personally appropriate the name of child or call G.o.d his Father. The wors.h.i.+p _of the Father_ is only possible to those to whom the Spirit of the Son has been given. The wors.h.i.+p _in spirit_ is only possible to those to whom the Son has revealed the Father, and who have received the spirit of Sons.h.i.+p. It is only Christ who opens the way and teaches the wors.h.i.+p in spirit.

And _in truth_. That does not only mean, _in sincerity_. Nor does it only signify, in accordance with the truth of G.o.d's Word. The expression is one of deep and Divine meaning. Jesus is 'the only-begotten of the Father, _full of_ grace and _truth_.' 'The law was given by Moses; grace and _truth came_ by Jesus Christ.'

Jesus says, '_I am the truth_ and the life.' In the Old Testament all was shadow and promise; Jesus brought and gives the reality, _the substance_, of things hoped for. In Him the blessings and powers of the eternal life are our actual possession and experience. Jesus is full of grace and truth; the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth; through Him the grace that is in Jesus is ours indeed, and truth a positive communication out of the Divine life. And so wors.h.i.+p in spirit is wors.h.i.+p _in truth_; actual living fellows.h.i.+p with G.o.d, a real correspondence and harmony between the Father, who is a Spirit, and the child praying in the spirit.

What Jesus said to the woman of Samaria, she could not at once understand. Pentecost was needed to reveal its full meaning. We are hardly prepared at our first entrance into the school of prayer to grasp such teaching. We shall understand it better later on. Let us only begin and take the lesson as He gives it.

We are carnal and cannot bring G.o.d the wors.h.i.+p He seeks. But Jesus came to give the Spirit: He has given Him to us. Let the disposition in which we set ourselves to pray be what Christ's words have taught us. Let there be the deep confession of our inability to bring G.o.d the wors.h.i.+p that is pleasing to Him; the childlike teachableness that waits on Him to instruct us; the simple faith that yields itself to the breathing of the Spirit.

Above all, let us hold fast the blessed truth--we shall find that the Lord has more to say to us about it--that the knowledge of the Fatherhood of G.o.d, the revelation of His infinite Fatherliness in our hearts, the faith in the infinite love that gives us His Son and His Spirit to make us children, is indeed the secret of prayer in spirit and truth. This is the new and living way Christ opened up for us. To have Christ the Son, and _The Spirit of the Son_, dwelling within us, and revealing the Father, this makes us true, spiritual wors.h.i.+ppers.

'LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY.'

Blessed Lord! I adore the love with which Thou didst teach a woman, who had refused Thee a cup of water, what the wors.h.i.+p of G.o.d must be. I rejoice in the a.s.surance that Thou wilt no less now instruct Thy disciple, who comes to Thee with a heart that longs to pray in spirit and in truth. O my Holy Master! do teach me this blessed secret.

Teach me that the wors.h.i.+p in spirit and truth is not of man, but only comes from Thee; that it is not only a thing of times and seasons, but the outflowing of a life in Thee. Teach me to draw near to G.o.d in prayer under the deep impression of my ignorance and my having nothing in myself to offer Him, and at the same time of the provision Thou, my Saviour, makest for the Spirit's breathing in my childlike stammerings. I do bless Thee that in Thee I am a child, and have a child's liberty of access; that in Thee I have the spirit of Sons.h.i.+p and of wors.h.i.+p of truth. Teach me, above all, Blessed Son of the Father, how it is the revelation of the Father that gives confidence in prayer; and let the infinite Fatherliness of G.o.d's Heart be my joy and strength for a life of prayer and of wors.h.i.+p. Amen.

PRAY TO THY FATHER WHICH IS IN SECRET

OR

ALONE WITH G.o.d.

'But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thine inner chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall recompense thee.'--MATT. vi. 6.

After Jesus had called His first disciples He gave them their first public teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. He there expounded to them the kingdom of G.o.d, its laws and its life. In that kingdom G.o.d is not only King, but Father; He not only gives all, but is Himself all. In the knowledge and fellows.h.i.+p of Him alone is its blessedness. Hence it came as a matter of course that the revelation of prayer and the prayer-life was a part of His teaching concerning the New Kingdom He came to set up. Moses gave neither command nor regulation with regard to prayer: even the prophets say little directly of the duty of prayer; it is Christ who teaches to pray.

And the first thing the Lord teaches His disciples is that they must have a secret place for prayer; every one must have some solitary spot where he can be alone with his G.o.d. Every teacher must have a schoolroom. We have learnt to know and accept Jesus as our only teacher in the school of prayer. He has already taught us at Samaria that wors.h.i.+p is no longer confined to times and places; that wors.h.i.+p, spiritual true wors.h.i.+p, is a thing of the spirit and the life; the whole man must in his whole life be wors.h.i.+p in spirit and truth. And yet He wants each one to choose for himself the fixed spot where He can daily meet him. That inner chamber, that solitary place, is Jesus' schoolroom. That spot may be anywhere; that spot may change from day to day if we have to change our abode; but that secret place there must be, with the quiet time in which the pupil places himself in the Master's presence, to be by Him prepared to wors.h.i.+p the Father.

There alone, but there most surely, Jesus comes to us to teach us to pray.