16) Lord Teach Us To Pray! Series

16) LORD TEACH US TO PRAY

TEXT: Luke 11:1

1 And it came to pass, that, as He [Jesus] was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, one of His disciples said unto Him, Lord, Teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.

RECAP

As you might recall, last week we began to look at what we believe about Prayer.

Remembering of course, that the whole reason for these weekly Bible Studies...

Is to look to the Scriptures and the very Word of God to discover:

“...those things most surely believed among us”

And as we learned last week...

Prayer is not just fundamentally important to our relationship with God,

But it’s something God actually instructs us to do.

In fact, 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18 tells us to:

Pray without Ceasing. [...and to...]

In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God

in Christ Jesus Concerning you.

You see praying is so important – that God says we are to pray continually,

To Pray without stopping...

To Pray and keep on praying – because this is the very will of God concerning you.

Now coming to terms with this truth...

We had to ask ourselves a number of critical questions,

In the light of what God’s Word teaches.

We asked - “What is Prayer?”,

We asked “Who needs to Pray?”,

We asked “Where and When we should we Pray?”,

And of course we asked - “Why we should Pray?”

Thankfully, once again the Bible proved true...

And provided us with all of the answers to these questions.

For instance – it revealed to us that Prayer...

Is simply the means by how we talk with God.

Remember, the Lord’s whole plan and desire for mankind

Is for us to a having a personal relationship with Him.

And to that end, God attempts to talk with us each and everyday through His Word,

And we in turn are able to talk with Him everyday through our Prayers.

God talks to us – and - we talk with Him…

That’s what you call “two-way communication”,

And its key to any meaningful relationship.

And if that is what Prayer is – “Who then can Pray?”

The answer is - Anyone who has a relationship with God -and wants to talk with Him.

Prayer isn’t just a practice meant for the early Apostles,

Neither is it restricted for the likes of just the Pastors today.

No - Prayer is for everyone!

...For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus Concerning you.

And the Bible is literally full of people who we can see

From all ages, backgrounds and different walks of life – Praying.

Prayer is so simple in fact anyone can do it – even little children.

Which brings us to our next question - “Where do we Pray?”

Well God doesn’t really put any limits on it...

Because anywhere is a good place to pray.

In fact, in the Bible we see examples of prayers being made in gardens,

On mountain tops and even out and sea.

There are examples of people praying both publicly, in the presence of others,

As well as praying privately while off on their own.

There is no wrong place to pray - when it’s done with the right heart and motivation,

Where one simply wants to talk with God.

“When do we Pray” - well anytime is the right time to pray.

Of course, we saw in the book of Daniel and also through the Psalms

That it appeared customary for the Hebrews to pray many times a day

In fact, the Psalmist even declared specific times of how

He prayed during the Morning, Noon and Evening.

However, when you contrast this with other examples

Like those we find of Jesus in the Gospels,

You begin, to recognise that prayer is not at all limited to just those times.

After all Mark 1:35 tells us that Jesus rose early before the sun came up to pray,

And Luke 6:12 tells us that in other instances Jesus prayed all night long.

And then in the book of 1 Thessalonians…

Paul declared that he prayed both day and night.

So guys there is no timeframe placed around when we should pray,

Because simply put – it’s never the wrong time to pray.

And last but not least we had to ask ourselves - “Why do we Pray?”

It’s a good question – but what’s the answer?

Well to cut to the chase – we either pray to receive things from God

...that being His Help, His provision and His blessings,

Or we pray to Give things back to God...

Including our thanks and our praises to Him.

1 Thessalonians 5:17-18 we are told to:

17 Pray without ceasing.

18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.