Teach Me to Pray - Week #1

This week we'll begin looking at Andrew Murray's book, Teach Me to Pray.
As is true of Murray's writings, this book is both very simple and very profound. I'm being strongly challenged as I'm reading through it.

I'll be going slowly through this book because each page is packed with Jesus and truth in Him. If you’re interested in getting your own copy of it, it's available at amazon.com and through local bookstores.

The quote this week is taken from the preface of the book; this was part of what I quoted two weeks ago but I want to look more carefully at it this week because it's only as we pause long enough to allow the implications of what Murray is saying to really sink in, that we benefit from the truths he's presenting. I urge you to read these postings prayerfully, asking the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth in Jesus and empower your heart to receive and to obey whatever He may want to do or say.

Murray writes:
"'Teach Me to Pray' has been written because of a deep conviction that the place and power of prayer in the Christian life has not been fully understood. As long as we look at prayer chiefly as the means of maintaining our own Christian life, we cannot fully know what it is intended to be. But when we learn to regard it as the most important work entrusted to us and as the root and strength of all other work, then we understand that there is nothing we need more than to study and practice the art of praying in the correct manner."

What a statement! Is prayer really the "most important work entrusted to us and the root and strength of all other work..."?! If Murray is even partly correct in this, then we as western believers are in serious need of renewing our minds related to how the Kingdom of God operates and of restructuring our lives and ministries around that; also, if he's correct, then our great need is, as he says, "to study and practice the art of praying in the correct manner." The rest of Murray's book is about maturing in prayer.

I'm increasingly aware of the narrow understanding of prayer I grew up with. As the Holy Spirit continues to expand my understanding of God's kingdom and His purposes, I am seeing with greater clarity why the great men and women of God, both in Bible times and since then, understood the massive role of prayer in God's kingdom.

In this statement above, Murray is suggesting that we have limited the purpose of prayer to being about the maintaining of our personal life in God; I question if we modern western believers are even convinced of that. If we were fully convinced that we cannot live our personal lives in fullness for even one day without the grace of God (the empowerment of the Spirit) at work in us and if we were convinced that prayer is the means by which we access that grace, then our personal prayer lives would be much stronger than they are.

But then add to that the dimension of knowing God intimately through prayer, and then add to that the reality that Kingdom work is accomplished first and foremost through intercession, and the idea of 24/7 houses of prayer scattered across the earth becomes the most sensible thing as the end of the age approaches and God brings His people into full alignment with His thoughts and ways.

My desire in sharing this book's challenge to study and practice prayer isn't for condemnation nor to pressure people into religious activity that is fueled by the flesh. My prayer and desire is that each one would go directly to God with this issue and wrestle through it with Him, asking Him for revelation from the Word and the Spirit on this topic and then asking Him to help each of us to know how to begin to walk out a life of prayer in Him. Without living understanding on this subject, we won't be empowered to walk it out. This little book by Andrew Murray may be a good starting point for some, and that is why I'm going through it now with you. My primary prayer request to God in this time of my life is "Lord, teach me to pray."

So Spirit of God, we desperately need You to open our understanding and to convince us of the privilege and power and critical need of a vital prayer life if we are to live in the fullness of grace,persevering in faith till the end, and see Your Kingdom established here on earth in the age to come. "May (You) help us to believe what mighty influence our prayers can have, and may all fear of being unable to fulfill our calling (to prayer) vanish as we grasp the truth that Jesus is living in us and interceding for us." Thank You, Lord, that you hear this prayer, in Jesus' holy name. Amen!