Teach Me to Pray - Week #3

Again this week I'm working out of chapter one ("The Only Teacher") of Murray's book, "Teach Me to Pray." Murray says,

"Prayer is what we need to be taught. Though in its beginnings prayer is so simple that even a small child can pray, it is at the same time the highest and holiest work to which anyone can rise...At first there is no work that appears so simple as prayer. But (then) we feel the need of being taught to pray. Later we may see that there is no task that is more difficult..."

This resonates with me because the more I probe into prayer with the desire to mature in it, the more I am aware of how little I understand it and need to be taught. While the smallest child can pray and the lost man or woman cry out to God, it takes work and a teachable spirit and a Teacher to bring the sincere believer into a life of mature prayer, or as Murray says, prayer that "takes hold of God's strength and to which the gates of heaven are opened wide":

"We know...that we are weak and unfit for this holy task. Only the Spirit of God can enable us to do it as it should be done. How quickly we are deceived into resting in the form of prayer, while the power is missing!...To be taught true prayer - that which takes hold of God's strength and to which the gates of heaven are opened wide - who would not cry, 'O for someone to teach me how to truly pray!'"

Andrew Murray gives five things needed to make our prayer acceptable/effective; our prayers must be:

1. To the glory of God
2. In full surrender to His will
3. In full assurance of faith
4. In the name of Jesus
   
5. With a perseverance that refuses to be denied

His main point in this chapter is that we must be taught this and that Jesus is the Teacher..."It is Jesus, praying Himself, who teaches us to pray. He knows what prayer is. He learned it in the trials and tears of His earthly life. In heaven it is still His beloved work; His life there is intercession. Nothing delights Him more than to find those whom He can take with Him into the Father's presence...He teaches not only by thoughts of what to ask or how to ask but also by breathing within us the very spirit of prayer, by living within us as the Great Intercessor."

To underscore his point, Murray concludes the chapter by saying that Jesus didn't teach His disciples to preach but to pray..."To know how to speak to God is more vital than knowing how to speak to men. It is power with God not man that is of supreme importance."

Andrew Murray always ends his chapters with a prayer, and this one is so good that I will quote it to end this posting; I encourage you to pray it in faith then to pray your own prayer, believing that He hears you:

"Blessed Lord, You ever live to pray, and You can teach me to live to pray...Lord Jesus, I confess I do not know how to pray as I ought. Teach me to wait on you and in so doing give you time to train me to pray. May a deep sense of my ignorance, of the wonderful privilege and power of prayer, and of the need of the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of prayer, lead me to surrender my thoughts of what I think I know. Draw me to kneel before You in true teachableness and poverty of spirit.

Fill me, Lord, with confidence that with You as my Teacher, I will learn to pray. With Jesus as my Teacher - He who ever prays to the Father and by His prayer rules the destinies of His church and the world - I need not be afraid. As much as I need to know of the mysteries of the prayer world, you will unfold for me. And when it is not for me to know, You will teach me to be strong in faith, giving glory to God.

Blessed Lord, You will not put to shame Your scholar who trusts You, nor will I by Your grace put You to shame. Amen."