Teach Me to Pray - Week #2

I pray that the spirit of wisdom and revelation in knowing God will rest on our hearts and minds as we proceed through this book, Teach Me to Pray, by Andrew Murray. This week I'm taking a line from the preface and one from chapter one ("The Only Teacher"):

"Many complain that they lack power to pray in faith, to pray the effective prayer that accomplishes something. But Jesus is waiting, longing, to teach us this. In heaven He ever lives to pray for us. His life in us is an always-praying life...

Luke 11:1 'One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray."'...As we grow in the Christian life, the concept of Christ's never-failing intercession becomes increasingly wonderful. It stirs in us a desire to be like Christ in His intercession."

A truth that has meant a lot to me over the years but that is taking on a new level of meaning to me now is that of Jesus' eternal intercession for us at the Father's right hand (Heb. 7:25). Just as He accomplished the Father's will on earth through prayer and intercession, so He continues to do so and will forever do so..."His life in us is an always-praying life...It stirs in us a desire to be like Christ in His intercession." These words of Murray's suggest two things to me that I'd like to share.

First, because He dwells in me by His Spirit as the Ever-interceding One, I can be assured that my desire to learn to pray as He prays will be met; the more my oneness and union with Him deepens (in other words, the more my heart and mind and will are aligned with His), the more my prayers will reflect His life. In the genuine struggle for maturity in prayer, I'm forced to go to Him over and over and over again, seeking to learn from Him and never content with the mere motions of prayer. This ongoing clinging to Him and crying out to Him for real and mature prayer progressively brings me into line with His thoughts and will and into deeper union with Him, and that produces fruit (John 15). One of the expressions of that fruit is effective praying (John 15:7).

Second, the truth that His life in us is an always-praying life tells me that to be like Him is to intercede and to be an intercessor; as His life increases in me, intercession will increase to the point that I become an intercessor. His Spirit who dwells within me increasingly prays in and through me as I grow in yielding to His heart and mind and will (Romans 8:26,27; I Cor. 2:9-16). This is the norm for the true believer in Him.

I heard a phrase sung this week: "I will lean into His prayer"; it was sung in context to His ever living to pray for us. I was impacted with that phrase because it says in different words what I believe Andrew Murray is referring to: we are utterly dependent on His intercession for us if we are to become like Him in all respects, including His prayer life. By faith in the cross of Jesus and His Holy Spirit, we are united with Him; His "always-praying" presence in us is our hope of learning to pray.

Lord, thank You that prayer in You is not like the praying of dead religions but is a living union with the great Intercessor Himself! Thank You that in the struggle to grow in prayer, it isn't a struggle to learn performance in prayer but a struggle to learn dependence on Your "always-praying" presence within. We say "yes" to Your leadership in this process and once again, we say without shame, "Lord, teach us to pray..." We want to be like You in intercession. Thank You that You hear and delight to answer this prayer. In Jesus' name, Amen.