The Disciple Learns to Pray - Part 1

Welcome to this weekend's In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley. Believers should always strive for a path of growth. Discover how prayer plays a vital role in spiritual maturity as we continue the discipleship series. The disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When you pray, say, Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.

As in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, as we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves. For a friend of mine in his journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him. And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not, the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you.

Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receive it, and he that seeketh find it, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?

Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? Now the apostles had watched Jesus, watched every single facet of his life because they knew there was something of the supernatural touch in his life they could not understand. They knew him to be the Messiah, yet in spite of that there was something very, very unusual they could not overlook. It was the custom of their day for a rabbi that is a teacher of his disciples, whoever he may be, to teach and instruct his followers in some type of prayer, one that they could repeat over and over again. So when they watched Jesus time after time pray, and they had seen him out praying all night by himself, and no doubt wondering, how does he do that all night long?

Many times you'll find the Lord Jesus Christ sitting apart a time in order to pray for something specific. He went out, the scripture says, early in the morning before the day to pray to talk to the Father. Before he chose those twelve apostles, he prayed all night long.

There were many, many times he spent all night in prayer seeking the Father's guidance and direction. That group of apostles saw in him the supernatural power of God. And they saw also, I believe in him, something that was so evident to them after he spent a long period of time in prayer, they could see something happening in his life and in his ministry that just awed them. So upon one occasion, the scripture says that after he'd been praying, one of them said, Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples.

They wanted what he had. They wanted the sense of fellowship that he had with the Father. They could see a sense of oneness between him and God that they wanted.

And they knew that the key to that oneness was in his prayer. So they said to him, would you teach us to pray as you pray? Now, when you look at that word, and I want you to keep your Bible open, if you will, when you look at that word, pray, and what it means, it means to be like a dog before someone. Now you say, well, what in the world's that got to do with praying?

Now you just watch it. To be like a dog before someone. Now, in the day in which our Lord Jesus Christ lived and in which this was written, shepherding was a part of their livelihood. And so the shepherd usually used his dog to do the greater part of the work. What he's saying here is the dog, the master's dog, stands beside the master. He takes his orders from his master. He obeys his master. He is dependent upon his master for sustenance and guidance. He was obedient to his master.

And what he's saying here is simply this. These apostles were saying, Lord, teach us to be obedient and subservient to you. Teach us to be available to you. Teach us to depend upon the Father as you are dependent upon the Father. Teach us to be as obedient unto you and to the Father as you are to the Father as the shepherd dog is to his master. We want to lay down before you. We want your complete guidance.

We want absolute dependence upon you. Now, when you recognize that the meaning of prayer and that the word simply means that to be like a dog before someone, subservient to someone, obedient to someone, waiting for direction, then most of the praying we hear could never be heard of God. Egotistical, proud praying, backed up with a life of sin. A person who does not know Jesus Christ as Savior, who knows nothing of obedience, nothing of holiness of life, nothing of submission to the will of God is an absolute contradiction in terms of the whole concept of prayer in the Scriptures. So when they said, Lord, teach us to pray like John taught his disciples, they were not saying, would you simply teach us some words to say? Would you teach us whether we should kneel, lie down, or stand up? Would you teach us where we should pray in the home or on the highway? They were talking about an attitude.

They were talking about a relationship. They were talking about obedience and submission and oneness with the Father. And I say to you, my friend, that most praying never even reaches the ceiling.

We joke about it reaching the ceiling. It never leaves the human mind that speaks the words because the attitude behind prayer that reaches the heart of God must come from a life of obedience and submission unto Him, one that is looking to Him for sustenance for everything. The only prayer that can be prayed by a lost man is the prayer of salvation, asking for the forgiveness of his sins and the surrender of his life to him so that if you're one of those persons who is misinformed about praying that anybody can pray anytime, anywhere, and be heard of God, that all you've got to do is to get in trouble and God's going to hear you.

My friend, He will not. You can analyze, rationalize. You can exegete, eisegete. You can do anything you want to to the Scriptures. The only prayer that God is going to hear is the prayer of one who is, first of all, a child of God unless it is the prayer to become a child of God and then the prayer of a clean, obedient heart. When they said, Lord, teach us to pray, they were saying, Lord, teach us to be as dependent upon the Father as you are.

Did you get that? When they said, Lord, teach us to pray, they were saying, Lord, teach us to be as dependent upon the Father and to trust Him for everything, guidance, provision, sustenance in the life, as dependent as you are, you teach us how to have the same attitude. Now, in response to that, He taught them two things and that's what I want us to discuss because I believe that a true disciple, in order to be a true disciple, you must not only have Him as your Savior, have Him as your Lord.

Let Him reproduce His life through you. If that is happening, you're going to know how to pray. And I do not believe a person can learn a greater lesson in this life once he's a Christian than to learn how to pray. And if I should ask you how to pray, what would you say? If I should ask you how would you instruct someone else in praying, what would you say?

Now, my friend, listen to me with all of your heart. Listen, it is the very attitude of dependence upon Him, of submission to Him, and they recognized in Him, in Christ, that He had a relationship that they desired. So they said to Him, would you teach us to pray as you know how to pray to the Father?

And He says yes, and here's what He did. And let's look, if you will, beginning in verse 2 because here He gives them a pattern of prayer. It does not mean that every time you pray you've got to pray this prayer. It does not mean that every time you pray you have to pray all of this. But He gave them a pattern which prayer should include.

And He said, and you and I have quoted this from the time we were a child. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done. As in heaven, so in earth. Now you've already discovered that's not the same indication that we find in the book of Matthew.

Only a couple of differences toward the end. But I want us to look first of all at what He told them to focus their attention upon and probably one of the greatest errors in our praying we find here. Now remember, He is teaching a group of apostles, that chosen core group of His, how to pray. If you and I are going to learn how, there's no better place to go than right to this passage to see what He said to them in answer to the request, Lord, teach us to pray. He said, all right, if you want to learn how to pray, pray in this manner. And then He began.

Now, let's look to see what He says. First of all, He deals with the Father. Secondly, He deals with man. And the first thing He deals with about the Father is praise to Him.

Notice what He said. Our Father which art in heaven. Now, to a Jew, that was absolutely amazing because first of all, a Jew in that day did not have the understanding that he could pray to God the Father, Jehovah, Elohim, Yahweh. How could he pray to Him and say our Father? There was no concept in that apostle's heart that God would have the intimate relationship though they had seen and heard Jesus praying. And they knew that He could talk about an intimacy with the Father. But when He said to them, you as a believer, you as a disciple, you as an apostle can likewise pray our Father.

Suddenly those apostles recognized they had the privilege of penetrating a relationship and a family life that they never understood. Our Father, that means that I'm part of the family of God. Our Father, not Elohim, not Yahweh, not these tremendous words for God that oftentimes they will not even speak except under certain conditions. Our Father, indicating that I'm a part of the family of God.

Now, my friend, listen. If you're not a Christian, listen carefully. If you're not a Christian, how in the world can you approach God by saying our Father? My Father, you can't say that unless you're part of the family. How do you get in the family?

You get in the family by being adopted by God into the family by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that was shared at the cross in your behalf. So there's a man who says, but I believe that anybody can pray. God will hear anybody. He will only hear the believer unless the man who's praying is praying for salvation. So he said to them, first of all, I want to focus your attention upon the object of all praying and what is that? It is to approach God the Father.

What was Jesus saying to those apostles? He's saying you are praying to one who is high and mighty above all things, who is the creator of all mankind, who's the sustainer of all things. Therefore, now listen, therefore you need not come to him and beg.

You're talking to one who has an inexhaustible supply because you're talking to our Father who is in heaven. He says that the disciples approach the God in prayer is my Father, our Father who art in heaven, not who's down here on my level, but who art in heaven, but praise God after Pentecost. Listen, after Pentecost, they could pray our Father who art in heaven and who is in my heart living through me through the Holy Spirit. You see, the one thing Jesus did in the beginning of that prayer was to focus their minds upon the fact that God is the object of their prayer.

And secondly, he is the adequate source of everything that they need. And thirdly, they are an integral part of the family of God. And you see, so often even Christians today have a faraway look between them and God. God is out yonder somewhere, way out yonder somewhere, somehow maybe we'll be able to get through.

That's not the relationship the Bible talks about. Here is the initial pattern he gave them to pray. Now you and I dwelt and dwelt with the Holy Spirit, and we have the Spirit of God within us who is able and ready to pray through us the petitions of our heart in a divine heavenly language that man oftentimes cannot even utter. He says you to pray our Father who art in heaven, hallowed holy be thy name. He says you're approaching not only a God of might and majesty and power, but you're approaching a God who is holy. Now listen, how in the world could we ever conceive of the fact that a sinner unsaved by the grace of God could ever approach a holy God, absolutely transparent, absolutely perfect, beyond human description, not one iota of anything but perfection within him. How in the world can a lost man approach a holy God? He cannot, except he approach him through the blood of Jesus Christ asking for the forgiveness of his sins.

Once he approaches him through the blood of Christ and his sin is taken away, then he's a child of God and he's a son in the family coming to speak to the heavenly Father. He says our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Holy not only is the name of God, but why did he say his name?

Because his name represents everything that God is. Hallowed, holy is the name of God. And he was saying to these apostles, when you pray, you are to pray to a God of majesty and might and creation and glory and honor, you're talking to a Father who is holy. Now I believe that the reason Jesus included that in the prayer was this, that he knew, now watch this, he knew that as they had seen him talk to the Father and the reflection of the Father in him, that in order to talk to God, now watch this, in order to talk to God and to be heard of him, means that I'm gonna be fellowshipping with him.

And if I am gazing at him and fellowshipping with him and that fellowship is a true communication and I'm getting through and he's getting through, what's gonna happen? The holiness within him will become the holiness in my heart as Jesus is released and liberated through me and through you. In his prayer he was saying to them, you're talking to one whose holiness and righteousness has separated you from him, but through whom, speaking of himself, the two of you can come together and you can become one in the family of God. He said you to pray our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. He speaks first of all of the praise and worship that is to be his and then the work. He says thy kingdom come, notice what he said. He said when you pray, he says pray thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.

Thy kingdom come. How many of our prayers are like this? Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name and then we get off on ourselves.

But you notice he gave them a pattern. He said first of all you're to praise God. You're to praise him. You're to look to him and honor him as the holy majestic God that he is. Then you are to pray concerning the kingdom of God, the work of God.

Not only his worship but his work. He says thy kingdom come. Now listen, the Bible teaches that Jesus will come and establish his kingdom. You and I, watch this, we are doing kingdom work but we are not bringing in the kingdom. We are a part of the kingdom of God. We are a part of the family of God. We are a part of the work of God and we are his vessels and his servants through whom he is sharing the wonderful message of redemption and salvation and he says when you pray, pray thy kingdom come.

Now what is the work of the kingdom? All over the world this morning God's kingdom work is going on because people believe him, people love him, people share what they have in the work of the kingdom and he said to them when you pray, he said you're to pray concerning the kingdom work and I wonder how often you do that. I wonder how often you pray for the fellowship of the church. How often you pray for the leadership of the church. How often you pray for the pastor. How often you pray for missions around the world. How often you pray for God's work. How often you pray for people to be saved by the hundreds and the thousands and the millions every Lord's day, everywhere in the world.

While it is 12 o'clock noon here, it is night somewhere else. While we are asleep at night, somebody is preaching the gospel somewhere around the world. How often do we pray for the kingdom work? And he knew he was going to be teaching the more and more about praying because he said upon one occasion, he says as he looked down upon the fields of harvest, he said pray ye that the Lord of the harvest he will send labor us into the work, into the kingdom work. You and I are a part of the kingdom and we're a part of the work, a part of the message that the Lord Jesus Christ intends to share with everybody everywhere. He said the disciple is to pray. Not only in praise to the Father, but he's also to pray for the work, the work of the Father and the kingdom. Thank you for listening to The Disciple Learns to Pray. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia. ...