The Only Teacher # 3

He (Christ) knows how to teach, whether it is by the urgency of felt need, by the confidence that joy inspires, by the studying of the Word, or by the testimony of another believer who knows what it is to have prayer heard. By His Holy Spirit He has access to our hearts and teaches us to pray by showing us the sin that hinders the prayer, or by giving us the assurance that we  please God. He teaches by giving not only thought of what to ask or how to ask, but by breathing into us the very spirit of prayer and living within us as the Great Intercessor. We can most joyfully say, “Who teaches like Him?” Jesus never taught His disciples how to preach, only how to pray. To know how to speak to God is more than knowing how to speak to man. Power with God is the first thing, not power with men. Jesus loves to teach us how to pray.

What do you think my beloved fellow-disciples? Wouldn’t it be just what we need to ask the Master for a month to give us a course of special lessons on the art of prayer? As we meditate on the words He spoke on earth, let us yield ourselves to His teaching in the fullest confidence that with such a Teacher, we will make progress. Let us take time not only to meditate, but to pray, to sit at the foot of the throne and be trained for the work of intercession. Let us do so in the assurance that despite our stammerings and fears, He is carrying on His own work most beautifully. He will breathe His own life, which is all prayer, into us. As He makes us partakers of His righteousness and His life, He will make us partakers of His intercession, too. As the members of His Body – as a holy priesthood – will take part in His priestly work of praying to and getting results from God for mankind. Yes, even though we are unknowing and weak, let us most joyfully say, “Lord, teach us to pray!”

Blessed Lord! You live eternally to pray, and can teach me, too, to live eternally to pray! You want me to share Your glory in heaven by sharing this unceasing prayer with You, standing as a priest in the presence of my God.

Lord Jesus! Enroll my name among those who confess that they don’t know how to pray as they should, and who especially ask You for a course of teaching of teaching in prayer. Lord! Teach me to be patient in Your school, so that You will have time to train me. I am ignorant of the wonderful privilege and power of prayer, of the need the Holy Spirit to be the spirit of prayer. Lead me to forget my thoughts of what I think I know, and make me kneel before You in true teachableness and poverty of spirit.

Fill me, Lord, with the confidence that with You for my Teacher, I will learn to pray. Then I will not be afraid, because my Teacher prays continuously to the Father, and by His prayer rules the destinies of His Church and the world. Unfold for me everything I need to know about the mysteries of the prayer-world. When there is something I may not know, teach me to be strong in faith, giving glory to God.

Blessed Lord! I know that You won’t put that student to shame who trusts You. And, with Your grace, that student won’t shame You, either. Amen

~Andrew Murray~

The Only Teacher # 1

“And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1)

The disciples had learned to understand something of the connection between Christ’s wondrous life in public and His secret life of prayer. They had been with Him and had seen Him pray. They had learned to believe in Him as a Master in the art of prayer. None could pray like Him. And so they went to Him with the request, “Lord, teach us to pray.” In later years they would tell us that there were few things more wonderful or blessed that He taught them than is lessons on prayer.

It is still true today that disciples who see Him feel the need of repeating the same request, “Lord, teach us to pray.” As we grow in the Christian life, the thought and the faith of the Beloved Master in His never-failing intercession become more precious, and the hope of being like Christ in His intercession gains an attractiveness never before known. As we see Him pray, and remember that there none who can pray or teach like Him, we feel the petition of the disciples, “Lord, teach us to pray,” is just what we need. Everything He is and has is our very own. Because He Himself is our life, we should feet assured that if we ask, He will be delighted to take us into closer fellowship with Himself and teach us to pray as he prays.

Go, my brothers and sisters! Go to the Blessed Master and ask Him to enroll your names in that school which He always keeps open for those who long to study the Divine art of prayer and intercession! Yes, let us say to the Master as they did of old, “Lord, teach us to pray.” As we meditate, we shall find each word of our petition full of meaning.

“Lord, teach us to pray.” Yes, to pray. This is what we need to be taught. Though in its beginnings prayer is so simple that the feeblest child can pray, it is at the same time the highest and holiest work to which man can rise. Prayer is fellowship with the Unseen and Most Holy One. The powers of the eternal world have bee placed at prayer’s disposal.  It is the very essence of true religion and the channel of all blessings. It is the secret of power and life not only for ourselves, but for others, for the Church, and for the world. It is to prayer that God has given the right to take hold of Him and His strength. It is on prayer that promises wait for their fulfillment, the Kingdom waits for its coming, and the glory of God waits for its full revelation. How slothful and unfit we are for this blessed work.

Only the Spirit of God can enable us to do it right. How speedily we are deceived into resting in a form of prayer, while the power is still missing! Our early training, the teaching of the Church, the influence of habit, the stirring of the emotions – how easily these lead to prayer which has no spiritual power and achieves little. Who wouldn’t cry out for someone to teach them true prayer that takes hold of God’s strength and achieves much, to which the gates of heaven are really opened wide?

Jesus has opened a school in which He trains those of His redeemed ones who especially desire to have power in prayer. Enter it with the petition, “Lord! This is just what we need to be taught! O teach us to pray!”

~Andrew Murray~

(continued with # 2)