Part 8 – How Disciples Pray – Matthew 6:7-15
April 14, 2019Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Speaker: Jerry Cisar
A problem we have in prayer, according to Paul, is that we don’t know how to pray as we ought (Rom. 8:26). It seems, therefore, that Jesus’ teaching on prayer ought to garner some serious attention. But in a day of fast answers and easy fixes, it has given way to acronyms and worse yet, entire constructs of prayer based on an obscure text in the Old Testament.
Despite how easy it is to memorize the Lord’s prayer (a five-year-old is certainly capable), my personal experience is that one cannot truly master it in a lifetime. It will continue to transform the one who prays the longer they use it.
According to Jesus, one thing that is NOT a problem in prayer is God’s knowledge of what we need. In other words, the purpose of prayer is not to inform God of our needs. He already knows them. So what is the purpose of praying as Jesus’ taught? It is so that we might know what we need.
Disciples pray this prayer because they come to prayer as learners or students. In praying as Jesus taught, a disciple’s will is conformed more and more into God’s will. In order for that process to take place as it must, there are some fundamentals about this prayer that we need to understand.