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Introduction They tell me, Lord, that when I seem To be in speech with you, Since but one voice is heard, it’s all a dream, One talker aping two. Sometimes it is, yet not as they Conceive it. Rather, I Seek in myself the things I hoped to say, But lo! my wells are dry. Then, seeing me empty, you forsake The listener’s role and through My dumb lips breathe and into utterance wake The thoughts I never knew. C.S. Lewis from Letters to Malcolm Often when I am struggling with the discipline of prayer, these verses from C.S. Lewis are an enormous comfort to me. They remind me that all we have and are comes as a gift from God. Our creation, our salvation – and our growth in the Christian life; all these things begin in the love of God for us, His creation. For those of us wanting to learn how to pray, we also need to remember that what draws us to God in the first place is His amazing grace. The Scriptures are full of examples of men and women whom God drew to Himself, and then gave the words and the ministry that He had planned for them. As we read of their lives we can learn something of how God wants to work in our lives. We can eavesdrop on Hannah, weeping in the temple at Shiloh; we can walk beside Abraham and listen to him pleading with God for his family in Sodom and Gomorrah; we can hide among the olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane and listen to Jesus as He prostrates Himself before His Father and pleads for His life. 1
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Great Prayers of the Bible
We can sit on the ash heap with Job, hearing him argue with God. We can wander in the rubble of Jerusalem’s walls and listen as Nehemiah and his companions combine building and prayer. We can stand outside Daniel’s house and hear him through the open window, praying three times a day in defiance of a royal edict. We can imagine ourselves huddled in a locked room with frightened disciples, praying for Peter, and being overwhelmed by God’s amazing answer. We can look over Paul’s elbow in prison as he dictates his letters, and hear him again and again break off to praise and worship God and offer heartfelt prayer for the young churches he has left behind. We can visit in spirit the island of Patmos and watch as John throws his hands to heaven with the cry, ‘Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!’ There are hundreds of prayers, both personal and public, which are included in the Scriptures for our help and instruction. And as we listen to the men and women of the Bible beseeching, praising, asking, repenting, so we can learn about the Holy Spirit, how we are to approach God, what He seeks from us in our relationship with Him, and how prayer works. Many in our churches today are suffering from a kind of spiritual autism. We are the centre of our own world, and we don’t know how to relate to the ‘otherness’ of God. We don’t know how to communicate with Him, how to look into His eyes. We don’t know how to pray. Nor do we know how to get close to others. Our minds are filled with our own concerns and problems and we find it difficult to listen, to care and to pray for others. Yet in these days God is calling more and more of His children to make prayer a priority. Prayer centres are springing up around the country; 24-hour prayer vigils are
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Introduction
being set up; churches are establishing prayer chains to cover times of crisis, illness or other needs. Some of us may feel very threatened by this. We feel inadequate, and we despair that our lack of discipline or our lack of faith is holding us – and maybe our church – back. In James 1:22–25 the apostle warns us against the dangers of reading the Word of God and doing nothing about it. It is not enough to study the story of God’s dealings with His people. We need to learn from them. We need to change the way we live and to put new principles into practice. There may be hundreds of books on prayer, but in the end the best way to improve one’s prayer life is to obtain an alarm clock and a notebook! Only by doing it do we learn it. Only by meeting with God day by day and listening to Him do we begin to understand how to talk with Him. This volume covers just seven of the great prayers of the Bible, and it includes questions for thought and discussion, but it will be a waste of time unless we are prepared from the very beginning to allow the doubleedged sword of the Word of God to penetrate us to the very deepest level (Heb. 4:12). Then, as the writer to the Hebrews goes on: For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (4:15–16)
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WEEK ONE
WEEK 1
Regular Prayer (The Lord’s Prayer)
Opening Icebreaker
Go round the room and ask each person what one thing they would save if their house were burning down, and assuming all people and pets were safe. Encourage people to say why they chose that particular thing.
Bible Readings
• • • •
Matthew 6:5–15 Luke 11:1–13 Psalm 5:1–3 Daniel 6:10–12
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Great Prayers of the Bible
Opening Our Eyes
In Luke 11 we read how the disciples gathered round Jesus and said to Him, ‘Teach us to pray.’ They wanted instruction: ‘… just as John taught his disciples.’ They had been with Jesus and watched Him in His relationship with His Father. They knew that when He spent time with God day after day, it had a powerful effect on His life and on His ministry. They wanted some of that. But maybe also there was a sense of wanting very definite instructions. Jesus didn’t often give the cut-anddried answers that people expected or hoped for. Instead He would tell a story, or ask a question in return. This time, however, He obliged. He gave them the form of words that has become known as the Lord’s Prayer. From that day to this books have been written and sermons preached exploring the meaning of these words and phrases. The prayer is used in almost every gathering of Christians of every denomination all over the world, and even those who are not regular churchgoers can probably recite it from memory. As a basis for everyday, regular prayer the Lord’s Prayer is unsurpassable. In his Gospel, Matthew includes it within the Sermon on the Mount, and he places it alongside other instructions for private prayer. This is the form of words Jesus suggests we use when go into our room and close the door. He seems to find no problem with beginning such a personal and private prayer with ‘Our Father …’ Even when we are alone, we are part of the worldwide Body of Christ, His Church in the world. And Matthew goes on to record Jesus’ teaching on forgiveness. Out of the secret place this prayer links us
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WEEK ONE
Regular Prayer (The Lord’s Prayer)
with cords of love to others and shapes our relationship with them. Luke’s emphasis is slightly different. He focuses on Jesus’ own prayer life and the disciples’ desire to pray as He did. And he follows it with Jesus’ teaching about the character of the One to whom we pray – the One who will reward persistence, open doors and give – generously and lovingly. In his book, Challenging Lifestyle, Nicky Gumbel describes how he uses the Lord’s Prayer as a kind of template for his own private daily prayers. Taking each phrase and filling it out with the particular praises, needs and desires that he wants to bring to the Father day by day, he has found an enormous richness and depth in his regular prayer times. A couple of generations ago the expectation in the evangelical community was that every Christian would spend time alone with God at the beginning of each day: ‘No Bible – no breakfast’ was the rule. While no one wants to impose such a legalistic requirement nowadays, still we would all surely want to encourage one another to make spending time alone with God a priority. If you want to develop a regular, daily time of prayer, then the Lord’s Prayer is a good place to start. Each day, use this prayer – to honour the holiness of God, to lay before Him your needs and the needs of the world and to acknowledge your dependence on Him for provision and protection.
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Great Prayers of the Bible
Discussion Starters
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1.
The disciples most probably would have known about Daniel and his three-times-daily prayer, and they would have been familiar with the psalmist’s ‘morning by morning’ habit. What effect do you think Jesus’ teaching would have had on their idea of regular prayer?
2.
The Matthew passage speaks of going into your room and closing the door. How often do you use the Lord’s Prayer in private? Does the plural language help or hinder you?
3.
The Luke passage speaks of continually asking, seeking, knocking. What can we learn from this passage that will prevent our regular prayer becoming stale or formulaic?
4.
Divide into pairs and assign to each pair a phrase (or two) from the Lord’s Prayer. Each couple should then discuss: (a) What does this phrase teach about the character of God? (b) What does it teach about the human situation? (c) How can we use it to pray on a daily basis?