Teach me to pray!

One of the many things that I have found myself asking God over the last few months is that He would teach me how to pray.  More than just the “Rub a dub dub, thanks for the grub.”  I believe that there is power in prayer and many times we just don’t get it.  I have learned a few things in the process.

Naturally a good place to start would be in Luke chapter 11 where the disciples say to Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray.”  Jesus then proceeds to set an example for them that we are all familiar with.  (I think every one of us has memorized it in the KJV, but I am going to attack it in the NASB, just to mix it up a little.)

“Father, hallowed be Your name.”

Ok, I get that.  We want to be worshipping God and lifting His name high above all others.

“Your kingdom come.”

Again, this makes sense.  I want God’s will to be done and I want Him to be glorified.

“Give us each day our daily bread.”

Good, now we’re getting down to food.  I do enjoy a good loaf of bread sometimes and….  Hang on a second!  He said “Give us each day our daily bread.”  He’s talking about seeking Him every day for our needs for that day.  We can probably skip that part.  I mean, I can run down to the grocery store and the only tough part is deciding if I want white, wheat, rye, sourdough, seven grain, generic, name brand, French, parmesan, garlic, Italian, seeds on top, split top, or brown.  Actually I have been eating a lot of bread lately and it sits on the counter so long it goes bad; maybe I shouldn’t even get some bread.  Hmm…  What am I hungry for?  Well, I guess I’m not really that hungry right now.  I did have kind of a big breakfast.

I think I see the problem.  I don’t need God.  WHAT???????  Yeah I think that’s the problem.  I mean He did that whole sending His son to die for our sins and I am thankful for that, but, I really don’t need Him.  I’ve got this all covered.  If I need food, I go buy it.  (Ok, Holly actually does that, for which I am eternally grateful, but you know what I mean.)  If the car needs gas, I go buy it.  If its dark in the house, I flip the lights on.  Too hot or too cold, I adjust the thermostat.  Sick, go see the doctor.  I think you get the picture.  What do I need God for?

This got me thinking about the story of the rich young ruler.  (Since we’re already in Luke, we’ll stick with it, chapter 18.)  I believe this young man came to Jesus with the best of intentions.  He truly wanted part of this eternal life Jesus was speaking of.  But Jesus saw the man and knew what was important to him.  Jesus knew that the most important thing to this man was his possessions, and he had a lot.  So Jesus tells him to sell everything he has and give it all to the poor.  This is where Jesus brings out what is inside the man.  His priority was his stuff.  He didn’t need Jesus, and he certainly didn’t need to ask him for his daily bread.

I don’t believe that Jesus was sending the message that “stuff” is inherently bad, but it definitely gets in our way.  All my stuff gets in the way of me getting to see God work.  It takes away the need to rely upon God.  I read a story of a man from Sudan who came to the US and was in awe of how much we have.  (Paraphrasing here because I don’t have the exact quote.)  He said “You don’t need God here.  You come to church and flip a light switch to turn the lights on.  We have to pray for those things.”

In full disclosure, I sit here in my Lazy Boy writing this.  In my nice warm house with a fire going in the stove, and not a bit of hunger within me.  I probably won’t even be that hungry by the time breakfast rolls around.  So what do I do about this?  How do I get to the place where I am relying upon God?  Well, for starters, if you are interested in the nice warm house with the fire in the stove, let me know and we can talk numbers.  But this is part of the reason we are trying to jump off the diving board and go to the mission field.  We want to see God move.  We want to be a part of what He is doing around the world.  God has already shown us that there is absolutely nothing we can do to get us there.  I mean I could spend the rest of my years relaxing in this nice house with four bedrooms, two baths, hardwood, dual zone heat pump… ok, now I’m just shamelessly trying to sell it.  But that’s not what I want.  I want to live a life that is not safe, or predictable, or comfortable.  I want to need God.  That’s when we learn how to pray.