The Importance of Prayer

Scripture: Luke 11:1-4

Jesus Taught Us to Pray

‘Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”’ Luke 11:1 

Of everything the disciples had witnessed Jesus doing in His earthly ministry – from healing the sick, to multiplying food, to preaching sermons that attracted thousands – the one thing they asked Jesus to teach them was to pray. 

But why was it prayer that they asked Jesus to teach them how to do? 

I can just imagine them, the Twelve, standing a stone’s throw away from where Jesus was praying, eyes glued to Him as He communed with His heavenly Father. 

What’s interesting about Luke 11:1 is that it tells us that the disciples presented their request to Jesus ‘when he finished’ praying. The passage almost seems to emphasise the fact that the disciples waited eagerly but patiently for Him to finish. But why? 

I like how Reverend Edmund Chan puts it. He writes, “Something happened to the disciples while Jesus was praying. Something stirred deeply in their hearts. As they stood there watching their Master praying, it was deeply impressed upon their hearts how important the agenda of prayer was in the life of their Master… When you see a man of God praying, you feel that you stand on holy ground. How much more, when they saw the Son of God praying, must the disciples have stood riveted, waiting until the Master had finished before they burst forth with their urgent request, “Lord, teach us to pray.””

There must have been something magnetic, something beautiful, and something so different about Jesus’ prayer time with His heavenly Father! Whatever the disciples had witnessed, it was not what they already knew of prayer. It was new and they wanted what Jesus had for themselves. 

Dear friend, prayer should be so important to us as Jesus’ disciples because it was so important to Jesus. If it was the only thing that Jesus specifically taught His first disciples to do, then we too must learn how to pray. As we become more aware of how important the agenda of prayer is to Jesus, so too will we come to know how important the agenda of prayer is to us. 

As we reflect today on the disciples’ eagerness to learn to pray, may we ask the same of ourselves. May we ask the Spirit of God to show us the beauty of prayer and to stir up a greater desire within us to learn to pray.

Prayer: 

Lord Jesus, 

To You, prayer was profoundly important. It was the way You communed with Your Father in heaven. It was Your joy and Your delight to be with Him and to seek Him in prayer. Today, I pray that I will come to understand how important the agenda of prayer is. I humbly ask that You increase my desire to learn how to pray. May the request of my heart be, “Lord, teach me to pray.” 

In Your mighty name, Jesus, I pray, amen.

Scripture: John 14:7-9

Prayer Builds Intimacy with God

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” John 14:9 

When I was younger, my relationship with God was purely intellectual, although I wouldn’t have thought it so. I called myself a Christian and I genuinely thought I knew God. However, in reality, I only knew of Him. I knew about what He had done throughout Scripture and I prided myself on that. But I didn’t truly know Him. 

Back then, I think Jesus would have said the same thing to me as He did to Philip, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me?” 

Dear friend, it is possible for us to have someone in our lives but to not actually know them. This is a surface-level relationship – a relationship without intimacy (or into-me-you-see, as I like to think of it). This isn’t the kind of relationship God desires to have with us. 

As much as Jesus was calling Philip out for this, He was also telling Philip that He wanted to have a relationship where He was fully known by Philip! Jesus, the Messiah, the King of this world, the Saviour, longs to be known by His disciples…and that includes us! 

The kind of relationship the Lord longs to have with us, dear friend, is one of depth, of trust, of vulnerability. This, beloved, is true intimacy with God. It is true into-me-you-see between us and the maker of heaven and earth. A mutual seeing and knowing and loving. 

And the way we cultivate this kind of relationship with God happens through prayer. 

Jesus built intimacy with His Father through prayer. Prayer was the place where He learnt about what His Father was like, where He got to understand His Father’s heart, where He got to know His Father’s will, and where He received all He needed from His Father. 

In the same way, prayer is the place where we get to build intimacy with God. The Father – Your Father – longs for intimacy with you, dear friend. He longs for you to trust Him, to depend on Him, to go to Him for all your needs, to run to Him when you feel scared, alone, angry, confused. He wants to hear all about your greatest days, as well as your worst. 

He wants to be in such deep communion with you: 

seeing you and being seen by you, 

knowing you and being known by you, 

and loving you and being loved by you. 

Reflection:

Ask God to show you who He is. How do you see Him? Is there any way you’re seeing Him that doesn’t line up with who He says He is in His Word? 

Spend some time reflecting on whether there is anything you don’t want to reveal to God – perhaps a fear, a worry, a sin. Be bold and show Him what it is. He wants to see you and love you.

Prayer:

God, 

I want to know You. I don’t want a surface level relationship with You. I don’t just want to know what You have done. No, Lord, I want to know You. I want to know You intimately, deeply, personally. Take me on a deep dive into Your heart, Lord. Show me every detail of who You are. I want to be with You and to see You – to really see You. 

In Jesus’ name, amen.

Scriptures: Matthew 6:10, Luke 6:46-48

Prayer Aligns Our Will to God’s Will

‘Your kingdom come,

Your will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven.’ Matthew 6:10 

I love how clear Jesus’ reverence and honour is towards His Father. Everything is about the Father, everything is for the Father, and everything is done unto the Father. 

Jesus says, “Father, Your name be hallowed, Your kingdom come, Your will be done.” This is how He teaches us to pray too. 

As much as my head knows, understands, and believes this, I find myself falling into praying something like this instead: “God, hallowed be my name, my kingdom come, and my will be done.” 

Okay, perhaps my prayers don’t sound exactly like this word for word. But I do pray prayers that put me at the centre instead of God. I pray for the things that I desire: the job I want to do, the place where I want to live, the person I want to be with… 

When did I stop to ask the Lord for His perspective? 

Dear friend, I can honestly say that praying for the Father’s will to be done in me and through me has been the hardest thing for me to learn as I have walked with God. 

The reason for this is because it requires the total surrender of my will unto God’s will. That’s not an easy thing for us to do… 

For it requires so much rethinking and rewiring of our minds. It requires greater depths of trusting in the Lord and of relinquishing control of our lives over to God. It requires us to humble ourselves and to admit that we don’t actually know what’s best for our lives. Ultimately, it displaces us from the throne that we are sitting on, and it puts God back where He belongs. 

However, dear friend, the more that we surrender our will to God, the more He aligns our will to His. In the process, it’s likely that He will show us that many of our desires are what we wanted but not what we needed. Ultimately, the Lord’s will is perfect and He sees everything, unlike ours which is limited and imperfect. 

As hard as it can be to surrender our will to the Lord’s, it is the true mark of a disciple who trusts in his Lord. Rest assured, beloved, that the Lord’s will for you is always good. In fact, it is perfect. 

May we all seek to be believers who not only hear Jesus’ instruction to pray like this, but may we actually do it! If God is truly our Lord, then this is how we will live – in obedience to His words (Luke 6:46-48). May the prayer of our hearts ever be, “Father, Your name be hallowed, Your will be done, Your kingdom come!”

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done. May this be the prayer of my heart from today onwards. Father, less of me and more of you. Lord, I repent for putting myself on the throne of my life. I step off that throne today, and invite You to take Your rightful place. Please transform my thinking, show me that You are in control, and help me to know that You know what’s best for my life. Show me what Your will is today. 

In Jesus’ name, amen.

Scripture: 1 John 5:14-15

Prayer Advances God’s Kingdom

And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. 1 John 5:14-15 

Dear friend, praying for God’s will to be done and for His kingdom to come in our ownlives is only the very beginning of prayer! 

Did you know that God invites you and I to partner with Him to establish His kingdom on this earth? It is a mighty privilege that we have as His disciples to intercede on behalf of the people around us! 

God so longs to see our world and the people in it transformed, liberated, healed, made whole, and living according to His kingdom culture. 

Being God, He could do this by Himself. He really doesn’t need our help. And yet, He wants to work with us. It is His joy to work with us, dear friend! 

As He invites us to align our will to His, what He is asking of us is that we care about the things that He cares about. He wants us to be burdened about the things He’s burdened about. And He wants us to have compassion for those He has compassion for. Prayer is so important because it aligns our hearts to the heart of God. 

Alan Scott, in his book Scattered Servants, writes this: “God began speaking [to me] about His friends far from church. I realised my concerns and His weren’t the same, though I naively thought they were. This was what was breaking my heart. I had grieved His heart by ignoring His heart. I had ignored His heart by forgetting those who were far from Him.”

Beloved, as those who know God, who are beneficiaries of His goodness and His grace, and who have the keys to bring kingdom transformation, we cannot ignore the heart of our God. We must seek to look ever outward to the hurting world and to those who are broken and in need of God. 

1 John 5:14-15 assures us that we can have confidence when we pray for God’s will to be done in our world. As we read God’s Word and find out about what His kingdom is like, and as we pray for His will to be done on earth, we can rest assured that He will hear us and answer us. 

God wants us to pray His will into action, dear friend. So let us ask Him today what is on His heart for the world and for those around us. 

Reflection:

Ask God these questions today and ask what His will is. Then pray. 

What is happening in the world that does not align with His kingdom? 

Who in my community/nation/workplace needs God’s healing, grace, and transformation?

Prayer:

Lord, 

I acknowledge that so much of my prayer life looks like me praying for my life and my concerns. Forgive me for not looking outward and for ignoring what’s on Your heart. Lord, show me what or who is on Your heart today. Please show me how I can pray for Your will to be done and for Your kingdom to come in this world. Thank You for wanting to work with me. 

I love You, amen.

Scriptures: Numbers 6:24-26, Luke 6:28, Romans 12:15

Praying for Others

Let us spend time today praying for others. 

Blessing Others:

The release of blessing in our day and age rarely goes beyond the “bless you” we say when someone sneezes. However, it is not just a verbal performance or a glib remark. Blessing others is a deeply powerful and generous act. 

I love how Dallas Willard describes blessing: 

“Blessing is the projection of good into the life of another. It’s the actual putting forth of your will for the good of another person. It always involves God, because when you will the good of another person, you realise only God is capable of bringing that.”

We are called to not only bless those we love but also those who we find difficult to love, those who curse us, and those who are our enemies (Luke 6:28). 

When we realise just how much God has blessed us with, we are then able to bless others. We can then give to them that which we have received from God. 

Let us pray a blessing over someone today using the Aaronic blessing in Numbers 6:24-26. 

__(name)__, the Lord bless you. May God consistently bring good into your life.

The Lord bless you and keep you. May He protect you and be your refuge.

The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May you know intimacy with Him all the days of your life. May the Lord ever show you grace and mercy and kindness.

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.

Praying for the Needs of Others:

In Romans 12:15, we are exhorted to ‘Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.’ Dear friend, we are to enter into the pain, the grief, the lack, and the suffering of those around us. One of the most powerful ways we can do this is to pray for their needs. 

We know that our God is a God of miracles! He is a God who changes things – who makes the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, who sets those who are oppressed free! He is also the God of comfort, the God of peace, the God of wisdom, and the God of abundance. 

There is nothing we cannot bring to the Lord in prayer for those around us, so let us pray today for someone who is in need. 

Lord God, thank You for being the God of comfort, the God of peace, the God of wisdom, the God of abundance, and the God who transforms lives. Today, I lift up __(name)__ to you. You see their lack and their need. You see their pain and their suffering. You see their troubles and their worries. I pray today that You would meet their need in whatever way You see fit. May they be assured of Your goodness towards them today. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Praying for Salvation:

This is one of the greatest things that we get to pray for, dear friend! Jesus longs for everyone to get to know Him, His grace, and His love. 

Undoubtedly, there is someone in your world who has yet to know Jesus and to accept Him as their Lord and Saviour. So let us pray for them today! 

Lord God, I thank You for Your free gift of salvation. I pray for __(name) today. I pray that You would open their eyes to see You clearly. Soften their heart to receive You. Remove any obstacles preventing them from receiving You. May they come to know Your love and grace. Amen.