Prayer is something which is so familiar to us because from our childhood our parents have taught us to pray something like this “Bless my Daddy bless my Mummy and bless me”. Even after many years our prayers are an amplified version of our childhood prayers. So we need to learn about prayer from our Lord and the Bible.
For the past 35 years it has been my joy to teach Christians in India and abroad about how to pray. Here in this article I am trying to bring a summary.
One day Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He finished His prayer His disciples came and asked him, “Lord teach us to pray” They have seen him healing the sick , but they never asked him to teach them how to heal the sick. They saw him preaching the gospel they never asked him the A B C of how to preach the gospel. In one area of ministry i.e. on prayer they wanted him to teach them how to pray. Usually this is known as the Lord’s Prayer where as this is a model prayer. He said “you pray after this manner”, we can learn wonderful truths from this prayer which Jesus taught His disciples. This prayer begins like this “Our Father” this teaches us that only those who have become His children are eligible to pray. John 1:12. Everybody of all religions prays Bible is clear about this. We don’t go into the exposition of this model prayer as we will explain later all the ingredients of prayer.
What is prayer? The simple definition of prayer is talking to God. Through prayer we stay in touch with God. When we pray the very power of God is released through prayers. Prayer is the cable that connects us with the powerhouse of God.
We have seen in many places written something like this, “Prayer changes things”. It is true that prayer brings about change in our situations. More than that prayer transforms me. Prayer changes my nature, my outlook. Prayer brings about change in my attitude and behaviour. When we spend in His presence we become like Jesus.
We think of prayer as a means of obtaining favour from God. Of course the Bible encourages us to make our requests known to God. (Phil- 4:6). In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus taught His disciples “ask and it shall be given to you”. James in his epistle goes one step further and said you do not have because you don’t ask (James- 4:2) John.R.Rice says” Asking is the principle of Gods kingdom.Many people have a question in their hearts as to why we should pray if our God being omniscient knows all our needs.We are commanded to ask our heavenly father. There is a beautiful hymn on prayer,
“What a friend we have in Jesus.
All our sins and grief’s to bear
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer”
When Jesus explains the spiritual disciplines of a Christian on prayer, fasting and giving. In Mathew- 6: 2-18 He says how not to give, how not to pray and how not to fast. Unlearning is the prerequisite to learning. In regards to prayer He reminds us two things (Mathew – 6:5-7).When you pray do not be like hypocrite. Our prayer should not be a performance. This is what we learn from the prayers of a Pharisee and publican who went to the temple to pray, Pharisee prays to himself. It looks very strange whereas publican’s prayer was from a broken and contrite heart. In one place God says they honour me with their lips but their heart is far away from me.
Secondly don’t use vain repetitions. Please note the word ‘Vain’. We can repeat our prayers. But our prayer should not become mechanical. Watch Jesus prayer in Gethsemane He repeated the same petition three times.
Hindrances to Prayer
- Unbelief is a hindrance to prayer. In Mark 11:22 Jesus said “Have faith in God”. Whatever you ask for in prayer believe that you have received and it will be yours. Someone said faith has nothing to do with sight and sight has nothing to do with faith. When you exercise faith there is nothing to see. Faith honours God and God honours faith.
James 1:6-7 James a man of prayer says “But when he asks he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like the sea blown and tossed by the wind” that man should not think that he will receive anything from the Lord. How can we grow in faith? The Bible says “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God”. When we allow our hearts to be saturated with God’s word it generates faith in our hearts.
- Unconfessed sin is another hindrance to prayer. In Isaiah 59:2 “But your iniquities have separated us from God; your sins have hidden His face from you so that he will not hear”.
Psalms 66:18 “If I have cherished sin (iniquity) in my heart the Lord would not have heard”.
After Jesus taught His model prayer He says this shocking statement in Mathew 6:14, 15, “if you forgive men when they sin against you your heavenly father will forgive you. But if you don’t forgive men their sins your father will not forgive your sins”. Again Mathew 5:23, 24 “Therefore if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you leave your gift there in front of the altar FIRST GO AND BE RECONCILED to your brother then come and offer your gift”. Sin in our interpersonal relationships hinders our prayer so we have to live in unclouded relationship with God and man then our prayers will be heard in heaven. When we came to Christ for salvation He forgives our sins unconditionally but after we have become His children God forgives our sins conditionally.
- Prayer with wrong motives is another hindrance. In James 4:2,3 “you want something but don’t get it you kill and covet, but you don’t have what you want. You quarrel and fight you DO NOT HAVE because you do not ask God”. When you ask you don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives that you may spend what you get ON YOUR PLEASURES. We cannot expect God to answer our selfish prayers. I Cori 10:31 says “whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” .If our prayers are not God glorifying, God is not bound to answer our prayers.
