Prayer Perseverance
Luke 11:1-4,
I think we could say one of the first signs that a Christian is a Christian is that they pray. In that sermon by J.C. Ryle, (If you haven't read anything by J.C. Ryle, I'd recommend him), he had a whole sermon he preached on prayer. He said,
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.” And He said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”
I think we could say one of the first signs that a Christian is a Christian is that they pray. In that sermon by J.C. Ryle, (If you haven't read anything by J.C. Ryle, I'd recommend him), he had a whole sermon he preached on prayer. He said,
"Prayer is the distinguishing mark of a true Christian. The man who cannot pray or doesn't want to pray, doesn't have the spirit of adoption."
But Christians must pray, just like a person must breathe to live. And while we should always regard prayer as a great privilege, we also know it can be a great struggle. And Paul mentioned striving several times in Colossians and another place where he's striving in prayer, letting us know that it's difficult, that he's having to wrestle. We all would acknowledge that we struggle when it comes to praying because of our enemies, the devil, and certainly our own sin.
But we also struggle just in terms of prayer itself with regularity, consistency, humility, praying boldly, praying fervently, praying perseveringly, and praying believingly.
We also struggle with full concentration. I remember hearing Dr. Sinclair Ferguson responding when someone asked him to write a book on prayer, and he quickly referenced another pastor, and that pastor quickly referenced another pastor. Dr. Ferguson was making the point that none of us, pastors included, feel proficient enough to write a book on prayer. We can talk about prayer, we can pray, but to actually write a book on prayer - Why not? It wasn't because they were not theologically qualified, they could easily have written the book. But they felt their lack, experientially. They knew they were not where they wanted to be when it came to prayer. Perhaps nowhere else do Christians feel more inadequate than when it comes to prayer; private prayer and corporate prayer.
I think we would all admit that we will always, always be students of prayer until the day we die; always learning, always growing. And I do believe the disciples of the Lord Jesus found themselves facing that dilemma themselves. If you look again at Luke chapter 11, they come to Jesus and ask Him to "teach us how to pray."
Most of us are familiar with Matthew 6, that's the Lord's Prayer, typically where we turn to in terms of its full content. But this prayer in Luke 11 sounds like that prayer too, doesn't it? It's not exactly like it, but it's similar, not the same. Nor is it in the same place, or at the same time. It's a different prayer spoken at a different time. The first prayer of Matthew 6, the Lord's Prayer, takes place on a mountainside in Galilee early in His public ministry. And scholars estimate at least a year, a year and a half, between the prayer of Matthew 6, and the prayer of chapter 11 of Luke. So what does that say about His disciples? Did they forget? Did they need to relearn? I think they did. Even mature disciples need to be taught again and again about prayer. Thomas Manton, the Puritan once said,
But we also struggle just in terms of prayer itself with regularity, consistency, humility, praying boldly, praying fervently, praying perseveringly, and praying believingly.
We also struggle with full concentration. I remember hearing Dr. Sinclair Ferguson responding when someone asked him to write a book on prayer, and he quickly referenced another pastor, and that pastor quickly referenced another pastor. Dr. Ferguson was making the point that none of us, pastors included, feel proficient enough to write a book on prayer. We can talk about prayer, we can pray, but to actually write a book on prayer - Why not? It wasn't because they were not theologically qualified, they could easily have written the book. But they felt their lack, experientially. They knew they were not where they wanted to be when it came to prayer. Perhaps nowhere else do Christians feel more inadequate than when it comes to prayer; private prayer and corporate prayer.
I think we would all admit that we will always, always be students of prayer until the day we die; always learning, always growing. And I do believe the disciples of the Lord Jesus found themselves facing that dilemma themselves. If you look again at Luke chapter 11, they come to Jesus and ask Him to "teach us how to pray."
Most of us are familiar with Matthew 6, that's the Lord's Prayer, typically where we turn to in terms of its full content. But this prayer in Luke 11 sounds like that prayer too, doesn't it? It's not exactly like it, but it's similar, not the same. Nor is it in the same place, or at the same time. It's a different prayer spoken at a different time. The first prayer of Matthew 6, the Lord's Prayer, takes place on a mountainside in Galilee early in His public ministry. And scholars estimate at least a year, a year and a half, between the prayer of Matthew 6, and the prayer of chapter 11 of Luke. So what does that say about His disciples? Did they forget? Did they need to relearn? I think they did. Even mature disciples need to be taught again and again about prayer. Thomas Manton, the Puritan once said,
"Our Lord had taught them once how to pray, they must learn it again."
And even seasoned believers will tell you continually they need to relearn how to pray. Just like His disciples, we should never stop trying. “Teach us how to pray,” and who better then Jesus, the perfect preacher, the perfect man of prayer. Every generation struggles with prayer, even the Puritans reflected upon the challenge of having a mind stayed upon Jehovah.
There's a whole book I have on my bookshelf, I forget the name of the Puritan, but it's titled Wandering Thoughts. And maybe one of the biggest reasons why we struggle, not the only reason, but maybe one of the biggest reasons is we don't rely as much upon the Spirit of God. We need His help. In Romans 8 Paul could say, “We know not what to pray as we ought.” And just like Martha we can be distracted by many things. But maybe it would be a good idea if we would start off praying this way, just with a cry for help, “Help me to pray.” Help me to pray with humility, help me to pray with faith, help me to pray believingly, help me to pray with sincerity, help me to pray boldly, help me to pray reverently. And don't forget this, the struggle is worth it, even though it's a struggle to pray. In the words of that hymn, “What a friend we have in Jesus. Oh, what peace we often forfeit! Oh, what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.”
So we're going to pray tonight, but as we go to prayer, we can even pray that God would help us to pray. It is a supernatural activity. Just like the preacher has to ask God for help to preach, we have to ask God to help us to pray.
There's a whole book I have on my bookshelf, I forget the name of the Puritan, but it's titled Wandering Thoughts. And maybe one of the biggest reasons why we struggle, not the only reason, but maybe one of the biggest reasons is we don't rely as much upon the Spirit of God. We need His help. In Romans 8 Paul could say, “We know not what to pray as we ought.” And just like Martha we can be distracted by many things. But maybe it would be a good idea if we would start off praying this way, just with a cry for help, “Help me to pray.” Help me to pray with humility, help me to pray with faith, help me to pray believingly, help me to pray with sincerity, help me to pray boldly, help me to pray reverently. And don't forget this, the struggle is worth it, even though it's a struggle to pray. In the words of that hymn, “What a friend we have in Jesus. Oh, what peace we often forfeit! Oh, what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.”
So we're going to pray tonight, but as we go to prayer, we can even pray that God would help us to pray. It is a supernatural activity. Just like the preacher has to ask God for help to preach, we have to ask God to help us to pray.
Posted in Pastor Devotional