LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY

He was praying.  He seemed to always be praying in one place or another. But on this certain occasion as He prayed, His disciples watched and wanted what He had. So when He had finished praying they made a request.  It’s a request that I guess we have all wanted to ask at one time or another.  They asked “Lord, teach us to pray”.

I’ve had the privilege of teaching for many years.  As most of you know, I didn’t have much of an education but for some reason I was given the opportunity to teach and for some reason I thought I could do it and so I fell into the undertaking of teaching EMS, fire and haz-mat classes.  Through the process of teaching I learned that there were different types of learners.   

Some of my students were able to sit and listen to the lecture and soak up all that I laid out for them.  Then again, some learned visually.  I would put up slides, videos, pictures and those students would see those visual images and watch the videos and learn from them. Other students were “hands on” learners.  They learned by actually “doing” the skill I was trying to teach.  I feel like those students “got it” a little more than the others. 

As a child, I remember every night without exception, no matter where we had been, what we had been doing or how late it was, my Dad would take the big ole family Bible from off the coffee table, lean back in his chair and read a portion of scripture.  Then we would kneel by our chairs and one by one we would pray. First Dad would pray, then Mama, then I took my turn and Anita too her turn.  I learned to pray by listening to them talk to their Father every night.  That was consistent prayer.

I also learned to pray from being present in the old revivals and camp meetings of my childhood days.  Men and women of God would drape themselves over the old wooden altars and pour their hearts out to God. These were not formal prayers. They were not prayed in any specific form or fashion.  They were cries from hearts broken and burdened.  They were pleas from people who could do nothing better than pray.  Oh how they prayed!  Their prayer went up like smoke from a fire, a sweet smelling offering to God.  They prayed all at one time, loud, long and unashamed.  Their prayers were serious, their prayers shook heaven.  They prayed passionately and desperately. They prayed and God answered.  They prayed and I remembered and learned. 

Oh folks, people need to hear you pray.  Your spouse needs to hear you pray for them.  They need to hear you call out their name before God.  Your children and grandchildren need to hear you pray for them.  They need to know as they face the problems and trials at school that Dad and Mom’s prayers have covered them that day.  Christians, your church needs to hear you pray.  Pastors, your sheep need to hear you call their names out to the Father. And, folks you pastor needs to hear you pray for him as well. 

My Dad and Mom are long since gone to heaven but their prayers for me will always be with me. Those unnamed and unknown saints of old are long past but their prayers remain.  When you and I are gone may our prayers echo off the walls of this building.  When my kids and grandkids can’t remember what I looked like or remember the sound of my voice, may they know and remember that Grump prayed for them. 

There is a story told of our first President, George Washington, and the struggles he was going through as those patriots tried to pull away from the rule of England.  It may be a bit out of place in my lesson but I feel it is worth telling. As the story goes, Washington’s plantation joined the land of others who were loyalist to England.   

One day Washington’s neighbor was walking through the woods that joined his land with the land of George Washington. He heard some noise coming from across the way.  He moved closer and found Washington kneeling beside an old log, pouring his heart out to God on behalf of his cause.  Not wanting to disturb him, after listening to his prayer for a while, his neighbor quietly walked back to his home. 

He sat down with his wife and said, “Dear, we must change our minds in regards to this conflict or leave the country for no one can talk to God like this man does and be on the losing side”.  That is praying passionately.

I have found over the years, the best way to teach prospective fire fighters to fight fire is not to read them a lesson or give them a lecture.  It is not to show them pictures or make them watch a video.  The best way to teach a firefighter to fight fire is to find an old house, board up it’s windows, seal up it’s doors and set it on fire; and then put that student right in the middle of the fire, hand him a hose, it’s dangerous but I promise you he will learn to fight fire!

Asking God to teach us to pray is a dangerous request as well. Because I don’t believe God will just give us a handout and ask us to read it.  I don’t believe He will place a pastor before us and let us listen to a lecture and by that means teach us to pray.  I don’t believe God will show us some pictures or make us watch a video on prayer.  I believe what God might just do is to set your world on fire and put you right in the middle of it and teach you to pray.

The early church prayed.  They prayed because He had told them to pray.  They prayed because they had watched Him pray but most of all they prayed because they could do nothing else that would bring about more power and results than prayer.  Those 120 people in the upper room were in a fire.  The world around them was burning up and they were in trouble, so they prayed. 

 When our kids are sick, when a loved one is facing death, when we hear the word “cancer”, when you’ve lost the job or the money just isn’t there when our sky is blackened by the smoke of our world that is burning up all around us, and we don’t know what to do, guess what…we will learn to pray.  You will pray consistently, you will pray passionately and you will pray desperately. 

Lord, teach us to pray.