Jesus said, “Your Father [in heaven] knows what you need before you ask him” (6:8).
An elderly man was on his deathbed. He wasn’t afraid of dying or of death, but he was having trouble praying. When a pastor from the church visited him one day the old man told him about his problem. “It just doesn’t seem real to me,” he said; and so the pastor made a suggestion. “Why don’t you have a chair next to your bed and imagine that Jesus is sitting in it. Then talk to him the same way you’re talking to me.” Well, a few days later the pastor received a call from the man’s daughter, who’d been nursing her Father. She said, “I just wanted you to know that my father died this afternoon. I’d just finished getting his lunch and went to check on him and he was gone. He looked just the same as when I’d left him except for one odd little thing. His hand was resting on the chair beside the bed.” (From Simon Coupland’s book Spicing up your speaking.)
And as I think about that story I’m reminded of words from Psalm 23: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me” (Ps 23:4). To recognise his presence is key!
And so we come to my third talk in a series of talks on prayer. Two weeks ago I spoke about the presence of God. Instinctively people everywhere reach out to God in prayer because of His all-encompassing presence. Last week I spoke about the Lord’s Prayer – a template or a framework upon which Jesus teaches us to build our prayers; and today the subject is praying like Jesus; or perhaps the question should be, “How can I get better at praying like Jesus?”
Jesus is the Master Teacher. At the start of Luke Chapter 11 we read this: ‘One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray”’ (11:1). The disciple wanted to learn from him. So must we!
He is the Master teacher; and yet having said that there is ultimately no substitute for actually getting on and praying! I’m currently re-reading a book called The Sacrament of the Present Moment by the French Jesuit Priest Jean-Pierre de Caussade; and he says quite rightly that to quench thirst it is necessary to drink. Reading books about it will only make it worse!
If we’re thirsty for God in prayer we need to get down and pray; but of course if we’re not thirsty for God we can still pray: “Lord, make me thirsty for you!”
Bishop Paul Butler was announced this week as the new Bishop of Durham, successor to Justin Welby. I know Paul Butler as he was my Bishop in Southampton and he led the Rwanda trip that I went on in 2007; and it was in Rwanda that I learned that Bishops sometimes have designer underwear. The washing line at the guest house had several pairs of purple boxer shorts with a white band at the top!
What’s that got to do with prayer? Not a lot! Although it illustrates the fact that as a team we were eating together, working together, dwelling together, serving together, doing our washing together and praying together; and in his book Temptation and Testing Bishop Paul writes, 'we need to be people who are continually learning in prayer, by praying - there is no other way to learn how to pray.'
It’s all very well me spending 10 hours or more to prepare this talk. If as a result not one of us actually gets down and prays, or grows in prayer, then the question could be asked: What was the point?
But we turn to the One who is the Master Teacher - Jesus Himself. Time with Jesus is never wasted time! In order to pray more like Jesus we need to hear his instructions both on how to pray and on how not to pray. Both are important and both will transform our relationship with him and our praying.
So Jesus says “when you pray.” Quite simply he expects his disciples to be people of prayer. Friends we may feel inadequate in this whole area of prayer; but today I want us to eagerly desire a depth, a freshness, and an excitement about being able to converse with the maker of Heaven and earth! Jesus himself would often withdraw to a quiet solitary place for prayer, usually on a mountainside (Luke 6:12 and 9:28) and the Garden of Gethsemane was probably a regular spot where Jesus would go to pray (Mt 26:36).
So, how about us? Where do we go to pray? Jesus often needed to slip away from the crowds. If he needed to get away then so do we; and many people find it helpful to locate - or create - a place for prayer. It is also true that we can and indeed must pray wherever we are. God longs to hear our prayers; but to locate or create a place for prayer is a helpful discipline. It shouldn’t be a straightjacket and there must be freedom and flexibility but we need discipline.
At least I know I do! For me now it is 6.45 a.m. almost every day in a particular chair in my study. The computer needs to be off and I like to wear my reading glasses. It’s best if I’ve brushed my teeth and I have a glass of water nearby. My Bible is open to the Psalms and I read from the scriptures. I’m currently using some devotions written by John Wesley and I’m learning to spend time in silence in the presence of my Lord and Saviour.
When we used to live not too far from the New Forest
I kept a day a month to visit Furzey Gardens in the New Forrest. For me, it was a solitary place for prayer and rest. Nowadays I find that same rest and stillness from Hanningfield Reservoir and from Hyde Park.
When I had a busy job as a Building Society Branch Manager the drive to work became a place of worship and praise and prayer; and so I believe we each need to locate or create a place for prayer.
Jesus said, “When you pray do not be like the hypocrites for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men …[instead] when you pray, go into your room, close your door and pray to your father who is unseen” (Matthew 6:5-6).
God is not in the least pleased or impressed with showy, pompous, pious prayers. Although our circumstances today are not those of Jesus’s day the principle is the same. Let’s not be fooled into thinking we shouldn’t pray out loud or in public. That’s not the point. Elsewhere in scripture we’re encouraged together to lift up holy hands in prayer and to pray on every occasion – but the point is straightforward. Words of prayer are to God and for God. They must never be about impressing someone else. It’s a temptation any public speaker or worship leader faces in abundance. Instead, most of our praying should be in private, away from public scrutiny, before God!
Jesus teaches us to pray regularly, privately, and sincerely: “When you pray don’t keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them for your father knows what you need before you ask him” (Mt 6:7-8). Our prayers don’t need to be long or wordy. We shouldn’t keep repeating ourselves over and over in the hope that the more times we pray the more likely it is to be a “Yes”! That also means enlisting 10000 to pray if we think that numbers are more likely to achieve the answer then again we’ve got it wrong. We should indeed be persistent, regular and disciplined in prayer, and we should ask in faith for others to pray for us, but there’s no prayer formula. Recovering from ME, Elizabeth Babbs said, 'He is not a slot machine God, but the God of surprises. Consequently, it is impossible to lay down rigid rules for healing, because God is greater than any theory. Perhaps if there were a formula, people would be tempted to follow it just to gain their healing and then dump the Healer!'
Your father knows what you need before you ask him! We are taught to ask him! Give us today our daily bread. Lord, provide for our needs we pray – but he knows what we need before we ask him.
When it’s reassurance of his presence, like the dying man in his bed, no words are required. Father knows what we need, and we can stretch out our hands to him, because it seems that ‘prayer does not change God, but it changes those who pray’ (Soren Kirkegaard). Prayer does not change God, but it changes those who pray!
So to pray like Jesus means to pray regularly, to pray privately, to pray sincerely, and to pray specifically. Words will not always be required, but in prayer the presence of God is always required – because if we are not praying to him, our prayers become futile.
Let’s pray together.
