You Can Pray

Finding Grace to Pray Every Day

Tim Chester

• Publisher: P Publishing
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781629950761
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Tim Chester shows us how, through Christ, and with the help of the Spirit, we can become great "pray-ers" who pray great prayers to our heavenly Father.

Part 1
Why prayer is easy
(How we pray)

1

The Father loves
to hear us pray

How do you feel about prayer? Maybe you love praying. You want “to do business” with God and “wrestle” in prayer. Or maybe your heart sinks. You think of a wearying sense of duty or boring prayer meetings. Maybe you feel the burden of being expected to do something you find difficult. Who, after all, feels like a great pray-er? Or maybe you fear being exposed.

If you struggle, you’re in good company. The disciples weren’t sure about prayer either. So they asked Jesus how to pray:

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

He said to them, “When you pray, say:

‘Father,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come.

Give us each day our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins,

for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.

And lead us not into temptation.’ ”

(Luke 11:1–4)

Our Father Loves to Hear Us

Jesus’ teaching on prayer begins with the word “Father.” Prayer starts with the fatherhood of God.

What images come into your mind when you think about praying? Perhaps a monk deep in contemplation. Or a great Christian leader praying beautiful, profound public prayers. Or a prophet like Elijah performing miracles through his prayers. I think of an elderly man in our church when I was a teenager whose prayers were long, eloquent, and full of allusions to the Bible. Or friends at university who always seemed to be hearing God speak to them. Whichever it is, it’s intimidating!

But Jesus says prayer is like a child asking her father for help. Simple as that.

I can’t overstate how important this is. So many books and talks on prayer make prayer a discipline that we need to work on, so we can become good pray-ers. Prayer then becomes something we achieve. But it’s not. Prayer is a child asking her father for help—nothing more, nothing less.

The disciples ask their question because they see Jesus praying. Jesus has a relationship of intimacy. He is the true Son of God, as Adam and Israel were intended to be. Moreover, he is the eternal Son of God. He has always been in an intimate, close, loving relationship with his Father. He is the one and only Son, eternally begotten of the Father. He speaks only what he hears from his Father and does only what is
his Father’s will. He honours the Father, and the Father honours him.

All of that is way beyond our experience of God—except that Jesus now invites us to share that relationship. By faith, we’re united with Christ. We’re “in” him. His relationship with God becomes our relationship with God. His intimacy
with the Father becomes our intimacy with the Father. The Father will no more reject our prayers than he will reject the prayers of his own Son, Jesus. Amazing.

Matthew’s version of this prayer begins, “our Father.” It reminds us that this is a corporate prayer. Even when we pray on our own, we do so as part of a family. But this “our” is not just about you and me. It’s about you and Jesus. When we pray “our” Father, we’re praying to the same Father as Jesus.

Imagine Jesus praying as he does in verse 1. You would expect his Father to hear those prayers. Jesus is his only begotten Son and his obedient Son. Yet the Father is as
ready to hear your prayers as he was to hear the prayers of Jesus.

In many ways, it’s a mistake to focus on prayer itself, as
if prayer was some kind of skill to be acquired. We’ve seen that prayer is the act of a child asking her father for help. And you don’t have to teach a child to ask for things! All that a child needs to know is that she is needy and her father loves her. And all you need to know to pray well is that you’re needy and your heavenly Father loves you.

Think about how earthly fathers react when their children first speak. They don’t go, “What did you say? ‘Dada’? It’s not ‘Dada.’ It’s ‘Father.’ How can you be so ignorant? Don’t talk to me until you’ve learnt how to speak properly.” No, in my experience, earthly fathers tend to say, “Did you hear that? She said, ‘Daddy.’ She’s so amazing.” (And all the while, I’m thinking, “It just sounded like a gurgle to me!”) Most fathers love it when their children talk to them. It may be garbled and inarticulate, but they’re thrilled to hear their child speak, especially when they call their name.

When you pray, you may hear a voice accusing you, saying, “That’s not a good prayer. You need to try harder. You need to do better.” This is the voice of Satan. Satan is like the grumpy onlooker who remains resolutely unimpressed by the first words of a small child. The difference though is that Satan’s intent is far more malign. He never wants you to talk to
your Father. Don’t listen to Satan. Rather, listen to your heavenly Father who applauds even your faltering, jumbled attempts.

God gave his own Son for this very reason, so that you can call him “Father,” so that you can pray. Prayer is a gift and an opportunity we’re given through Christ. It’s nothing more and nothing less than a child asking her father for help.

This is how we worship God. Think about all the things you affirm when you come before God as a child asking her Father for help. You affirm the presence of God—he’s able to hear you wherever you are. You affirm the power of God—you ask him, because he’s able to deliver. You affirm his grace—he welcomes you despite your sin. You affirm his kind-ness—he receives us as a Father.

Our Father Loves to Bless Us

Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.”

(Luke 11:5–8)

Jesus continues his teaching on prayer by telling a parable. Imagine a Palestinian family sleeping together in their small home. Suddenly, there’s frantic knocking on the door. A friend has come asking for bread because he’s received an unexpected visitor. In the culture of the time, there was a strong expectation that generous hospitality should be shown to visitors. Failure to do so would be a cause of shame. But most food was prepared daily, and there were no fridges. So the only resort of the host without food is to beg from someone else. Hence the late-night call. But the man is reluctant. His children are sleeping with him, so to get up would disturb the whole fami...