Lord, teach us to pray

Recent months contained outbursts of screaming circumstances that cornered me into admitting, “Man is born for trouble as sparks fly upward” (Job 5:7). The world staggers from explosive devastation:

• Florida lays ravaged by mega-force hurricanes Helene and Milton
• Gaza and Lebanon lay crumbled by raging battles between Hamas, Hezbollah, and Israel
• The Canadian House of Commons swelters from heated political slugfests
• A separated couple I know shipwrecked their grinding forty-year marriage
• A man I know suffers from incurable liver cancer in palliative care 

Rattled and disoriented, I pondered these tragedies and muttered, “Lord have mercy.” Because I was teaching a church workshop on The Life of Prayer, I beelined it to Luke 11:1-13 for reorientation.

Lord, Teach Us to Pray: As a Spirit-ual leader, Jesus navigated his world of festering turmoil through a life of prayer. “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’” (Luke 11:1). Remarkably, the sole item the disciples asked of Jesus was for him to teach them to pray. Do our churches and theological schools teach us and ask Jesus how to pray? Is living and leading with prayer a core study? Fred Hartley asks,

When Jesus built His church, He built a praying church. What kind of church are you building? When Jesus made disciples, He made praying disciples. What kind of disciples are you making?^[1] Matthew 6:9-13 contains a longer version of The Lord’s Prayer. Here’s Luke’s shorter version of what Jesus taught,

² And he said to them, “When you pray, say: 

“Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.

³ Give us each day our daily bread, 

⁴ and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. 

And lead us not into temptation.” (Luke 11:2–4)

What Jesus modelled, his followers asked, and Jesus taught unveiled a central discipleship practice in a devastated world: Kingdom prayer.

Kingdom Prayer: God-focused private and public Kingdom prayer fuels Spirit-ual life and leadership. Rather than begin with a finite me or a list-of-requests focus, start with an infinite Father and his name focus. To “hallow” his name is to treat God as holy and revered. God’s name reflects his magnificent identity, reputation, character, and capacity. Let’s pray, “Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!” (Psa. 34:3).

After we hallow and magnify the Lord, let’s invite his Kingdom come – for God in Jesus as King to activate his dominion. Let’s pray for his sovereign rule and reign to inhabit and influence our world. And pray for God’s manifest presence to permeate our churches, communities, and country. God’s Kingdom arrives wherever the King is present with heaven’s life-giving characteristics released on earth. In heaven, there’s no sin or sickness, division or death. Heaven radiates shalom – peace, wholeness, well-being. 

Paul wrote, “The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:14). Jesus taught, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. . . how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who [continually] ask him!” (Luke 11:9, 13). I pray this regularly.

Let’s pray for God’s Kingdom come to Florida to restore people’s living conditions and livelihoods (Luke 11:3). Let’s pray for Jerusalem’s peace (Psa. 122:6), reconciliation, and rebuilding of Gaza, Lebanon, and Israel. Let’s pray for God’s righteousness to exalt Canada as a nation against sin’s condemnation (Prov. 13:34). And pray for its politicians and parties that we may lead peaceful and quiet lives and all Canadians saved through God’s Kingdom mediator, Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 2:1-7). We must not lose heart and sometimes persist in prayer to see Kingdom justice (Luke 18:1-8).

And pray for God’s Kingdom fruitfulness for couples whose marriages are shipwrecked (Psa. 128) and people suffering from illness or infirmity. God’s our healer (Ex. 15:26), and Jesus “went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people” (Matt. 4:23). That couple I know is now building a new ship! I’ll cover the next half of Luke’s Lord’s Prayer in another article.

Ignite Prayer Canada: Explore Ignite Prayer Canada. Our vision is to see 1,000 churches across Canada cultivate vibrant cultures of Kingdom prayer. Our mission is to help churches become houses of prayer. Prayer isn’t a religious ritual, duty, or agenda item. It’s a power-packed and transformative practice of communication and communion with God that activates his Kingdom mission on earth. We offer resources, training, newsletters, leaders forums, networking, and events to teach you to pray. Check our website and become a participant or co-sponsor: http://igniteprayer.ca

^[1] Fred Hartley, Living in the Upper Room: Permeate Your Church With a Culture of Prayer (Prayer Shop, 2013), 10.