As we prepare for the fall 2023 semester of Wednesday Night Discipleship, Pastor Paul addresses this semester’s theme: Prayer. Using the Lord’s Prayer, he explores the instructions Jesus gave us for praying. 

Equipping Disciples in Prayer

If you’re going to bear the name of Christ and go under the banner of being Christian, then we need to acknowledge that the New Testament is clear: There’s a price involved.

When teaching Christian discipleship, Talbot Seminary professor Michael Wilkins asks two questions. 

The first is: By a show of hands, how many of you can say in humble confession that you are a true disciple of Jesus? He noticed that people seemed confused by the question. Some put up their hands hesitantly, then slowly lower them. 

The second question is: By a show of hands, how many of you can say in humble confession that you are convinced you are a true Christian? People raise their hands without hesitation. 

So, what’s the distinction between being a disciple versus being a Christian? 

Michael writes, “For those who see themselves as true Christians, it seems to have nothing or little to do with the quality of their Christianity.” So, we must recognize that, as Christians, we have all been called to be disciples.

A disciple is a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ. 

When examining Jesus and how He did ministry, we know that He didn’t limit His time to just preaching and proclaiming to crowds. He gave greater critical mass of His time to pouring into 12 people (despite knowing one would betray Him). The future of Christianity would rise and fall on those eleven apostles, which is why He spent significant time investing in them. 

Therefore, discipleship is the process of developing fully devoted followers of Jesus who develop fully devoted followers of Jesus. 

In this fall semester, one of the dimensions we want to focus on as we discover what it means to be Christlike is the patterns being taught and participating in prayer gatherings together. The disciples spent much time observing Jesus, the power flowing from His life, and the miracles He performed. Yet, on multiple occasions, Jesus would depart to pray and pull away. 

The disciples were curious about His prayer life and asked Him to teach them to pray as He does. 

When Jesus shared the Lord’s Prayer, it wasn’t a rote prayer intended to be recited as a magic formula. Instead, it was an outline for prayer. While it’s still important to recite in worship gatherings because it’s good to pray the pattern, but it’s an outline to be memorized for our relationship with God. 

In church culture, it’s not uncommon that prayer has circumvented Jesus’ instructions for praying in this way. The Lord’s Prayer was a common rooted in love. However, what we see is sometimes quite drastically different. 

Taking Prayer Requests

Often, we see in our gatherings when we open up to prayer requests that we go immediately into our needs. We’ll see later in this blog why this is not the pattern Jesus instructed us to pray. 

Vulnerability

Many times, prayer requests turn into a therapy session. Someone will begin with, “I need you to pray for my Aunt Kathy’s hip because she has a brother that’s undergoing such and such, and she’s such a nice lady.”

On the flip side, some people decide not to share at all in light of that because there’s not enough time or they feel uncomfortable doing so. The problem is that it leaves people with the message that this is the sum of what prayer is about, particularly for new believers. 

Expectations

Have you ever been in a prayer group that gathered in a circle, and one person begins the prayer? Then, this unspoken expectation becomes that everyone in the ring is now an expected participant. Some are still processing everything prayed over and don’t know how or what to say. 

Lack of Equipping

Some prayer groups announce that they will pray with no guidance. This is not how Jesus did it. He was rooted in love and commanded us to pray according to His outline, transforming our life, church, and culture beyond the church. 

Exploring the Lord’s Prayer

“Our Father in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name.”

Jesus instructs us to start with God. We’re naming Him as Father, Holy, and Hallowed. We’re stepping into worship and reverence with Him. We’re to begin by praising Him and magnifying Him. 

This is a posture of worship and surrender to God for the process that’s starting. This is so important in empowering our prayer lives because we’re getting in sync with God and heaven. 

We see glimpses into heaven in Scripture (Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4). There are cherubim and seraphim surrounding the throne, worshipping the Lord. Thousands of years happened between the two passages, yet the same thing is happening. The more we praise Him, the more He reveals Himself. Therefore, the more He reveals Himself, the more desire we have to praise Him. 

Whether worshipping corporately or privately, when we take a few minutes in our prayer to worship God, we’re getting in sync with the heavenly realm.

“Thy Kingdom Come, They Will Be Done on Earth As It Is In Heaven.” 

That statement is nuclear. It carries and contains more power and punch than you may realize. 

Sometimes, people say, “I don’t know what to pray.” Well, if you’re going to pray for the kingdom to come, we need to pray the words of the King. This is what Jesus intended because whatever we pray according to His will, He hears us. 

So, your best prayer guide is to pray out of the Scriptures. This will change everything. When we pray for the kingdom to come, we’re praying the words of the King, and we’re also praying the words of the King into our circumstances.

God didn’t give us Bible stories to entertain us but to equip us. When we read them, we must ask ourselves what is the relevancy of seeing God move into this kind of power in my circumstances? How can I personalize this to my city or an unreached people group somewhere on the earth? 

Hebrews 11:6 tells us that without faith, it is impossible to please God. We recognize that to please God, we must exercise our faith. But that faith is activated by hearing the Word of God. From there, we pray it into our circumstances. 

Prayer becomes dynamic when it focuses on knowing God and working with Him because He is up to much. When our spiritual eyes are opened through His Word, we join Him in praying for God’s will. 

“Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we have also forgiven our debtors.” 

Now, we’re moving into our needs. 

Following His instructions per this outline, the priority of prayer is the glory of God, then the purposes of God. But Jesus understands us. He knows our needs and invites us to pray for resources and relationships. Yes, daily bread presents Jesus as our bread of life and our ultimate needs, but it is also a practical prayer, food, a roof over my head, etc. 

“And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19

Scripture is very clear: God seeks to glorify His name by meeting our needs, but that’s not just resources but also relationships. That is why we’re to forgive others as we have been forgiven. Forgiveness extends to your spouse, family, work associates, neighbors, etc. 

The beauty of understanding this invitation is that Jesus understands your needs, which should comfort you. 

“And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” 

Jesus understands that when you depart from a place of prayer, you enter a battlefield. The enemy will fire at you, and there will be difficulties you’ll face. However, in the difficulty, God will deliver you from the temptations the enemy fires.

A Holy Urgency 

The best way to learn to pray is by praying. What fuels a prayer life is desperation. When things get tough in Acts, the disciples' desperation fuels their prayer life. 

In my office, I have a small model sailboat. I have it there for several reasons, but the main reason is that, as a pastor, we always want the church to align the rudder of our direction with God’s Word. 

I’m also aware that we’re dead in the water unless the wind blows. We need the power of God’s Spirit. The beauty of a loving relationship with Jesus is that we pray and depend upon the Lord. 

Jesus had 36 months to complete His mission and to pour into 12 people. The future birth of the Church was dependent on these persons. Suppose your pastor took that same approach, 36 months at his church for its future. While I have no plans of checking out after three years, the point is it should be the highest priority to select, motivate, and train leaders to carry out the church's mission after they leave. 

Jesus moved with a holy urgency. It was not rooted in flesh and anxiety but in holy and calibrated urgency. 

Tina Turner sang, “What’s love got to do with this?” The reason we pray is because of love. The reason we would pray for our friends, family, city, and world is the way Jesus taught us to pray is because we love.