LORD, TEACH ME TO PRAY – LESSON 1
“Learning to Pray God’s Way”
Kay Arthur, Teacher
One of the things I am learning through this is that there are answers for us, but in our humanness and in our flesh we are full of questions. We speak to God in prayer, and He listens. Why do we complicate it? I think the problem is that our lives are so busy, and I think that we have admired the writings of other people more than the very words of God. These are the very words of God! The very words of God! And I am to hang on every word. He made it clear, “I fed you with manna because I wanted you to understand that man does not live by bread alone. I give this every day, because I want you to understand that we live by the bread of life.”
O beloved, has this been a good week of study? Have you sensed the anticipation as the disciples went to Jesus, and they said to Him, “Teach us to pray the way John teaches his disciples. Lord, teach us to pray.” You and I have begun that, as we have looked at Matthew 6, as we looked at the study of the Sermon on the Mount, on the gorgeous Mount of the Beatitudes there beside the Sea of Galilee, when Jesus said, “When you pray, pray in this way.” You and I know from doing our study that Jesus was doing more than giving them what we call “The Lord’s Prayer.” Instead, He was giving them a way to pray. Is it wrong to pray the Lord’s Prayer? Oh no, it is a beautiful prayer. But it is a beautiful prayer of in-depth sentences, of topical sentences, that when we pray that way, then everything in prayer fits under those topical sentences—one way or another—and we have prayer covered from all the bases.
All we have done this week is look at the first topical sentence. “Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.” Do you realize that by prayer you hold the One who holds the destiny of all the world in His hands? Prayer takes you down here on planet Earth, and you reach up in prayer to heaven, and you then are connected with God. You touch the hem of the creator of the universe, and yet, when you come to Him, what do you say? What did Jesus tell us to pray? “When you pray, pray in this way: ‘Our Father.’” Not Creator; not Sovereign, not Almighty—although He is all that. But this is an intimate relationship. You are coming into that intimate relationship with God Almighty, who is our Father—our Father who is in heaven. So, you reach up in prayer, and you take hold of God. God is reaching down in His word, and what happens is that you connect, and you find yourself holding the hand of the One who holds the destiny of the earth.
I want us to take a look at God. Go to Romans 11:36, as Paul wraps up the gospel of Jesus Christ, as he explains the gospel that came to the Gentiles, and the gospel that came to the Jews, and talks about even Israel’s rejection, and how it still is under God’s control. He brings that segment to a close by saying, “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever.” I want us to look at that for just a minute because I think it is so important that we understand that prayer has its source in God; and it is through God, and it is to God when you and I are praying. As He introduces us to a way to pray, that way to pray begins with God. It begins with God as the sovereign ruler of all the universe. We saw in Psalm 103 that God’s sovereignty rules over all, but I would like to take us to another passage so that you can understand just how great the sovereignty is.
Go to Isaiah 14:24. Isaiah is the most incredible prophet. And I want to thank you for turning in your Bible, so that you and I can see God’s word for ourselves. (24) “The Lord of hosts has sworn saying, ‘Surely just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand.” (27) “For the Lord of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?” What you and I need to understand is this: when we come to God in prayer, we are coming to our Father who is in heaven. In heaven His sovereignty rules over all. Daniel 4 says that God does according to His will in the armies of heaven, among the good angels and the bad angels, and God does according to His will among the inhabitants of the earth. None can stay God’s hand, and none can say unto Him, “What doest Thou?” Why? Because His sovereignty rules over all. As He has purposed, so it will come to pass. As He has planned, it will be, and no one can stop His outstretched arm.
But you say, “Then why do I pray?” We are going to see that, but we pray because in some mystery of heaven God uses us down here on planet Earth to help Him (and that sounds, in a sense, a little presumptuous) to accomplish His work. This is the mystery of prayer. The mystery of prayer is when you and I, human beings here on earth, bow our knees to God Almighty, and we pray; then God moves. So you and I are going to learn in these next three weeks what is absolutely crucial in the plan of God. You and I are included in the work that God wants us to do, and you are never more powerful than when you are on your knees.
This is what He says: “When you pray, pray in this way: ‘Our Father who are in heaven, hallowed be Your name.” When he says hallowed (Do you remember—if you did your homework? I want you to do your homework, O precious one. I know that you may be pressured, and I know that you may be drawn here and there, but I want you to know that it may be a warfare, but what God wants you, O precious one, to be in
prayer, because He has a work to do through you. You have to know, and you have to understand what the word of God has to say. When He says, “Hallowed by Your name,” He is saying that you and I are to reverence His name. Why are we to reverence His name? In Biblical times, the name showed who the person was. The name, in a sense, described the person; or the name showed what happened in connection with that person. So to know a person’s name was to know them. It was an intimate, intimate thing.
When I was studying this, and when I was writing the book, Lord, Teach Me to Pray in 28 Days, and I saw that the Lord’s Prayer is a way to pray, then I took that phrase, and I thought, “God, I really don’t know what Your name is. I really don’t know.” I went back to the Old Testament—starting in the book of Genesis, because in the Old Testament is where you and I meet God. As I got into the Old Testament, I began to see and understand the names of God. That led to another study, Lord, I Want to Know You, and it is a study on the names of God.
Let me take you to Proverbs 18:10, and then I want to tell you some stories of what happened with people who learned and understood the names of God. (10) “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runs into it and they are safe.” I think about Alicia Williamson. After she did this study, Lord, I Want to Know You, she wrote a song about the name of the Lord being a strong tower, and how the righteous run into it and are safe. (She does like an umpire does when they are safe.) When I was in Israel cutting television programs on the gospel of Matthew, I went to a strong tower. I saw this big, magnificent stone place with these beautiful grape vines over it, and I realized that it was like a fortress, and if the shepherd was in trouble, if enemies came against the shepherd, or if a beast came, that was the place where they could run. If a storm came, that was where they could be secure. And I saw that that is what the name of the Lord is—that when I am in trouble, or when I am in need, then I can run to the name of the Lord.
One of the names of God that I want us to see is the name Jehovah jireh. In Genesis 22 is where God reveals this name. He reveals this name in the situation where Abraham was told by God to take his son, his only son, whom he loves, and offer him as a sacrifice. You remember the story—he takes his son up, his only son, and he gets ready to plunge in the knife in offering him as a sacrifice, and God stops him. He says, “Abraham, now I know that you fear Me. Look in the thicket.” In the thicket there was a ram caught by his horns. He said, “Take the ram and offer it in the place of Isaac.” (14) “And Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, ‘In the mount of the Lord it will be provided.’” Here in this place, in this incident (and it is so beautiful), this is the first time that “worship” is used in the Bible. This is the first time that “love” is used in the Bible, and it is used in connection with a father offering his own son. He offers him on MountMoriah. MountMoriah was the mountain range where the temple later was built. It is there where we find Calvary. It is picture of God providing for us, Jehovah jireh, what we need in Jesus Christ.
One day I was teaching Lord, I Want to Know You to a group of teenagers that were here at Precept Ministries. (We have a youth ministry, a student ministry, as well as an adult ministry; and we have a children’s ministry.) We teach them how to study the Bible, and I taught on this name. Now, remember that the name of the Lord is a strong tower, and the righteous run into it and they are safe. I was explaining to them that when we are in trouble, when we have a need, then we need to go to God and call on His name. One of the names that I taught them was Jevohah jireh. It means “the Lord will provide.” In the mount of the Lord (in the cross) it is provided. God provides all of your needs and all of my needs according to His riches in glory through Christ Jesus our Lord.
We are going to see that when you get to prayer and you look at these in-depth sentences, one of these is, “Give us this day our daily bread.” We are asking God, but we are asking God according to who God is. Who is God? He is Jehovah jireh, the Lord that will provide. I taught this. A teenager went home, and when she got home she found out that her father had left them while she was gone at our Teen Conference. The mother was an absolute basket case; she was a nervous wreck. The daughter was trying to calm her mother, and the mother went into the bathroom. She is yelling, “Bring me some toilet paper,” and the teenage girl starts looking for some toilet paper. There is no toilet paper in the house. Through the bathroom door she said, “Mother, there is no toilet paper.” The mother just collapses into a heap, and she begins to wail. “We don’t have toilet paper; we don’t have any way of buying toilet paper. It is just awful. Your father didn’t leave us with any money.”
The daughter knows the name of the Lord, and the daughter runs into that strong tower. “Hallowed be Thy name. Hallowed be Your Name. Reverence His name; respect Him for who He is. Call upon the name of the Lord in the day of trouble, and He will rescue you.” She said, “Mother, wait a minute. God’s name is Jehovah jireh, and it means “God will provide.” Let’s ask Him for toilet paper.” She didn’t ask for money; she asked for toilet paper, because that was the immediate need. So they prayed.
The next day they went out, and when they were driving down the road they saw beside the road this huge, jumbo pack of all these rolls of toilet paper. They were sitting there just beside the road. She said, “Mother, stop. Look at that toilet paper. It doesn’t belong to anybody. It is here beside the road.” Jehovah jireh. The name of the Lord is a strong tower, and God wants us to understand that we are holding the hand of this God whose name is greater than any other name, and we, as we come to Him in prayer, are to reverence Him. We are to hallow Him; we are to honor Him for who He is.
I told this story because I was doing a book review, and in doing this book review at this conference, I told this story. A woman sat down and wrote me a letter that said, “When you did that book review, I thought, ‘This woman is whack-o. She has gone too far. Don’t give me this toilet paper story.’ Then, in am in a new city, and I was driving down the road. I have a low-slung sports car, and I was trying to follow the one-way street signs, because there are so many of them. I looked out my window, and there right by the side of my car was a whole jumbo pack of toilet paper, just laying there. I said, ‘Lord, forgive me. Forgive me. I believe who You are.’”
Another name of God is found in Genesis 16. I have another story, because I want you to see that God is real, that you and I are coming to our heavenly Father, and we are to hallow His name. We are to reverence His name; we are to get to know Him. God tells us that prayer is based on intimacy. He tells us this by telling us that when we come to God, we are not coming to Almighty God, not just to the sovereign ruler of the universe. We are coming to the sovereign ruler of the universe who is Almighty God, who is “Abba,” who is our Father.
In Genesis 16 you find Sarah really upset with Hagar. Hagar has had a child by Abraham. Of course, it was Sarah’s idea, but Abraham has produced a child through Hagar, Sarah’s maid, and that child’s name is Ishmael. Hagar so taunts Sarah that Hagar is cast out. She has wandered around in the wilderness, and as she wanders around in the wilderness, (13) “Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, ‘Thou art a God who sees.’” [El roi is another name of God. El roi, “You are a God who sees.”] “‘Have I even remained alive after seeing Him?’ (14) Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roe;” [Then it tells where it was.]
What is God showing us? He is showing us, “You may be an outcast; you may be on your knees. You may a victim of some sort of distressing situation; you may be hurting. You may have been treated justly or unjustly, but you are in pain. But there is a Father who is in heaven, precious one, and you are precious to him.” You and I are to hallow His name. We are to call upon the name of the Lord in the day of trouble, for He will hear and He will answer. The righteous run into the name of the Lord, and they are safe.
As we taught this study, Lord, I Want to Know You, it so gripped one of our women that she took it to a local prison, and there she began to teach the women the names of God. There is a woman that sat down front. She was very hard; she was very sullen. She never smiled; she never responded. She just sat there. And they didn’t know what was going on inside of this woman. God was working in her life through the word of God. She wrote down that name, El roi, on a piece of paper. She put in the pocket of her prison uniform, and all day long she would reach into that pocket and feel that paper. She would cry out, “O God, El roi, You know if my son is alive. You know that I have not heard from him all these years. You know that I don’t know if he exists, or if he knows where I am. O God, El roi, You see; You know; You understand. O God, please. Please let me know if he is alive or dead. Please, please.”
One day, not too long after that, she got a phone call, and they asked her to come for she had a phone call waiting. She thought, “No one ever calls me. Who is this? What is going on?” She went to the phone, picked up the phone, and these are the words that she heard, “Hello, Mother.” Her estranged son had been moved by the sovereign God to get in touch with his mother. El roi; El roi had heard, and had moved.
O precious one, listen to me very carefully. Prayer is you reaching up to heaven and taking hold of the hand of God—the One who holds the destiny of the nations and the individuals in His hand. It puts you in the knowledge of God’s sovereignty. It puts you in the hand of God. He is sovereign, but everything that comes into your hand (because He is also love), is filtered through His fingers of love. The name of the Lord is a strong tower, and the righteous run into it and they are safe. This is what Jesus wants you to understan