Praying As Jesus Prays

I have been reviewing lately some of one of my favorite mentor's words on prayer. Andrew Murray's book, With Christ In the School of Prayer remains one of the best I have ever encountered. I have read it over and over again, and I think I am actually beginning to catch the gist of what this wise lover of God was saying!

Perhaps two of the most important things that Andrew Murray says about prayer are his convictions that a) prayer must begin with an awareness of God as the loving Father and, b) prayer is essentially joining with Jesus in His continual intercession before the Father.

We can pray as Jesus prays only as we "get" that first point. Consider the following quotes from our mentor (and please forgive the dated language!). "The first thing in closet-prayer is to meet the Father. The light that shines in the closet must be the light of the Father's countenance. The atmosphere in which we breathe and pray is God's Father-love, God's infinite Fatherliness." (chapter 3). "The knowledge of God's Father-love is the first and simplest, but also the last and highest lesson in the school of prayer." (chapter 4).

So what does this look like, at least in my life? Well, in the past I would find myself praying without a conscious awareness of God's presence and Father-love, and my prayers sometimes sounded more like begging and whining than confident asking! And even when that wasn't the case, praying with confident trust and expectancy was hard to come by, especially when the needs before me were large and imposing. But now, as I am learning to allow Holy Spirit to lead me into Father's presence, I find that prayer rises from my heart as gentle listening, expectant asking and peaceful petitioning. The difference is remarkable: faith becomes as natural as breathing in the presence of the One who is love. Now the two pictures of prayer God gave me a while ago make wonderful sense.

I may have shared these before. If so, please forgive me. But these pictures are expressions of praying as Jesus prayed with the deep awareness of Father's love and manifest presence. The first picture God gave me was of a small round table, with Him on one side and me on the other, close enough so that we could clasp hands if we desired. Between us I place the concerns of others for whom I am praying and we discuss them as I look into Father's eyes--wow! In the second picture, I am standing in the wonderful, warm and powerful River of God's kindness and life and power. As I stand there I direct the flow of a little piece of the River towards the one for whom I am praying. Again, wow!

And yes, it does take time, sometimes more of it than at other times, for the awareness of God's presence to come (stillness is essential and not always immediately accessible). But I am finding that when I practice what our mentor, Andrew Murray, teaches us, then prayer becomes the peaceful but powerful instrument of God's war on the enemy and God's rich blessing of people that scripture describes.

Learning to pray...

Tom, one Abba's children