PRAYER
J. A. Petersen
The Lord is seen here praying, which is a great feature of His manhood. If the first man, Adam, had been so marked he would not have fallen in the temptation (Genesis 3: 6), the result of his fall being that “death reigned from Adam unto Moses”, Romans 5: 14. But all—
and more—was recovered through Him who was obedient—“by the obedience of the one the many will be constituted righteous”, Romans 5: 19. The Lord was marked by dependence in His relations with His Father and it was expressed in His prayers. In great pressure the Lord says prophetically in Psalm 109: 4, “I give myself unto prayer”. What a model for us! Our brother has been speaking of Paul’s service in relation to two localities and his service would include his prayers for the saints. We are given the substance of those prayers in his epistles to the Ephesians,
Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians. Paul’s prayers related to these places and that fits in with Luke 11, which we have read, where the Lord “was in a certain place praying”.
This would lead us to think of our own locality and what is fitting in our prayers as learning from the Lord—then extending, it may be, to other places in relation to the testimony. Prayer is to lead to something in the way of deliverance and blessing. The Lord’s praying led to an enquiry on the part of the disciples, and one hopes we may profit from this enquiry and the Lord’s teaching as to the matter. In Psalm 73 Asaph was helped and instructed in his prayer and he came to an end of the matter which caused him concern—“But as for me, it is good for me to draw near to God” (Psalm 78: 28); “then understood I their end” (Psalm 78: 17).
The passage in Luke 11 follows the Lord’s ministry in Bethany; He was in “a certain place”, unnamed so that we might see what may proceed according to God in our localities. The Lord says, “Father, thy name be hallowed”, which suggests that our prayers are to be in accord with divine prerogatives, self-judged persons honouring the Father in their approach to Him—man’s will being practically set aside in such. We come over to the Father’s side, so to speak, as seeing the principles of the kingdom, “thy kingdom come” involving submission on our part. All this clears the ground in our souls as we approach God. The principles of the kingdom will be the same in every place and we do not want anything less than the best for our locality, or any other place where the Lord has put His name. All this is instructive as getting out of our own little circumstances into the divine light for the testimony and then seeing how we are set in relation to the kingdom and the assembly; and the purposes and
counsels of God. People say ‘prayer changes things’, but christianity is that prayer changes us and brings us to a knowledge of His will, “that if we ask him anything according to his will he hears us”, 1 John 5: 14.
A leading point in the instruction in Luke 11 is urgency in our supplications. We are not ashamed to be urgent with God about matters, whether they be household or assembly or personal exercises. The man here goes to his friend—the Lord calls it “his shamelessness” in asking—and he gets from his friend at the darkest hour what he requests. “For everyone that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it will be opened”; all this implies urgency—and the king’s business is urgent—and the request here leads to the asking in relation to the Holy Spirit. Room for the Spirit is a great point in our local gatherings and the Father is ready to “give (the) Holy Spirit to them that ask him”.
“Thy kingdom come” would lead on in christianity to the kingdom of God, which is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14: 17). It is instructive to see how the Lord proceeds as a result of the inquiry by the disciples to the matter of the Spirit. We ought to ask the Lord to teach us to pray; it may be we have much to learn. Do we learn anything in the prayer meetings? The Lord is here giving us directions as to prayer, He Himself giving the lead in dependence, showing us the way.
Word in meeting for ministry, Plainfield
13 February 1979