The Lord's Pattern for Prayer: Studying the Lessons and Spiritual Encouragements in the Most Famous of All Prayers - Softcover

Peter Masters

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1870855361 ISBN 13: 9781870855365

Publisher: Wakeman Trust, 2010

Synopsis

Subtitled 'Studying the lessons and spiritual encouragements in the most famous of all prayers.' This volume is almost a manual on prayer, providing a real spur to the devotional life. The Lord's own plan and agenda for prayer carefully amplified takes us into the presence of the Father, to prove the privileges and power of God's promises to those who pray. Chapters cover each petition on the Lord's Prayer. Here, too, are sections on remedies for problems in prayer, how to intercede for others, the reasons why God keeps us waiting for answers, and the nature of the prayer of faith.

About this title

About the Author

Dr Peter Masters has been Minister of the Metropolitan Tabernacle (Spurgeon's) in central London since 1970. His weekly sermons are aired in the UK and in the USA.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Proof for a Pattern Prayer

The ruins of my soul repair, and make my heart a house of prayer. Charles Wesley

We may trace the term The Lord s Prayer back to Cyprian (of Carthage), about ad 250, although its use as a recited prayer probably precedes even that date. In our day it is a very moving fact that millions of unreached, unconverted people know this much about the true faith they know how to say the Lord s Prayer. What right do we have to delve into and amplify the lines of this most famous of all prayers? Should it not be regarded as sacrosanct and kept as a recited prayer?

We must explore it, because it was primarily intended by the Lord to be a pattern, or style, or scheme, or outline of prayer topics and encouragements which would inspire and shape our prayers. It is supremely an agenda for prayer. John Calvin said long ago that its importance lay not so much in the literal words as in their content, which should be expounded. Here, very briefly, are three indications that the Lord s Prayer is chiefly meant as a lesson and an outline:

1 In this book we shall study the Lord s Prayer as given in Matthew 6.9-13, but in Luke s Gospel the Lord s Prayer follows the request of the disciples, Lord, teach us to pray. The most natural understanding of this request is that they wanted more than a set form of words. They did not primarily ask teach us a prayer but teach us how to pray.

2 When the Lord taught the same prayer on that other occasion (recorded in Luke 11.1-4) He put it slightly differently, with five modest variations including one entirely different word, and with the doxology omitted. If He had intended to teach a strict form of prayer for reciting only, He would perhaps have given precisely the same prayer on both occasions.

3 It is also extremely significant that all the petitions are very short, suggesting that they were intended to serve as headings. For example, Forgive us our debts provides only four words of repentance, when we know from other prayers in the Bible that appeals for forgiveness should be more lengthy than that. When the believer repents, he must be conscious of his sins, or at least, of his worst sins, ashamed of them, and ready to name and turn from them. An unspecific, four-word repentance is not enough.

Similarly, all the other petitions have a greater significance than the obvious meaning, such as the opening words of the Lord s Prayer Our Father which are designed to draw the soul near to God by reminding us of His great fatherliness and kindness. Similarly, the next phrase which art in heaven is more than a description of God s location, but reminds us of His infinite majesty and power. Tertullian, writing in the second century, said this prayer was as copious in meaning as it is condensed in expression . Each petition has a grand objective. There are no vague or merely poetic petitions, nor any repetition or overlapping thoughts. Here is a full range of topics to be included in our prayers, but in our personal praying we are meant to go into greater detail.

For How Long Should We Pray?

If the writer may inject a personal comment at the beginning of the Christian life I found one aspect of prayer extremely intimidating, because I had gained the impression that for prayer to be worthwhile, you had to be on your knees for hours. Heroes of prayer (such as the famous Praying Hyde ) were frequently held up in messages and books as the people to be imitated, although few seemed able to come near to their achievements. Looking back, I think it would have been very helpful for someone to have advised a prayer time of fifteen minutes a day (Bible reading extra) as a minimum standard especially for a beginner with extra prayer being made as opportunity or necessity arose. It is important to mention this as the contents of this book will suggest many lines of prayer that could not possibly be all used together.

To spend longer in prayer is unquestionably right and precious, and every Christian should strive for this, but a basic, regular, readily achievable standard will deliver many from the opposite extreme, namely, a few stumbled sentences a day. Although we have argued that the Lord s Prayer is ideally seen as an outline or a set of headings, it is nevertheless rather compact in design, and other prayers in the Bible are never unduly long. We learn from this that prayer does not always have to strive for length. On the other hand, our Saviour and perfect example is reported to have prayed all night, and so we too must at times pray at length. Nevertheless, a basic standard will keep us under the smile of God, close to Him, and experiencing His power and blessing in our lives.

Whether we are currently praying for fifteen minutes each day or for longer, the content of our prayers, and the different kinds of petition that we make, will always be best ordered and most enriched by keeping in view the pattern prayer of the Lord, in Whose name we pray.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wakeman Trust
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1870855361
• ISBN 13: 9781870855365
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 118