“Teach Us To Pray”

Luke 11:1
Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray…”

If you’ve ever struggled with prayer, be encouraged, you’re in good company! Even Jesus’ closest followers struggled with prayer. If the disciples said “Teach us to pray” it means prayer is something that can be learned; we can grow in this area of our lives which is good news!

Colossians 4:2
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

Ephesians 6:18
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.

There are ‘all kinds of prayers’, meaning, there is no one single type of prayer. In fact, the Bible models different kinds of prayer.

Ten Types of Prayer (Part 1)

1. Prayer of Adoration

Matthew 6:9
Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.

This type of prayer starts with God, not with us and our requests.
Many of the Psalms are prayers for adoration.

Psalm 27:4
One thing have I asked of the LORD,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to inquire in his temple.

Psalm 37:4
Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 34:3
Oh, magnify the LORD with me,
and let us exalt his name together!

Phillip Yancey
The main purpose of prayer is not to make life easier, nor to gain magical powers, but to know God.

Psalm 145 was written by David toward the end of his life. It is the reflection of an older man who has seen God’s faithfulness through many highs and lows, battles, betrayals, failure, politics and more.

Psalm 145:1
“I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name forever and ever.”
Psalm 145:3
Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.

Adoration doesn’t ignore life’s challenges, but it does lift my eyes above them. It reorients my life around His truth, His beauty, His power, His grace, His nearness.

2. Prayer of Lament

Psalm 13
How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I take counsel in my soul
and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

Consider and answer me, O LORD my God;
light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
est my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,”
lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the LORD,
because he has dealt bountifully with me.

Faith isn’t pretending everything’s okay, faith is trusting God even when it’s not.

Prayers of lament are prayers that hold honesty and hope in the same hands.

Matthew 11:28
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Lament is what faith sounds like when it’s bleeding.

Sooner or later, every person must figure out what they will do with their pain.

Mark Vroegop
Lament is how you live between the poles of a hard life and trusting in God’s sovereignty. Lament is how we bring our sorrow to God. Without lament we won’t know how to process pain.

Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet. He watched his city fall, his people exiled, and his heart broke.

Lamentations 3:19–22
Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
the wormwood and the gall!
My soul continually remembers it
and is bowed down within me.
But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end…

Prayers of lament start with what I feel, and end with what I know. They are honest and hopeful.

3. Listening Prayer

1 Samuel 3:10
“Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”

Samuel stopped long enough to listen, and what he heard not only shaped his future, it shaped the future of the nation.

Proverbs 2 tells us to make our ear attentive to wisdom and incline our heart to understanding.

James 1:19
let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak …

Jesus warned us against the type of prayer that heaps up empty phrases – thinking that if we pray long enough and loud enough – then God will be inclined or obligation to listen to us. God is not deaf, nor is He disinterested.

John 10:27
“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”

In order to follow Jesus’ will, we need to hear His voice.

4. Prayer of Confession

Two types of ‘confession’ in Scripture. One is when we verbalise God’s promises – a confession of faith. The other is the confession of sin.

C.S. Lewis
We must lay before Him what is in us, not what ought to be in us.

Confession is trusting God with what God already knows. It is bringing before God what is already visible to Him.

Hebrews 3:15
Remember what it says: “Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled.”

Psalm 51 captures some of the rawest confession prayers in the whole Bible.

Psalm 51:1–2, 10
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.

God meets our confession with mercy.

Proverbs 28:13
Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper,
but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.

5. Prayer for Breakthrough

Sometimes we come before God in prayer because we just absolutely need to see heaven move things on earth.

Examples of people in Bible who prayed and saw situations change:

Hezekiah

2 Kings 20:2
Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD…

Jehoshaphat

2 Chronicles 20:3-4
Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah assembled to seek help from the Lord; from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.

Hannah

1 Samuel 1:10–11
She was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly. And she vowed a vow and said, “O LORD of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life…”

Daniel

Daniel 2:17–18
Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, and told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery…

Esther and the Jewish People

Esther 4:16
“Go, gather all the Jews … and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king…”

Peter and the Church

Acts 12:5
So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.

Not everything is natural. Not everything can be accomplished with natural smarts and natural strength. There are natural realities, and there are spiritual realities.

Ephesians 6:12
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Samuel Chadwick
“The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.”

Fasting is when we forgo food for a spiritual purpose. We subdue the appetites of the flesh, to awaken and elevate the things of the Spirit in our lives. Fasting brings spiritual strength, clarity and authority.

Jesus promised in Matthew 6:18 that fasting is a spiritual discipline that our Heavenly Father rewards.

Psalm 59:1
Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.