DISCIPLES OF CHRIST PART 6

Christ’s disciples asked him, “teach us to pray”, during His earthly ministry as recorded in Luke 11:1. They had heard Jesus pray in the public arena before great crowds that He fed in offering up thanks, or in the presence of those that grieved the loss of Lazarus in extending comfort (Lk. 9:16; John 11:41-42). He also enjoined His disciples to watch and pray together in the Garden (Matthew 26:40-41). Then, there were private times that Jesus took to talk with His Father alone (Luke 6:12). Jesus was fully accustomed to private and public prayer. He had an intimate and continual commitment to prayer!
We as DISCIPLES must acquire a passionate “P”rayer Commitment as we seek to imitate Christ. Approaching our Father in prayer should become a delightful experience as much as a needful experience in our lives. Our “closet praying” (individual times) should prepare our hearts to “pray everywhere” (collective times) with an openness and humility as we express our dependence and interdependence upon our God (Matthew 6:6; 1 Timothy 2:8).
Each of us should become adept at confidently casting our cares upon an understanding and caring God (1 Peter 5:7). This confidence comes by way of God’s own Son, the very expression of love, and the one by whom we have full access to the throne-room of the Father (Hebrews 4:14-16; 10:19). Do not shrink back from praying but come near to God and ask of Him with a purity of heart, fervency of desire, and constancy of petitions (James 4:8; 5:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:17; Romans 12:12)!  Do not be of the number that “have not, because [they] ask not” (James 4:2c)!