“But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:6 NLT)
Struggling with his morning work, a math problem aimed at seeing how much the students retained from the lesson the day before, a young man asks his classmate for help. The classmate is compassionate and completely willing to help his fellow student. The help starts out in the form of an explanation of how to expeditiously work through the problem, but he ends up taking his peer’s pencil out of his hand and proceeds to work the problem. It went from giving help to getting it done. The teacher is strolling around the classroom, applying a college taught technique, the elementary school application of managing by walking around. She notices the classmate action doing the work. In a kind way, she involves the helper in solving the problem, by asking a question; another leadership technique being applied, involving the helper in arriving at a solution to the problem of doing another’s work. She seeks to do some correcting, while simultaneously doing some teaching. She asks, “What if you do all his work?” The helper replies quite bashfully and quietly because in no way did this student want the response that would be given to be viewed as a betrayal, “Then he will never learn to do it himself.” The teacher says, “Exactly!”
Do you ever think how often people who you know, people who do not go to church regularly, ask you to pray for them? I know you respond by helping them! I know your reply is instantly, “Let’s you and I pray” and you do all the praying. Yes, we need to pray for everybody and anybody. But you know what? I was thinking about the interaction between the teacher and the willing, compassionate classmate that was doing the work for the struggling student. I won’t do it all the time. It depends on the situation, but sometimes I’m going to say in a kind way, “Let’s pray. You starts us out and then I’ll pray too!” Why? Listen to what the teacher said, modified to a request to pray situation, “What if you do all the praying?” Maybe your response mirrors what the student says, “Then he/she will never learn to pray.” Whether you can use this technique or not really depends on the situation and your wise discernment to determine if you have been presented with a teachable moment about praying. The purpose of the technique: People need to learn how to pray! Oh you can and should still pray, but people need to know how to pray. Exactly! Maybe there are those who will need encouragement to pray, and you can tell them what happens “when YOU pray.” Their prayer plus your prayer will be all the more powerful. And after your experience of praying together, perhaps they will be inclined to go to God in prayer more often, thinking on the benefit of personally applying the words, “When you pray.” I’m just sharing a thought. Jesus wants us to pray, all of us and not just some of us. And believers do not need to go through anyone else to communicate with heaven. You already know that we have a High Priest in glory, and we can go boldly to the throne with our petitions and prayers of thanksgiving! Teach others to pray. You pray this morning, okay? I’ll be praying with you too! Be blessed!
“The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this: Our Father in heaven, reveal who you are. Set the world right; do what’s best—as above, so below. Keep us alive with three square meals. Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others. Keep us safe from ourselves and the devil. You’re in charge! You can do anything you want! You’re ablaze in beauty! Yes. Yes. Yes.” (Matthew 6:9-13 MSG)
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King