Reverence in Prayer

Reverence in Prayer

Luke 11:1-2

“Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples." And he said to them, "When you pray, say: "Father, hallowed be your name...” Luke 11:1-2

After Jesus finished praying, what compelled the disciples to say, “Lord, teach us to pray...” It wasn’t that the disciples never prayed before. These were Jewish men who were no doubt taught how to pray since they were boys. It was how Jesus prayed. Not just the Words that Jesus used, but the heart with which He prayed. There was an intimacy with the Father that Jesus had when He prayed. Intimacy means, familiarity or closeness. 

However, it was not an intimacy without reverence. When Jesus prayed, He was not easily distracted by lesser things. He was fully alert and fully engaged. In fact, He often sought a place of solitude so that He could be alone with His Father and give Him His undivided attention. Jesus wasn’t nonchalant when He prayed. He didn’t go through the motions. He didn’t approach His Father in a casual way. His prayers were intense, fervent, and deep. He didn’t pray with empty words. He prayed knowing to whom He was praying too.

This kind of reverent and intimate prayer is not common in our day and age. The reason is that many who profess faith, don’t know God. They know about Him, but they don’t know Him as He is, as He desires for them to know Him. Hence there’s no intimacy or reverence. 

The first thing Jesus taught His disciples about the manner in which they should pray was this, “"When you pray, say: "Father, hallowed be your name” (Luke 11:1-2). 

“You must start, said our Lord, with a right conception of God. Now is this not where we all tend to go astray? So often our initial error and trouble is that our ideas of God are loose. Let us be quite frank and honest about this. Most of us, before listening to Jesus Christ, feel that we are in a position to criticize God: Why this? Why that? We are, 'we think', the judges even where God is concerned. Now what our Lord tells us at the beginning is, “Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground” Ex. 3:5. God is utterly and absolutely holy, so much so that we cannot imagine Him, eternal in His holiness and His absolute perfection. 

That is what our Lord taught about God, and we must start there. We have to realize that if to know God is the first essential thing in rest and peace, we must begin by knowing something of His nature and Character, and that is what our Lord always taught about Him.” (MLJ). 

When we pray therefore it’s a good practice to do so with an open bible. Let God reveal Himself to you.  See His glory, which demands a right response. Let God start the conversation, as you prayerfully read His Word. As my dear friend Daniel Henderson often says, “The one who starts the conversation tends to lead the conversation.” 

“You must start, said our Lord, with a right conception of God.”