Hudson Taylor was the missionary to China who founded the Inland China Mission which touched multitudes of Chinese with the gospel. When Taylor was home in England, a young man who was interested in the ministry decided to go and see him at a meeting at his headquarters. He wrote:
“His appearance did not impress me. He was slightly built, and spoke in a quiet voice. Like most young men, I suppose I associated power with noise, and looked for physical presence in a leader. But when he said, ‘let us pray,’ and proceeded to lead the meeting in prayer, my ideas underwent a change. I had never heard anyone pray like that. There was a simplicity, a tenderness, a boldness, a power that hushed and subdued me, and made it clear that God had admitted him to the inner circle of His friendship.”
I think it must have been that way to hear Jesus pray too. Isaiah says He had no outward appearance that we should be attracted to Him — and yet there was such power evident in His prayers, that His disciples came to Him and said: “Lord, teach us to pray.” They didn’t ask Him: “Teach us to preach”; or “teach us to heal”; but “teach us to pray.” They knew that prayer was the source of His spiritual power. And it is for us too. Prayer is THE highest activity of the human soul (MLJ) and we will never be all that we should until we learn to pray.
And that is why Jesus took time here in Matthew 6 to teach His disciples — including US! — how to pray. Two weeks ago we looked at some “Keys To Effective Praying” that Jesus gave us in this text, and now today we are going to study the Model Prayer He gave us in :9-13. This Prayer is very well known; perhaps about as much as any scripture in the Bible — and yet many who “know about it” don’t really understand what this amazing prayer is. Continue reading
