imagine that you love golf. you buy golf
magazines, you get instructional golf videos, you subscribe to the golf
channel. then one day when you get home, there’s a message on your answering
machine from tiger woods offering to fly you down to orlando and give you some
tips on how to improve your golf game. you think you’d take him up on it? he’s preparing for the masters but he wants
to also help you out.
this is an opportunity to receive top
flight instruction from one of the world’s greatest masters in the area of your
deepest passion. that’s a can’t miss
deal. that’s a no-brainer.
then imagine this would’ve happened to
you in whatever your deepest passion happens to be. imagine warren buffet
offered to give you some guidance for stock investing and start you out with a
small stake.
or imagine imelda marcos volunteered to
take you shoe shopping–whatever your deepest passion is, it’s a can’t miss
deal.
here’s why i bring this up. the
disciples had been watching JESUS quite closely, and they saw that here was
someone with a connection to GOD like they had never, ever seen before. even in this life, you and i often know of
people who, when you pray with them, it just seems like this person is at home
in the presence of GOD.
well, JESUS’ disciples saw this quality
in HIM. i think if you were to ask the disciples, “what’s JESUS secret? what
enables HIM to live such an extraordinary life?” i think if they had to answer in one word,
that word would be prayer. no one has
ever prayed like JESUS. it marked HIS life. we’re told in the bible from the
beginning to the end about how prayer marked HIS life.
well, in luke 11 it says JESUS was praying in a certain place. HIS disciples
were watching HIM, and one of them had an idea. what if JESUS could show them
how to pray like HE prayed? what if they
might start praying like the master of prayer?
so one of the disciples – the text
doesn’t say which one – got his courage up and said, “JESUS, teach us to pray.”
JESUS said, “okay.”
now, of course, they didn’t know that’s
just what HE was waiting for. HE’d been
kind of setting that deal up the whole time. HIS greatest desire was to teach
them to pray.
HE didn’t want their prayer life to just
flounder around. HE was just waiting to
sign HIS disciples up to enroll in the school of prayer, and HE’ll do the same
for you and me. but i want to say right now at the outset of our looking at
this subject you must make this request of JESUS –you personally, yourself.
just a thought from the front porch…
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