August 7 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Luke 11:1–4

Devotional

“Lord, teach us to pray.” The disciples heard the Lord Jesus praying and one of them asked Him to instruct them on how to do likewise. As they listened to the perfect prayers of the Lord Jesus they understood that they did not know how to pray. A prayer was born in their hearts for a prayer. They recognized their inability to pray. In their sinful nature their hearts were closed before God and no prayer could emanate from deep within their being; heaven was, therefore, closed so that no prayer could penetrate it.

For what should you pray? Even the greatest among the saints of Scripture did not know what to pray for. Moses prayed to enter the land of Canaan, but he did not pray according to God’s holy will. Paul prayed to be delivered from the thorn in his flesh, but this prayer could not stand before God. Who can pray as he should? Moses and Paul prayed against God’s holy honor and against their salvation. Imagine if the Lord would give everything for which people prayed. This would lead to the eternal destruction of the soul. From this standpoint even an answer to prayer could be a judgment.

There are many prayers. There are many requests, petitions, desires, and wishes that are sent up daily to heaven. But few prayers place God’s will above the will of man. Therefore you also need this prayer for a prayer. “Lord, teach us to pray.” In discovering your inability to pray, such a prayer is born. The prayer for a prayer originates from your self-knowledge in which you become afraid to come before the Lord with your own wishes and intentions. The more self-knowledge there is, the more fear there will be in the holy work of prayer. In fact, if you truly pray you will see that you cannot pray. In self-knowledge you become afraid that your unholy objectives will spoil this most holy activity.

Have you ever prayed for a prayer? Have you been exposed to the fact that you are not only prayerless, but that without the Spirit of God, your own words are a stench before God? This is all learned at the school of prayer. He who desires to pray needs a teacher who will pray for him, because he himself cannot find a word that is worthy of being said before God. He who truly prays will be greatly humbled. He will see that he cannot pray as he should and consequently he ends up with a prayer for a prayer.

For such helpless ones, there is still deliverance. That is because Christ poured out His Spirit of supplication on the Day of Pentecost. And it is this Spirit who can change prayerless people into those who truly pray. “The Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered...because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Rom. 8:26, 27).

So, in order to pray you need the Spirit of God. Blessed are you who understand these things, because the Spirit is still willing to work in the hearts of those who cannot pray. In this way God is glorified in His own work, for in order to have a prayer penetrate heaven, it will have to be granted by heaven. Even the prayer for a prayer is a gift of the Holy Spirit. That reality causes prayer to be a dependent work.

 

From The Everlasting Word by Frans Bakker, compiled and translated by Gerald R. Procee. Reformation Heritage Books and Free Reformed Publications, 2007. Used by permission. For further information, click here.