Lord Teach Us To Pray

[October 9, 2011] –
Q: What is the least popular, least attended church function?
A: There is evidence that it is prayer, way ahead of whatever is second.

And I understand; I find it extremely hard to pray. Luke 11 records that the disciples asked Jesus, “Lord teach us to pray.” I think they meant, Lord inspire us be self-disciplined to pray, rather than teach us HOW to pray. When Jesus answered them He did not just give the model prayer, He talked about why to pray as well.

More In A Micro-Second

I remember hearing Howard Hendricks of Dallas Seminary say that every time the disciples turned around, they found Jesus praying. My prayer has become, “Lord cause me to pray more.” God can do more on our campus in a micro-second than I can do on my own in another 26 years, so why not invite HIM to act?

God has used my wife and children to help me pray, in contrast to church attendance for 50 years that never did. My family put me in the habit of frequent prayer. That habit led me to pray with a graduate teaching assistant last semester.

An Indian M.D., working on a Ph.D. here and scheduled to teach his first University course of his life, he was nervous. He stopped by my office a few minutes before his first class at 8 AM. I offered to pray and he gladly took me up on it. He seemed to really appreciate it, but I didn’t realize how much. He is teaching a new course this term and asked to come by and pray again, so we did.

An Offer To Pray

One of my former undergrad students came by my office this week. He accepted a grad assistantship at another university, but discovered that he was getting something quite different from what he had expected. We prayed about his distress.

I have prayed with students, former students, former student’s spouses, and ministry leaders. We have prayed about jobs and direction, health and spouses, and spouse’s jobs and deaths in the family. We have prayed on the phone and face to face.

A faculty member once gave testimony to offering to pray with non-believing colleagues when they are in crisis. He said they never turned him down.

My record is almost that good. After offering to pray with someone, I have been turned down only ONCE. Every student, every colleague, and every acquaintance I have offered to pray with, has eagerly accepted. Only my second youngest brother turned me down, with some odd theological objections to my praying for him.

If there in one thing we can do that is sure to impact our campus, it is to pray for our students and co-workers. Why don’t you think about finding a time and place to invite a few Christian colleagues to gather for prayer?

Don’t count on many; remember this is an unpopular undertaking. We can’t control others, but we can endeavor to act on the knowledge that we have. And remember whether you gather to pray with others or not, YOU can always pray.

My heart cry is “Lord teach us to pray.”

© 2011 Phillip A. Bishop © istockphoto

The Value of Community

John Walkup
Emeritus, Electrical and Computer Engineering,
Texas Tech University

[March 7, 2010] —

Why should I as a Christian faculty work to develop a sense of community with other believers on campus?

My days are already full, and I get fellowship at church. Why take the time?

The Challenges

As I look back on my own academic career, I recall how encouraging it was in my pre-tenure years to meet for prayer and Bible study regularly with a few engineering faculty colleagues. We shared experiences and prayed for the challenges each of us was experiencing.

During my second year as an assistant professor, I had just submitted my second NSF research initiation grant proposal. My first proposal had been turned down; at that point I still had not yet received any research funding. Bill, Harry, and Penny-believing colleagues in other engineering departments-regularly prayed with me in Bill’s office.

They had each previously faced the uncertainty that I was facing at the time. Those prayer times were a great encouragement to me. I know they rejoiced along with me when that second NSF proposal was funded. Other things they prayed about for me were
the stress of fixing up my lab space on a tight budget, and obtaining some quality graduate students.

Those experiences of community with Christian colleagues greatly blessed me at a critical time in my career.

When many years later I became a senior member in our department, I sought to come alongside some younger Christian colleagues in similar ways. This inevitably took various forms, ranging from periodic conversations in their office, or in some cases inviting them to accompany me to Washington D.C. for the purpose of introducing them to various program managers at particular government research funding agencies.

Relating In Love

For much of my career I was a faculty sponsor of the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship student chapter. An article in one of the their magazines pointed out that students hadn’t really been evangelized until they had also seen Christian students relating in love in a group setting. I recall thinking, if that was important for students, wouldn’t the same be true for believing faculty?

There are many challenges we face in both understanding God’s call on our lives on campus, and in living out that call daily. And all the while keeping some semblance of balance in other major areas of their lives (e.g. family and church to name two). Who else understands our workload and pressures? We need not feel alone in our struggles or our victories.

I have never regretted time spent on campus with brothers and sisters in Christ. And that great love we share may be noticed by colleagues. The university is often a relational desert. Perhaps our fellowship can be an oasis not only for us but also for colleagues in need of the matchless love of God.

(c) 2010 John Walkup

« Previous Page — Next Page »