Pattern of Seven: “Teach Us to Pray”

While the Teacher portion overview has been on a long pause, Holy Spirit as Teacher has continued to make good use of God’s timing. Given to noticing patterns, particularly the pattern of seven, I was taken again with the way in which Holy Spirit leads as Our Father wills.

In early summer of 2024, I returned to soaking in the writings of an old spiritual friend. Knowledge gained from his study of the Word and his Teacher portion approach by which he shared, had fed me for years.  The timing coincided with the first of the three dreams I related in Wellspring in early 2025: A Bear, An Alligator, Two Deer & A Bear.

As I began writing about what subsequently turned out to be three dreams over a nine-month period, I grew curious as to whether Brother Ed was still alive. With a quick search, I found he had graduated to Heaven on July 7, 2024, at the age of 93. The same timeframe in which I dug out several of his booklets in my plastic tub filled with his ministry writings. Though all are full of a lifetime’s richness, a particular one captured my attention over the seven months since he was called Home to life in Jesus’ presence.

Having recently completed the Wellspring posts concerning the three dreams, it was now evident to me that Holy Spirit was paving the way in all our current life situations for the Lord’s next timely release. He never has nor will He leave us hanging with a question as to the intent of the evil one, without making known the Kingdom, and its power and glory, is His. Jesus’ disciples lived in and spoke of ‘the last days.’ How much more 2,000 years later do we? I call them ‘the last, last days.’ Lord Jesus, teach us to pray. ~ With that, welcome to another Redemptive Gifts Pattern of Seven series, the model prayer Jesus taught.

Introduction

During his three and a half years of ministry, Jesus had gathered around Him the Twelve of His choosing.  What they experienced of Him as they lived and learned was surely full of you had to be there moments. The Apostle John summed it up quite well for us when he wrote in John 21:25 (AMP) –

“And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were recorded one by one,

I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”

Long captivated by the magnitude indicated in that scripture, I envision Jesus as a walking library of the Kingdom that He came bearing within Himself. This One from the realms of Heaven, now in flesh like us.

We are not so different from the flesh and blood who accompanied Jesus in His earthly days of life. The generations may seem and look different through the ages, but we all come heart-laden in need of Him.

Jesus Modeled a Life of Prayer

The disciples were present witnesses who found themselves caught up in what was happening to Jesus. Each step of the way, He taught and served, healed and heralded, demonstrated and magnified the Kingdom from which He had come and was going to return after His earthly life. And none of it was accomplished apart from the increased pressure coming at Him and those who believed who He was.¹

They could not have been that near Him without taking note of His frequent and sometimes lengthy absences when He stole away to be in communication with His Father. It was Jesus’ meat and drink; the one place He could pour out His emotions and be filled and refreshed with God’s essential gifts of grace.

⁷ In the days of His earthly life, Jesus offered up both [specific] petitions and [urgent] supplications [for that which He needed] with fervent crying and tears to the One who was [always] able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission toward God [His sinlessness and His unfailing determination to do the Father’s will].⁸ Although He was a Son [who had never been disobedient to the Father], He learned [active, special] obedience through what He suffered. ⁹ And having been made perfect [uniquely equipped and prepared as Savior and retaining His integrity amid opposition], He became the source of eternal salvation [an eternal inheritance] to all those who obey Him,  — Hebrews 5:7-9 (AMP)

All that Jesus did in the flesh, He did for one purpose: to become the Source of our eternal inheritance: the fullness of our salvation,² and the Author and Finisher of our faith as we fix our eyes on Him.³ Life as we now know it on this earth is not our intended end. In the now, though, Lord Jesus, teach us to pray.

The Prayer Model that Jesus Modeled

Scripture tells us there was an incident when one of Jesus’ disciples asked Him to teach them to pray.⁴ Both Matthew and Luke record Jesus’ response of what is commonly known as The Lord’s Prayer.

However, as I soaked in Matthew’s passage in chapter 6:9-13, it wasn’t long before I saw the pattern. Once again, I counted it out. Bless Brother Ed, he laid the foundation of seven petitions. Then Holy Spirit took over and began to unveil to me further connectedness to the seven portions of our human spirit.

As Jesus began to teach His disciples to pray, He was – as Brother Ed expressed it – “leading them toward living in the same Kingdom that He knew so well.”⁵ Jesus did not teach them – or us now – in what manner to pray for it to become a mechanical, repetitious prayer. In fact, He prefaced His teaching with the admonition to not use vain repetitions when we pray. Then Jesus the Teacher began to teach –

Focused on God’s Kingdom on earth, faith in the days before Christ’s return, the release of God’s will on earth, supernatural provision in time of need, our willingness to forgive, and rescue from the evil one.

I look forward to sharing with you the more contained in this prayer that Jesus modeled for His disciples then and for us today. Prophet, Servant, Teacher, Exhorter, Giver, Ruler, and Mercy – Jesus prayed with every part of His being. May our confidence in Him grow to be unshakable as He teaches us to,

⁹ “Therefore, pray in this way:

‘Our Father in heaven, sanctified be Your name.
¹⁰ Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread. ¹² And forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. ¹³ And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’ For Yours is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory, forever. Amen. – (Tree of Life Version)

~ Nancy

¹ John 6:60-71 – account of many disciples grumbling about Jesus’ “hard sayings”, who left following Him. When Jesus asked His close disciples if they wanted to leave too, Peter’s reply, “Where to? You have the words of life…”

² I Peter 1:3-12 ³ Hebrews 12:2 ⁴ Luke 11:1 ⁵ Maschil.com

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