Martin Luther loved the Lord’s Prayer. He told his barber in “A Simple Way to Pray”:
To this day I suckle at the Lord’s Prayer like a child, and as an old man eat and drink from it and never get my fill. It is the very best prayer, even better than the psalter, which is so very dear to me.
What Luther meant by this was not that he prayed the words of the Lord’s Prayer over and over as he had in his monastic days. No, he meant something quite different:
- “I want your heart to be stirred and guided” by the Lord’s Prayer
- “I do not bind myself to such words or syllables, but say my prayers in
one fashion today, in another tomorrow, depending upon my mood and feeling. I stay however, as nearly as I can, with the same general thoughts and ideas [i.e. the 7 petitions of the Lord’s Prayer]. It may happen occasionally that I may get lost among so many ideas in one petition that I forego the other six. If such an abundance of good thoughts comes to us we ought to disregard the other petitions, make room for such thoughts” - “Prepare your heart for prayer” – which suggests that Luther had a similar pattern to George Mueller – Bible and then Prayer – read the Word and get your heart happy in Jesus first and then move into prayer.
- “In a good prayer one fully remembers every word and thought from the beginning to the end of the prayer. So, a good and attentive barber keeps his thoughts, attention, and eyes on the razor and hair and does not forget how far he has gotten with his shaving or cutting. If he wants to engage in too much conversation or let his mind wander or look somewhere else he is likely to cut his customer’s mouth, nose, or even his throat. Thus if anything is to be done well, it requires the full attention of all one’s senses and members, as the proverb says, “He who thinks of many things, thinks of nothing and does nothing right.” How much more does prayer call for concentration and singleness of heart if it is to be a good prayer!” (In practice this probably means praying out-loud or writing.)
- And in another treatise (“An Exposition of the Lord’s Prayer” 1519) he talks of praying the Lord’s prayer “against ourselves.” Speaking about ‘Thy will be done’ he says:
“We judge and accuse ourselves with our own words, declaring that we are disobedient to God and do not do his will. For if we really did his will, this petition would not be necessary…
God bids us to pray against ourselves… In that way he teaches us that we have no greater enemy than ourself. You see, our will is the most formidable element in us, and against it we must pray, “O Father, do not let me get to the point where my will is done. Break my will; resist it. No matter what happens let my life be governed not by my will, but by yours. As no one’s own will prevails in heaven so may it also be here on earth.” Such a petition or its fulfilment is indeed very painful to our human nature, for our own will is the greatest and most deep rooted evil in us, and nothing is dearer to us than our own will. Therefore, we are asking for nothing else in this petition than the cross, torment, adversity, and sufferings of every kind, since these serve the destruction of our will.”
fidelnyikuri
iServe Africa Webmaster
Utumishi Blog 
I read an article written by you in 2011 asking for information about the East African Revival. Since that was 3 years ago you hopefully got the information you were seeking. My husband and I were profoundly changed back in the early 1960’s when Festo Kivengere and William Nagenda, leaders in the East Africa Revival, spoke in the Seattle area. Roy Hession from England was also touched deeply by this work of the Spirit and many in the states also that we know of. We have traveled to Kenya and Uganda and taken part in their fellowship conventions. We have followed their ways of weekly fellowship meetings and more importantly we have been revived in our lives and have learned to walk in the light with each other and others and I can’t tell you the changes Jesus has made and continues to make in our lives. We began to experience the power of His blood to set us free as we repent and daily seek to humble ourselves. We are members of a PCA church and a few of us from our church meet together weekly to share what Jesus is doing in our lives and pray for one another. We still keep in touch with our African brothers and sisters who meet weekly. There is much more I would like to say but this is getting long but I just felt compelled to share this with you. John Gatu from Nairobi was one of the leaders of the fellowship in that city. I don’t know if he is still alive or not. He had been the moderator of the Presbyterian Church there.
God bless you,
Betty McJunkin
Snoqualmie, WA
Thank you very much for this testimony Betty. What a great encouragement and evidence of the global reach and enduring influence of the East African move of God. I have picked up a few things over the last few years but not a huge amount so any information and testimony like this is very welcome – definitely still lots to learn.
I believe John Gatu is still alive – he was certainly testifying at a land case regarding Lavington United Church in July this year.
We were talking to an old man a couple of months ago who was lamenting how the Kenyan church had declined from a high water mark (spiritually speaking) in the early 1980s. Be good to hear more of your (and others) experiences of the 1960s and 70s.