How To Pray
Photo by Ruben Hutabarat on Unsplash.
How do you know when to pray? How do you know how to pray?
After Jesus’ disciples asked him to teach them how to pray, Jesus assumed that they would pray and then taught them how to go about praying—giving them a model prayer.
Jesus did not say, “if you pray.” Jesus said, “when you pray.” Prayer is assumed from a disciple of Jesus.
In Luke’s gospel account of the disciple’s prayer, Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, saying, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.’” (Luke 11:3-4, ESV).
This model prayer Jesus taught his disciples teaches us many aspects of prayer and the heart of God for his followers as they pray.
1. Jesus wants his disciples to pray.
2. Prayer is to be directed intimately to our Heavenly Daddy, our “Abba,” our Father.
3. Our prayer acknowledges and glorifies the holy name of our holy God.
4. When we pray, we are ushering in God’s kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven.
5. We pray acknowledging our daily dependence upon God, requesting our daily provision.
6. We are to pray in repentance of all our wrongdoing and neglect, as we ask for the forgiveness of our sin.
7. Our prayers are to lead us to forgive others as God has forgiven us.
8. We are to pray to be led away from all that leads us away from God as we ask to be delivered from temptation.
May we learn and put into practice Jesus’ model prayer for his disciples in our own lives as we learn to pray, and practice praying, as Jesus has taught us in his word.
A Collect for the Sixth Sunday after Trinity (Proper 12): “Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray, and to give more than we either desire or deserve: Pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things for which we are not worthy to ask, except through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Savior; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Book of Common Prayer, 2019).
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Photo by Ruben Hutabarat on Unsplash.
