“Lord, teach us to pray…” (Luke 11:2)
Confession: I have really been struggling with prayer lately. I know prayer is important – for my own spirituality, my family, and our church. But for some reason, it’s just a struggle right now. I’ve really been convicted lately that we need to be a church of prayer – that we are just too deep into the battle to be as nonchalant about prayer as we are. But I know that must start with me. If we are to be a praying church, I must first be a praying pastor.
And so I am praying, “Lord, teach me to pray!”
This request of the disciples strikes me. They don’t ask Jesus, as is often implied, to teach them how to pray… or where or when. But simply to pray. In other words, “Lord, teach us to be praying people.” “Teach us about the importance of prayer.” “Teach us to be utterly dependent on God in prayer.”
And so Jesus teaches them by praying a prayer that Christians have recited religiously for 2,000 years. Now, I’m all for praying what has become known as “the Lord’s Prayer” – I pray it myself almost every day. But we must remember that this prayer is not a lesson in liturgy, but, essentially, an answer to the question: “Why should we pray?”
1. Because God is our Father and He wants us to have a parent-child relationship of utter dependence on Him (“Our Father…”).
2. Because God is holy – completely set apart from all things in heaven and on earth – and dependence on Him in prayer keeps this truth in order (“may your name be kept holy”).
3. Because prayer brings God’s kingdom to reign here on earth (“May your kingdom come soon.”).
4. Because prayer reminds us who’s in charge (“May your will be done…”).
5. Because God is our Father, He is our Provider (“Give us this day our daily bread.”).
6. Because in seeking God’s holiness, we are made acutely aware of both our need for forgiveness and our need to forgive others with the same grace (“Forgive us our sins as we have forgiven those who sin against us.”).
7. Because God is our Father, He is our Protector. Every day Satan tries to derail us with temptations and our Father is the only one who can deliver us (“Don’t let us yield to temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”).
8. Because God is all-powerful and His kingdom reigns forever in glory (“Yours is the kingdom, power and glory…”).
Now to stop writing about prayer and become a person of prayer.
Lord, teach me to pray.
