Learning to Pray
Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray...” Luke 11:1
Prayer has been defined as attending to and answering God. Prayer isn’t trying to get God’s attention or attempting to wrangle a blessing out of Him. Nor is it informing God about what is going on or telling Him what He should do. Rather, prayer is God’s gracious invitation for us to pay attention and then respond to Whom He already is revealing Himself to be and to what He already is doing in our lives and in our world. In other words, prayer is entering into the “Eternal Conversation” that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have been enjoying all along. Prayer first involves listening to God’s Word and God’s Spirit through silent meditation, Bible reading, solitary reflection, etc. This is our “communion” experience in prayer. Then we speak to God our words of praise, confession, thanksgiving, affirmation, concern, need, hope, etc. And this is our “communication” involvement through prayer.
We best learn to pray by learning to pray the Book of Psalms in the center of our Bible. The Book of Psalms is the worship and prayer book of Holy Scripture. These psalms are hymn-prayers to our God that cover the wide-range of our unique wants and diverse needs, as well as the depths of our nuanced expressions of prayer, such as praise, confession, thanksgiving, petition, lament, affirmation, etc. The people of God have been praying these psalms personally and communally for thousands of years. So, why not start with Psalm 1, praying through one, consecutive psalm each day? There are 150 psalms, so at this beginning pace you will pray through the entire Psalter in just five months. Then as you become more familiar with prayer and the psalms, increase your daily participation until you pray five psalms per day. Praying in this more extensive and expansive way, you will journey through the complete Psalter every month.
The Bible’s exhortation to us is to “pray continually,” meaning to pray in an ongoing, intentional way throughout the day and night. Traditionally, this kind of prayer has been embraced by God’s people according to the “Divine Hours” of set times for prayer, such as in the morning, noonday, evening, night, etc. So how about following the caring counsel of one pastor who said, “Give God the best time of your day”? Are you a morning person? Then begin your day in prayer. Or is nighttime better for you? Then start by finishing your evening in prayer. Regardless of which time you enter into prayer, gradually add prayer to the remaining moments of your whole day and entire evening.
We invite you to join us on Friday mornings from July to September for practical instruction, implementation, and the practice of prayer at our "Teach Us to Pray" Gatherings. On Fridays, from July 16 to September 3, at 7:30am we will be gathering in the Apostles Church offices. Please come and pray with
us for the work of the Gospel in our lives, our church, and our city.