Learning to pray

By Robert Hurtgen

In August 2014, LifeWay Research surveyed 1,137 Americans about the frequency and content of their prayer, and the results revealed, among other things, about half of Americans say they pray at least every day.

Sometimes, though, while we may feel a desire to pray, and even tell someone our "thoughts and prayers" are with them, we are not quite certain really what that means or what to do. We may, in fact, need someone to teach us how to pray. After all, that is exactly what the disciples in the Gospel of Luke request of Jesus, imploring, "Lord, teach us to pray."

What they didn't see: He already had modeled to them three prayer practices.

Jesus practiced very active prayer patterns. In all of the Gospels he is frequently described as leaving the 12 disciples and the crowds to go to a secluded place and pray. He is even recorded as leaving before daylight to go out by himself to pray. Luke 11:1 says, "He was praying in a certain place ...," giving the idea the disciples did not know precisely where he was, but his established, active, and regular patterns of prayer assured them that he would return. Jesus' prayer pattern was neither casual nor occasional but active and regular.

Jesus also stepped away from the demands of the day, modeling the importance of withdrawing for our own times of prayer. Jesus had many demands placed on him, including a crowd who wanted to force him to be their king. He combated these demands by regularly stepping away to pray. We too should create moments in our day to get away from the busying dings and beeps of our digital world to pray. Getting away, if only for a moment, combats the hurriedness of our souls.

Jesus also modeled praying alone. He did not get a group of others to go away and pray with him, but rather prayed by himself. Praying with others at a prayer meeting, times of formal prayers during a church service, and even a prayer around the dinner table were never intended to be a substitute for praying alone. God sees and hears what is done in secret as much as what is conducted in public.

Before the disciples could ask Jesus "how to pray," he already had modeled for them ways to pray. In the Bible, prayer is not described as a set of frozen phrases but as a time to both talk to and hear from the Lord. Let me encourage you to actively step away, by yourself, and pray.