“Teach us to pray…”

That’s what the disciples asked Jesus in Luke 11. I think I often read this verse as ‘teach us how to pray’ but in fact it just says ‘teach us to pray’. Perhaps it’s an insignificant distinction as Jesus does them teach them how to pray in the words of the Lord’s Prayer, but it does highlight that prayer is not a matter of finding a technique: it is something we learn by doing. 

Often my tendency when I find prayer difficult is to think I need to find a new strategy. As much as routines and finding different ways to pray can be hugely helpful, this instinct exposes an underlying reason for why prayer can be so hard. Prayer, to our human experience, can feel like ‘not doing anything,’ because prayer is an act of dependence on God’s sovereign Grace in our lives. What’s more, prayer is far more about a relationship than it is about productivity. 

I found the Globe Week of Prayer so helpful last year. There were prayer meetings each day at 7:30AM and PM. I was relatively new at the time, and I was so encouraged by praying together through the week. Meeting to pray with church family before work not only helped me commit my day to God, but it helped me to realise that we are united in Jesus as we go about our very different lives. His presence goes with us as he brings about his purposes through our ordinary everydays. 

I was particularly encouraged one morning as we reflected on the line “Our Father in Heaven,” as Jonty helped us to realise the efficacy of our prayers for people and problems anywhere in the world. For though we are limited and situated, our Father is sovereign over all things. Prayer may feel to us as though we are not doing anything, but if we remember the one with whom we are speaking, it becomes the most important and powerful thing we could do in the day. 

So as we approach the Week of Prayer (which I’d highly recommend coming along to!), I think we will be blessed if our attitude is to remind ourselves of our precious saviour through whom we can boldly come to our Father in heaven. 

As we pray with one another we may just find that we teach one another to pray. It is my hope that the disciples’ words will become ours during the week as we ask the Lord Jesus: “Teach us to pray”. And it is my prayer that we will meet our God afresh as we depend on him together. 

The Week of Prayer is next week, from 2-9 February. Come along on Sunday and look in your church emails to find out more.