"... teach us to pray"

Recently I had co-worker come and ask me this age-old question; "teach me to pray." At times, we all have asked; how do I pray and is it getting through? Well, this question left me feeling totally inadequate and hopeless to provide a sufficient answer. Thanks to God, I knew turning to the scriptures would reveal truth, principle and instruction. Here is the answer I gave:

In Luke 11:1, a disciple asked this very question: ... Lord teach us to pray,... Jesus replied in verses 2-4 with these well- known scriptures:

...When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. Luke 11:2-4

There is a great deal here that leads us to know what God desires from us. Prayer is our direct communication method with The Creator; this fact alone is amazing.

Looking at the scripture we see that prayer begins with recognition of who God is; Hallowed be thy name... He is holy, perfect and He never changes. We note that our personal relationship with Him is front-and-center: He can only be Our Father which art in heaven, if we are His child. Therefore, all relationships begin with us being rightly related to Him. This can only be realized through Jesus Christ. When we have genuinely trusted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior; every other relationship falls into place as He becomes our advocate.

Note: The first prayer, that God hears from and unbeliever is a prayer to be saved. A prayer of surrender, asking for forgiveness of personal sins; believing and trusting in the sacrifice Christ made on the cross on their behalf, and His resurrection that ensures eternal life in His presence someday. This is all important; nothing else works apart from this as John 14:6 reveals:

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John 14:6

If you can't recall a time when you trusted Christ as your personal Savior, today, now, is a great time for that prayer.

After salvation is taken care of, we then have direct access to God in prayer: Thy will be done... Understanding that whatever answer (or lack there of ) we received from God is always best. Even though we cannot always know what God's will is; we know He is always right, just, and has our best interest in His plans. Gives us day by day our daily bread... Being a Christian is a daily walk; He died for us therefore we live for Him. We rely on His leading daily to accomplish His purpose for our lives. Staying close to Him is all important; we do this by studying the written Word (The Bible), through prayer and fellowship with others.

...forgive us our sins; for we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us. Forgiveness is very important. This reminds us of our imperfection. Understanding we all fall short, we are to forgive others and introduce others to the only One who can change lives for the better.

And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. the sad reality is; if there's a God that is all good, then there must be an evil one who is bent on destroying lives. We need to be in right relationship with God and have His spirit within us to battle temptation; we cannot win this war alone.

I'll be praying for you.

Back to Answers