The Great Request – Teach me to Pray
Think of all the things Peter, Andrew, James, and John might have asked Jesus.
§ He was a great teacher. They might have asked him to teach them how to teach.
§ He worked miracles. They might have asked him to show them how to work miracles.
§ He was a great leader. They might have asked him for lessons in leadership.
On and on the list could go, but there is one thing they asked him to teach them. It is found in Luke 11:1
“When he finished praying in a certain place, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.’”
Did you ever think about John the Baptizer teaching his disciples to pray? Probably not, but he certainly did.
Did he have a special class where he gave pointers to his disciples? I don’t know, but what he did caused the disciples of Jesus to make a request to him for similar teaching.
Of course, there was one other motivation for the disciples asking Jesus to teach them to pray – they heard his prayers and saw his prayer life.
I am so thankful that the disciples made this request. Prayer is a subject that needs to be taught. Prayer is also a subject that needs to be learned.
Perhaps when we struggle with prayer, we are really struggling with not really understanding what prayer is or how to really pray.
For our own sake, each Christian should learn how to pray.
Lonnie Davis