Learning To Pray

I’m at the point in my life where I am realizing that my motivation for learning and doing new things is waning. Now, that doesn’t mean that I don’t like to try things or that I am unmotivated, but rather that I know that my time and energy in life is limited and it is currently taken up with my family, work, and hobbies that I already have. For example, I have wanted to learn to play guitar for quite some time and over the last two years I thought it would have been the perfect opportunity to try. But what I realized is that it takes a lot of time and energy to learn guitar, especially since I’d have to learn other things alongside of playing guitar (like learning the different notes in music or reading music…which I understand is fairly helpful when learning an instrument). Instead of learning a new thing, I’d rather spend my time doing/perfecting something that I already enjoy. For me, this just seems like a better use of my time! (I bet we could make up a clever saying about these phenomena…like maybe something about an old dog and its inability to learn new tricks…).

As I’m writing this, I can’t help but to think to myself, “Self, why don’t you live a little?! Try something new! Live life to the fullest!” I find myself feeling that I must always be expanding my horizons broader and broader so that people will look at me like some kind of Renaissance man. And to not constantly learn/do new things would be to miss out!

But what is wrong with perfecting the things that we already know to do? Is it better to know how to do a bunch of different things or to do a couple things well?

As I think about the life of a Christian, I can’t help but to think that the latter is the better option and I think this is particularly true when it comes to reading and knowing the Bible and learning to pray. In Ole Hallesby’s book “Prayer,” he has a chapter on the School of Prayer which encourages Christians to continually learn and grow in our understanding of prayer. In Luke’s gospel he writes, “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 is something that the disciples were already aware of and had a basic knowledge of. Prayer was part of their society and rhythms, but now they were witnessing the Master at prayer and they had the desire to grow in their abilities to pray. No doubt they saw how Jesus prayed, how confidently He approached the Father, and how intimately Jesus communicated with him that they wanted the same! And so they ask.

I’m sure we all have an idea of what prayer is. For some of us, we understand that it is something that we should do and can even fumble our way through it. But what if there’s more to learn? What if we could grow in it and learn from the Master how to do it better? What if we could experience a connection and closeness with the Father by simply learning to pray? What if we could be confident in our prayers instead of wavering day after day? Would we dare ask Jesus, “Teach me to pray?”

To do so wouldn’t take much effort, yet the results would be life changing. To enter this School of Prayer would simply involve taking time to communicate with God. We just need to show up! We let Him know our need and the needs of those around us and avoid telling Him what to do. Instead, we watch and wait on His answers in His time. We remember that our prayers are for His glory alone and that He might work in and through us for His Kingdom’s sake. And as we practice praying and learn from Him, He will grow us in our prayer lives.

I write this only as an invitation to our church to continue to learn to pray. Know that it is a process that all of us can learn to do better! Each day, we can seek to grow closer to our Father through prayer, to see Him work in our lives and the lives of people around us, and be encouraged as He brings glory to Himself in the world around us! And if you would like to grow and understand more about this incredible gift of prayer, consider reading Hallesby’s book on prayer to help you along the way.

At least start with me here: “Lord, teach us to pray.”

In Christ,
Pastor Evan