One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say...”

(Luke 11.1-2)

 

‘When we pray’...not ‘if we pray’. As far as I know, there is only one instance in the Gospels that the disciples of Jesus ask him to teach them something, and it’s to pray, so it must be important. Amongst Jesus and his followers it was natural to pray. I want to grow in my prayer life and I hope you do too. No-one of us are experts in this and we are all learning together but we can ask God (and others) to help us. We all pray in different ways. The passage continues with Jesus teaching them how to pray and it’s what we now call ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ and it’s a good place to start. Prayer to the Christian is a bit like breathing - it’s essential to the life we have in Christ. To grow in our devotion and relationship with God, we need to pray. Let’s be people who pray as naturally as we breathe. For you it might be a few sentences (as Jesus taught us) each day or it may be ten minutes worth, or even longer. Whatever it is, let’s pray for God’s kingdom to come and the more we pray, the more things seem to happen!

 

Rev’d Mark Anderson