Study 1. Teach us how to pray

Welcome to these 7 studies or devotionals that are going to look at prayer, some ways to pray and some of the reasons to pray. 

In the Bible the theme of prayer and praying is continually brought to the surface. We are going to explore a bit about how Jesus taught his friends to pray, how Jesus prayed, and ways in which others are seen to be praying in the Bible.

In today’s study, Jesus is coming back from praying, something he did as a rhythm in his life. (We will pick this up in study 5)

When Jesus comes back to his friends they ask him ‘teach us how to pray!’

Now, let me be honest right from the start, I would have asked Jesus to teach me how to do the feeding miracle, or the healing ones, they would be show stoppers and then I could start a ministry and go on the road, all for Jesus of course! Point is, Jesus’ mates get this one right, ‘help us to pray like you do Jesus.’

Jesus tells them this:

‘Father, hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
‘Give us each day our daily bread.
‘And forgive us our sins,
For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.’

Maybe you have heard this prayer before, it has been used in schools and even films. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have said this about the Lord’s Prayer:

‘At the heart of our prayers will be words that Jesus himself taught us. It is simple enough to be memorised by small children and yet profound enough to sustain a whole lifetime of prayer.’

This lifetime of prayer is about worship where we thank God and give him praise. It is also about being willing to trust that he knows our needs, and is willing and able to meet our needs each day. (However it might not always feel like it or be as easy to live it at times!) This prayer also keeps us in a good relationship with God each day by dealing with and calling out any issues and ‘stuff’ we find ourselves involved in that is contrary to the relationship with God that we are discovering. 

This prayer also helps us to keep a clean account in the relationships around us too, quick to forgive and not let issues trip us up and hold onto us.

If you haven’t already, pray today, read over the prayer Jesus used to teach his friends and see if anything in particular stands out for you. 

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If you like what you read here in this series, then we have a 4-book set called The Manual Starter Pack that you can get hold of from the CVM shop to drill and mine into this stuff even more. Each book contains a month’s worth of reading notes to explore at your own pace, just go ahead and check out the CVM website