Pray Like Jesus | Part One

One day after Jesus finishing praying his disciples felt compelled to go and ask him: “Jesus, can you teach us to pray like that?”

Now this was kind of a strange request.  These guys had been praying their whole lives.  They probably felt like they had it figured out at this point.  But when they saw Jesus pray, they must have become convinced that they might be doing it wrong.  When Jesus prayed it was just…different.

We don’t usually think about “learning to pray.”  How would you feel if someone came up to you after you prayed and said: “OK, not a bad prayer, not bad, but I have some pointers I’d like to give you.”  That would be weird.  And probably offensive.

Despite this, I think the disciples had the right idea here. Is it possible that we, like the disciples, we should be asking this question more often: teach us to pray, Lord!

When the disciples asked that question, Jesus answered them with what we often call the “Lord’s Prayer.”  It is one of the deepest and richest prayers you would find in all of the Scripture.  Matt 6:9-13 says…

Our Father in heaven
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.

Sometimes we have heard or prayed this so often that we forget about how amazing and radical this prayer is.  In fact, I am convinced that if we really looked at each line it would turn our worlds upside-down.  I think it has the power to change your perspective and trajectory.

During this next blog series, I want to take a look at this prayer and begin to unpack it.  I hope to take a journey in my own life as I pray each line over the next weeks.  I hope you will join me!