Do you know how to pray? If so, how did you learn? It probably began with observing someone. We may have learned from public prayers at worship or how our parents taught us before meals or bedtime. Praise God that there are people in our lives who pray!
Jesus made a point of teaching His disciples to pray, especially because a lot of what they saw in the world was wrong. Some people made a big production of praying; Jesus said to “pray to your Father who is in secret” (Matthew 6:6). Many pagan prayers to idols consisted of a long recitation so it might feel honored and grant the request; Jesus said “your Father knows what you need before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8).
When Jesus taught us how to pray, He focused on submission to God and His will for us (Matthew 6:9-10). Do we pray for God to get what He desires, or do we focus on what we want? Jesus focused on trusting God to provide for our physical needs, heal our spiritual hurt, and help us grow (Matthew 6:11-13). Does trust in God and a desire to be closer to Him permeate our prayers?
We can learn a lot from observing the prayers recorded in the Bible. Praying before His arrest, Jesus focused on God’s glory and helping us spiritually (Matthew 26:36-46, John 17:1-26). Praying after Peter and John were beaten, the Jerusalem church focused on God being in control and asking for boldness to do His will (Acts 4:23-31).
Read the Apostle Paul’s prayers for any one of the churches with which he worked. For the Ephesians, he prayed for their hearts to be enlightened and to be “rooted and grounded in love” (Ephesians 1:15-23, 3:14-21). For the Philippians and Colossians, he prayed that they would be filled with knowledge of God’s will and grow into spiritually fruitful lives (Philippians 1:9-11, Colossians 1:9-14).
Spend some time meditating on these passages: really take in every word and deeply consider what they mean. Once you understand what these prayers are saying, try adapting them to how you talk and then pray them yourself. Let’s try making “praying scripture” a part of our routine. As we learn from these prayers in the Bible, watch and see how God transforms our own prayers and eventually our lives.