Day 20

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.' Luke 11:1

The disciples of Jesus asked Him one day, "Lord, teach us to pray". Not teach us how to pray. It was not technique they were looking for, but the relationship they saw Jesus had with His father. "Teach us to know this communion with the Father that we see You have."

In a very real sense, our prayer lives are a journey into the heart of God. For some of us, prayer is our hardest struggle while to others it is their deepest joy. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you" (Matthew 6:6). By saying, "When you pray," he assumes prayer to be a regular normal part of his disciples' experience.

The Christian life is defined essentially as a relationship with God. It is not believing a creed, adopting a system of theology, or enjoying spiritual experiences, valid and important as all of those are, but a relationship that works in the dark as well as in the light, in doubt as well as in confidence. If the Christian life is a relationship, prayer is the talking part of that relationship. Relationships are defined, strengthened and weakened by the measure of the communication that exists within the relationship. That is why reading scripture and praying form essential disciplines in spiritual growth. It is a two-way communication. We speak to God in scripture as He speaks to us, for its very words give expression to our own thoughts and feelings towards God. In prayer God speaks to us as much as we speak to Him. In the book of Acts, when God spoke personally to people it is in the context of them being in prayer. Ananias was praying when God spoke to him, so was Cornelius, as was Peter, so were Paul and Barnabus, as was the whole church in Antioch! No wonder the Psalmist encourages us to: 'Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always' (Psalm 105.4).