The disciples’ request of Jesus was perhaps the height of their wisdom pre-Pentecost.
It was brilliant because they realised they didn’t know how to pray. It is not obvious. It is not intuitive. It’s possible to get it wrong. They realised that even though they’d prayed for years, maybe they knew nothing. They realised they needed to be little children again with a teacher.
It was brilliant because for once they were asking about something important, something vital, something at the heart of true religion – not strategy or style or buildings or power – but approaching God, relating to him, talking to him, communing with him. They wanted not only to know about prayer but how to do it.
And it was a brilliant request because of who they asked it of – the one man who could really answer it, the one who knew more about taking to the Father than anyone else, the one who could not only give a perfect answer but by his body and blood make that communion between man and God possible.
So what is prayer? A coiled mantra spinning in a prayer wheel? A transaction with a distant deity? Or… a rescued and adopted child crying out to his Father?
Last week at Training Wednesdays:
- Worldviews: Buddhism [Powerpoint]
- Worldview: African Religions [Powerpoint]
- Prayer and the Voice of God [First chapter pdf]
And we’re praying this month for Ireland and for Muslims:
- Pray for the Republic of Ireland: Operation World; Crosslinks
- Pray for Northern Ireland
- Pray through Ramadan
Thanks for sharing this,
When i think of prayer, i think of Jesus who never got it wrong…the one who entered the most Holy place, not the man made sanctuary, but heaven itself now to appear for us in God’s presence as writer of Hebrews notes.
they asked the one man who could teach them…so true…and not a better way to approach prayer we have like the formula in the Lord’s prayer…thanks!