Teach us to pray
Over the forty or more years I have been a Christian, I have been taught to pray in a wide variety of ways, usually summarised in a helpful acronym. You may well have come across one or more of the same ones – A.C.T.S. … S.T.O.P. … P.R.A.Y. … T.S.P. They were all helpful lessons in one way or another. After all, anything that gets us praying in the way the Bible encourages us to has got to be a good thing.
However, it dawned on me that in the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6 and Luke 11), the Lord Jesus has given us his own outline for our praying. I take it that the Lord’s Prayer is not simply a prayer to recite but also a pattern to follow. So, after rejoicing in our Father’s goodness (“Our Father in heaven”), first we seek our Father’s glory (“hallowed be your name”, etc.) and then we seek our Father’s grace (“Give us today our daily bread” etc.).
I find that I badly need that pattern. Not only do I routinely get the order wrong (I’m quite good at asking for my needs to be met), I frequently forget to seek God’s glory altogether. In effect, I come pretty close to asking for God to see to it that my name is hallowed, my kingdom comes, and my will is done! Of course, I’m far too subtle ever to put it in those terms! I will admit that I for one need the Lord to teach me to pray. So I’m delighted that the theme for our church weekend away this June is going to be exactly that: ‘Our Father… enjoying God in prayer.’