Teach us How to Pray

 "Lord, teach us how to pray." We have great need to ask this question in our day, not just to receive a mantra we can mindlessly repeat for the rest of our lives, but for every day, every situation.  God is always at work and if we're not in tune to what he's doing, we won't know how to pray. He may be executing judgment, but if we're oblivious to it, our prayers for blessing may very well fall on deaf ears. For example, God commanded Jeremiah, “Do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you."

Jeremiah had been seeking the welfare of his countrymen - something we all seek - but God had other plans, and Jeremiah came to understand these plans by listening. God continued:  “Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to arouse my anger.”  Notice:  God gave a command and then proceeded to explain it, to reason with Jeremiah, to include him in His plan. Jeremiah had been praying for what he wanted, but as he stopped talking and started listening, he came to understand what God wanted.  Likewise, prayer is the means by which we come to understand God’s perspective and pray for the things He wants.

Jesus told his disciples in John 14, "If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it."  This was not a blank check for the disciples to rush at God with their list of demands.  Nor was Jesus teaching them to name-drop - as if God is a genie in a lamp and Jesus' name has superstitious power to make God act. No, remember the context of this verse.  Just a short while later, in the very same conversation, he reminded his disciples, "I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing... If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you."  Aha, so what Jesus was teaching is that if we abide in him, we'll hear his voice and understand his heart, and because we know what God wants, we'll begin requesting the very things he already wants to accomplish. No wonder Jesus promised to do whatever his disciples asked!

Jeremiah came to understand God's purposes, but it was only through listening and letting God shape his prayers.  So let us have this very same sensitivity to God. Let us ask anew, "Lord, teach us how to pray."