Sometimes, even when we are very well in touch with our needs and wants, it's hard to know how to ask, or even what to ask, to get what we are looking for.
Maybe a good first request is for help in putting our questions into words, our feelings into verbal expression.
Reach out now to God and ask. Just ask, then see where the asking leads you.
He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”
Luke 11:1
Can you remember the first prayer you learned? My family’s dinnertime prayer was a favorite for me. “God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food.” The first rote prayers we learned are usually simple, but profound in meaning.
Prayer is the intimate connection between God and believer. Prayer is asking and thanking, but it’s more than that — it’s also worship, listening, learning, expecting, and hoping.
I don’t know what the disciples expected when they asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, but what he taught them can move mountains. It involves the community. It involves forgiveness and love and praise. It begs for the already/not-yet kingdom of God. It is the model prayer.
I challenge you to tattoo this prayer on your mind and heart. I challenge you to pray it as often as you think of it. And most difficult of all, I challenge you to live it out every day.
Katie McKown
God, teach me to speak and live the Lord’s Prayer every day. Help me to pray whenever I think of it. Amen.
Go ahead and ask.
Just ask,
Then see where the asking takes you.
You may learn the answers are
Just what you hope for.
You may just as likely find your way
To even more questions.
In either case, keep asking.
Just ask,
Then see where the asking takes you.