Prayer

Isn’t it interesting that the disciples didn’t ask Jesus to teach them how to preach, how to witness, how to organize a major church event? They asked Jesus to teach them how to pray.

In their time with Jesus, the disciples watched Jesus start His day with prayer. As they watched Him commune with God, the Father, the disciples couldn’t help but notice that Jesus was energized and empowered by His contact with the Father. They wanted to know how ordinary humans could make that kind of contact with God, the Holy One! Jesus’ model prayer shows us how to make contact with God. In Matthew 6:9-13, the first half of the prayer focuses on God, and the second half on our petitons.

This prayer is like a sandwich – it starts with God and ends with God, and the concerns of our hearts are the meat in the middle. Jesus demonstrated that our focus in prayer should always be on God. To Jesus, praying was like breathing. Prayer was an intricate part of His life, and He wanted it to be that important to His disciples.

Just as Jesus required prayer to make it through His day, we need intimate communication with the Father to live this life.

Read: James 5:13-20; Psalms 145:18-19