Lord, Teach Us to Pray

“Lord, teach us to pray..." Luke 11:1

Jews are supposed to pray three times a day and they have a special prayer book called a Siddur which contains the set orders of daily prayers. Readings from the Torah, the  writings of Moses and the Nevi'im, writings of the Prophets, form part of their prayer book. So I think it is natural to conclude that the disciples had a reasonable idea of how to pray to God. But they saw something in how Jesus prayed that made them long to pray the way He did. 

They watched Jesus pray many times. They saw how close He was to the Father, and they wanted that for themselves. WE should want that for ourselves! We should always want to grow in our relationship with our Father. Brother Lawrence wrote in "The Practice of the Presence of God" that he was united with God during the day as he went about his work of cleaning the floor and washing the dishes. There are many ways to practice the presence of God in the course of our day. We just have to 'mind' He is there, and not just there during our morning or evening prayers. 

Lord, teach us to pray. Teach us to grow closer to You. Teach us not to forget You when we are busy. Teach us to carve some time out of our day to be with You, and only You. “You have made us for Yourself, Lord. Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.” (St. Augustine) You are the Governor of Galaxies, but You are also our Father. We long to be with You in heaven one day, our one true home.