Lord, Teach Us to Pray

 “Lord, teach us to pray…” Luke 11:1

Is there only one way to pray that will get the Lord’s attention? Is it not that He will listen whenever we talk to him, however we talk to Him? We do not have to be high church formal, we just have to be ourselves. I was listening to the testimony of a young Muslim woman studying in the UK who was so confused but eager to know the truth. 

She prayed that she wasn’t sure about what she believed anymore but that she wanted to believe in Jesus if He was real. She asked Him to show her whether He was truly the Son of God, whether He really died for her sins and whether the love the Christians talked about was genuine. She told Him she was willing to lose everything if He would just make Himself real to her. After her prayer, she said she didn’t know what she expected to happen but then she felt a real deep peace settle over her. It was like coming home after a long, and difficult journey. 

Contrast her prayer to Mother Teresa’s. The saint asked God to lift the darkness from her soul even for only a few days. She says the agony of desolation was so great and the longing for the Absent One so deep, that the only prayer she could still say was “Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in Thee.” And this desolation, this “dark night of the soul” as St. John of the Cross calls it, went on for years. 

Obviously there is not just one way to speak to God. We just need to be sincere, and authentic as God knows us inside out! It would never do to pretend with our Father! Let us offer the loaves and fishes of our lives,  praying with confidence throughout the day, following 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 

 Drew this for my friend’s birthday. Enjoyed doing it.