Day 386 · Year 2 · Life with God
Lord, teach us to pray
The disciples did not ask how to preach. They asked how to pray.
Today's passage
Luke 11:1-4
1One day in a place where Jesus had just finished praying, one of His disciples requested, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
2So Jesus told them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come.
3Give us each day our daily bread.
4And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.’”
Berean Standard Bible · public domain
Reflection
The disciples watched Jesus pray and finally asked, 'Lord, teach us to pray.' He did not give them a technique; he gave them a relationship — 'Father.' Prayer in the Christian life is not an audience with a distant ruler; it is a child speaking to a Father who knows. The Lord's Prayer is short. It moves outward (your name, your kingdom, your will) before it moves inward (our bread, our debts, our temptation). Pray it slowly. It will reshape what you ask for and how you ask.
From the great tradition · paraphrased
Thomas Cranmer · Reformers · 16th c. · England
Thomas Cranmer gave the English-speaking church set forms of prayer precisely so that on the days the heart was dry, the words would still be there to lift it.
Paraphrase only. Scripture, not any teacher, is the authority.
Think it through
- What did the disciples ask Jesus, and what did he begin with?
- What order do the requests come in?
- Pray this prayer slowly. Which line catches you today?
A prayer to pray
Pray the Lord's Prayer slowly, line by line. Stay on whichever line will not let you go.