I was reading a post by a blogger greater than most of us (he bestows his blessings on lesser bloggers by honoring them for a week - and that he is greater is clear because “without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater” [Heb 7.7]) -

At any rate, I was reading one of his posts about prayer and was dumbfounded - which is not the same as being “found dumb,” although in some cases it might be - to read the following:

Not too long ago I began to pray that God would teach me to pray. A bit of an odd request, is it not? Obviously I already knew something about prayer if I was praying about it in the first place, but my concern was that despite my prayer habits, which are sometimes good and sometimes bad, I have often felt that I just don’t really understand what prayer is all about. When I pray I’ve often wondered just what the point is.”

I believe God answered my prayer through Bryan Chapell and his book Praying Backwards.” - (failure to link to the book his)

What amazed me is that I have reason to believe that this serious Christ-follower truly believes 2 Tim 3.16-17:

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”

So it amazed me that he would have to go outside the Bible for a lesson on how to pray since Scripture declares it is sufficient to make us adequate and prepared for every good work, of which prayer is certainly one. It is all the more amazing because I’m sure this young man has long known Mt 6.6-9a:

But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.

“Pray, then, in this way:”

What follows that colon is the answer to this man’s question and all that he needs to know. You pray in the manner that Jesus Christ provided for all of His disciples - it is a paradigm of prayer for us.

I have been reading through Scot McKnight’s book The Jesus Creed, the essence of which is that Jesus added to the Shema to reveal the heart of His message:

‘AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.’

“The second is this, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” - Mk 12.30-31

Perhaps Scot covers this in his book (I haven’t completed it) but it seems to me that the so-called “Lord’s Prayer” - which should be called the “Disciple’s Prayer” - is the essence of the Jesus Creed. The first portion of the prayer concerns loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; the second with loving our neighbors as ourselves.

It’s praying about God and then praying about others - or, better, about God and then about God’s family, which includes ourselves. That’s how you pray. It is that simple. Of course, just because something is simple does not mean it is easy but there is no need to go outside of Scripture to learn how to pray.

If this blogger were actually asking, “Lord, give me a reason to pray,” well, that’s an altogether petition, and a very scary thing to request. God knows how and will provide ample reasons for you to pray.

But as far as knowing how to pray, it’s all right there in front of us in our Bibles. Maybe we need to stop reading and blogging so much about praying and instead start spending more time simply doing it.


2 Cor 1.13