Questions about Prayer

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples. - Luke 11:1

Jesus loves questions. Always has. In the Gospels you get to watch him asking over 300 questions, while people ask him only half that many. He’s just plain curious. And he loves to honor the curiosity of others.

In this scene, the disciples don’t ask an official question - there’s no question mark at the end of the sentence. But they are pleading for help in getting their heads around this prayer thing. They are curious, and they admit it. It’s a great way to approach Jesus.

And Jesus responds. He gives the most famous teaching on prayer the world has ever experienced, impacting billions of people to this day who say that same prayer he taught (even though it was more of a model prayer and less of something to be recited).

The fact that Jesus honors their curiosity about prayer is a good sign for us. We can ask our questions. We can admit we don’t know what we’re doing. We can doubt, question, or even despair - and he’ll honor us in the process. The biggest thing, though, is whether we’re willing to come to him with it all. If we just huddle in a corner by ourselves, well, it doesn’t go so well.

So take some time today to process your questions about prayer with Jesus.