Every Christian has that moment where they ask, either aloud or internally, “teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). When Jesus taught his followers to pray he gave a basic prayer agenda for all believers. While we will eventually expand our prayers to be influenced by other biblical models, we will never graduate from the teachings of our Lord. For most of us, the best place to start is sitting at the feet of Jesus and committing his words to heart.
Warnings About False Piety
Right before introducing prayer to his disciples Jesus gives two warnings about how not to pray. He warns against praying to be seen by others as pious or religious and instead commends private prayer (Mat 6:5–6). He also warns against vain repetition, especially because the pagans would repeat their prayers to ensure their gods heard their requests, whereas our Father knows what we need (Mat. 6:7–8). When we consider the times and places we elect to pray we must take care not to use prayer as a time for boasting or giving ourselves over to superstition.
The Content and Form of Prayer
After those brief warnings Jesus gives positive instructions about prayer. He sayid to pray like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
(Mat 6:9–13)
At the outset, we are taught how to address God in prayer. When we come before God as “Our Father” we are making two critical observations. First, we come to God as his children in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we are united to Christ by faith, his righteousness covers us so that we can boldly draw near to the throne. Second, we acknowledge that there are other Christians we are bound to in our prayers. God is the father of us (the faithful) and not just me. This compels the scope of our prayer life to be far more broad than we may initially think.
We are taught to begin our prayers with a focus on God. The first three petitions in the Lord’s prayer are aimed God-ward. We are to pray that his name is hallowed, which means “that God would enable us, and others, to glorify him” (WSC 101). We petition God for his kingdom to come. In the words of the catechism, “that Satan’s kingdom may be destroyed; and that the kingdom of grace may be advanced” (WSC 102). We ask that God’s will would be done, that is to say, “that God, by his grace, would make us able and willing to know, obey, and submit to his will in all things” (WSC 103). In each of these petitions we are orienting our hearts to the cosmic scope of redemption and we are getting outside of ourselves.
Only after we have properly calibrated ourselves to God are we instructed by the Lord Jesus to ask for our needs. He instructs us in the final three petitions on how we should ask for the needs of the church—to consider our brothers and sisters alongside our own needs. Notice in each of these petitions the use of the plural ‘us/our’ and not the singular ‘me/my’. Jesus teaches us to ask for “our daily bread” (Mat 6:11). In this we are invited to consider what the needs are of the body and bring them before God so that, “we may receive a competent portion of the good things of this life” (WSC 104). After this, we ask God for the forgiveness of our sins, not because we have lived well, but “that God, for Christ’s sake, would freely pardon all our sins” (WSC 105). And lastly, we are instructed to ask that God would not lead us into temptation, or in the words of the catechism, “that God would either keep us from being tempted to sin, or support and deliver us when we are tempted” (WSC 106).
Personal Prayer Habits
Once we have the content and form of our prayer established we can consider some additional habits that might facilitate prayer. Here I lay down no law that must be followed, but a series of helpful suggestions that may facilitate a robust life of prayer. Each of these things are habits I currently employ or have employed to help in my own prayer life.
When to Pray
We are instructed by Paul to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thes 5:17) which means we should consider prayer to be a whole-day task. And yet, this does not preclude us from having dedicated times set aside for prayer.
So I commend having a dedicated time of prayer each morning alongside Bible reading. This can serve to warm our hearts toward God, consider the needs that we have for that day, and begin by acknowledging our need for him to preserve us and bless our work. I also would recommend having a dedicated time of prayer in the evening before turning out the lights. This can be aimed towards thanksgiving for God’s provision during the day and helps us to commit anything that happened during the day to God in prayer.
There are also times during each day that would serve as helpful moments to consider God’s provision and offer up prayers to him. We can pray at mealtimes to thank God for sustaining us with food. We can pray as we begin our work for the day, entrusting the various tasks, projects, and responsibilities we have to God. We can pray before difficult conversations that might be coming up or before traveling. Each of these daily moments allow for us to ask God for his blessing, for his name to be glorified by us in our actions, and for our conduct to be fitting of our King.
If you do not yet have a habit of prayer I commend choosing one of these moments and forming a habit of prayer, rather than trying to employ them all at the same time.
Keeping a Record
Once we notice that the whole day can be given over to God in prayer, then we will recognize that there are also many opportunities to, “let [our] requests be made known to God” (Phil 4:6). We may be aided in having some way of recording those requests.
One way to do this is to keep a notebook, index cards, or phone note which is dedicated to our own prayer needs and also the prayer requests of others. I would encourage being specific and considering how you can go about praying through that list in a systematic way.
If you keep such a prayer note, then I also recommend that you record how those prayers have been answered and when they were answered by God. I have only done this a handful of times myself, but I know others who have made a more consistent habit of this and thus have a laundry list of proofs that God is faithful.
How to Pray
So how should you actually go about praying? Let me offer three practical suggestions. First, create focused time for prayer. Commit to a time of undistracted space in your life. This can start small, say 5 minutes, and build over time. Nobody enters the gym and begins by squatting 315lbs.
Second, you should approach God with reverence. In the modern world we tend to assume that the more informal we are the more authentic we are. However, in the same way you should not refer to your wife as ‘bro’ you should not be informal in your address to God. While it may be appropriate in our weakness to address God informally in times of severe affliction or need, our regular vocabulary of prayer should fit the Lord of all creation. Among the many things in creation God has given us is a robust vocabulary, and we should use that glorious gift to articulate our needs to God.
Third, pray aloud. Much of our distractedness in prayer can be solved if we simply speak the words out loud. This will force us, among other things, to keep our prayers concise and to practice praying in the same way we might pray with others in group settings.
Group Prayer Habits
Speaking of praying with others, I have already noted that the Lord reminds us in the introduction to the Lord’s Prayer that it is “we” not “I” who petition God. It is therefore fitting for Christians to have a habit of praying together.
A main way that this will take place is in the Sunday worship gathering. As a Christian you should consider that to be a dedicated time of prayer for the church and you should join with the body through the voice of the one leading.
Of course prayer with others should also be done in our daily rhythms. If we have a family then we should be praying together with them. This can be done once everyone is awake to begin the day, parents can pray over their kids as they tuck them into bed, and it is especially to be done when the family gathers together in worship. We can also pray together with other Christians when we gather in times of fellowship. Ask for prayer requests, pray right then and there, and keep a note so you can return to that request later.
Improving in Prayer
If we begin a regular habit of prayer, then at some point in our walk with the Lord we will reach a point where we desire to pray more fervently. This can mean desiring to pray as our parents, or some other mature saint, modeled for us. I have found a great deal of benefit from shadowing the greats of the faith to improve the tightness and variety of how I pray.
There can be no greater way to do this than to regularly work through the Psalter in prayer. Whereas the Lord’s Prayer gives us the common bond of how we are to pray, the Psalter gives us inspired examples of such prayers. You could simply start at Psalm 1 and read it aloud, praying the words of the Psalm. As you get more comfortable you can then pray with how the words of the Psalm encourage your spirit to pray.
If you have someone who has discipled you, or whose prayers have helped you, then pay attention to how they pray. Their prayers can be a model to you of what variation and repetition can look like. Pay attention to the prayers offered during the Sunday worship service. You should consider how those prayers are structured and then seek to employ some of those elements in your own prayers.
Conclusion
Prayer is something that all Christians are commanded to do. It is something that allows us to acknowledge our need for God, to express those needs to him, and to glorify him. Thus, let us be committed to prayer. In a world that is filled with vague spirituality let me remind you that you have a Father in heaven who listens to your requests (1 John 5:14). He hears you on account of the Lord Jesus, whose sacrifice allows you to draw near to the throne (Heb 4:16). And when you do not know what to say, the Holy Spirit intercedes on your behalf (Rom 8:26–27).
Discussion Questions
What does your habit of prayer currently look like? At what times do you pray, and what do you usually pray for?
How often do you pray with others? How often do you pray for others? How expansive is that circle of others that you pray for?
Have you ever tried praying alongside someone else (Paul, David, etc.)
Do you keep a prayer journal or notebook of some kind?
