Luke 11:1 – Jesus, Teach Us To Pray

Jesus, as God was prayed to, yet as a man he prayed. In today’s verse, the disciples ask him how:

Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”

Luke 11:1 ESV

In fact Luke’s gospel displays this time and again, for instance:

• at his baptism he was praying (Luke 3:21),
• he withdrew into a desolate place to pray (Luke 5:16),
• he went to a mountain and prayed the night through (Luke 6:12),
• again he prayed alone (Luke 9:18),
• and upon another mountain journey he prayed and was transfigured (Luke 9:28, 29).

Like David, Jesus gave himself to prayer (Psalm 109:4).

So it makes sense for one of his disciples to ask: “Lord, teach us to pray.”

With Jesus, the man who is God, standing before him the man didn’t ask, “Lord, teach us to work miracles,” or, “Jesus, teach us to preach with authority!”

These are great things. But they’re not the primary markers of men and women who know God.

Here we can learn the true place of prayer. It’s the place from which every part of Christian living and ministry should flow.

Jesus’ intimacy with the Father is seen especially when he said he “spoke just as the Father taught me” (John 8:28). He and the Father are still one (John 10:30), yet Jesus still thought prayer a noble use of a night.

Through this the disciples understood that prayer was more than an act of religion, but the very thing from which God empowers men to work his will.

Do you esteem prayer as you should, or is it just another thing to be checked from your daily “to do” list?